Dispute Resolution


Our team handles an extensive range of civil, intellectual property, commercial, labour, administrative and fiscal disputes and provides practical solutions to all clients when a conflict arises in their day to day activities. The legal assistance provided to the clients always takes into account the case law of the Greek courts, as well as the case law developed by the European Court of Justice and by the European Court of Human Rights.

Our Dispute Resolution practice has a solid reputation for succeeding in the most complex and sensitive litigations involving multiple cases and parties and has the resources and expertise to efficiently handle countless cases yearly.

We also understand that going to trial is not necessarily in the best interest of our clients. Therefore, we always work closely with in-house counsel to develop the appropriate strategy and ensure that any potential amicable settlement advantageous to the client is reached or, alternatively, to ensure the most cost-effective and efficient litigation model suitable to the client’s needs.

We handle complex issues pertaining to property law, commercial relationships, products liability, construction and engineering, environmental law, planning and regulatory, intellectual property and information technology, competition and antitrust, public acquisition procedures, insolvency and bankruptcy.

Corporate and Commercial matters


Our practice is valued for its excellent integration of all required legal expertise and for the multi-disciplinary support provided to our clients in shaping their operational objectives, financial data and transaction parameters into a realistic business scenario, as well as for providing creative solutions to complex legal issues.
We provide assistance in virtually all matters related to cross-border and local projects, transaction structuring and development of risk mitigation strategies, as well as a coherent and sound contractual framework for the implementation thereof whether in acquisition, restructuring, joint venture, privatization, merger, de-merger or spin-off projects.
More specific, our legal advice regarding corporate and commercial matters covers the following fields:

• Setting up companies in Greece and abroad
• Legal advice for company concerning the day to day activity
• Negotiation, drafting and advice on a wide variety of commercial contracts, both domestic and international, including manufacturing, sales, agency, distribution, services and supply agreements including consumer compliance issues
• Incorporation of companies
• Legal advice for company concerning the day to day activity
• Negotiation, drafting and advice on a wide variety of commercial contracts, both domestic and international, including manufacturing, sales, agency, distribution, services and supply agreements including consumer compliance issues
• Incorporation of companies
• Establishing of branches
• Associations and various organizations
• Registration of representative offices
• Dissolution of companies
• Corporate restructuing
• Share transfers
• Legal advice on investments, capital markets, securities and privatization
• Legal assurance to corporate activity
• Company search and analysis
• Advice on tax issues: income tax, profit tax
• VAT legal related issues
• Legal assistance for various types of partnerships and arrangements
• Leasing transactions
• Supply and public acquisitions cont
• Debt recovery procedure
• Transfer of the company’s assets
• Reorganization of the companies, mergers and acquisitions projects
• Legal analyze and due-diligence
• Consultancy and advice regarding forming, function, liquidation, bankruptcy procedure, mergers and acquisition of the companies
• Setting up working points, branches
• Drafting legal documents: constitutive acts; additional acts; GMA decisions
• Fulfilling all the requirements regarding the Trade Registry procedure or any other public institutions
• Assistance in preparation and reviewing of the GMA meetings and the Board of directors, issuing the shares, the offers, increasing or decreasing the social capital of the companies
• Formation of the non-governmental organizations
• Foreign investments and off-shore companies
• Foreign entities taxation

E-Business, Media and Telecommunications


Our Firm advises numerous clients on laws which apply to their online services, and industry regulations which may apply to their local and national operations: tax aspects of e-commerce, liability resulting from the broadcasting of information (press, finance, stock market), on-line advertisement, on-line marketing and sales, consumer protection, secure payment and encoding, electronic signatures and contracts, dematerialized receipts and accounts, outsourcing of services, electronic administration and on-line public services, use of public data, etc.

Our Firm also undertakes our clients’ defense as regard to their on-line activities, especially during litigation concerning domain names, spamdexing, trademark and copyright infringements (texts, music, images, photographs, etc.), infringements of personality rights (defamation, slander, privacy rights, etc.), competitors' and employees' fraudulent or unfair practices, as well as computer offences, etc.

The IT sectors as well as the Telecoms are rather technical sectors and at first sight they appear to be more difficult for lawyers but we acquired good experience in these fields in the last years.

Our assistance in these sectors includes:

• Obtaining licenses and authorizations for telecommunications networks
• Ensuring regulatory compliance for telecom companies
• Legislation in the telecommunication field
• Licenses and authorizations
• Legislation in audiovisual field, legal provisions and sanctions of the National Audiovisual Council
• IT; infrastructure finance, projects and equipments
• Software license, technology transfer, internet utilization
• Interconnect agreements
• Outsourcing

Intellectual Property


Our practice area with regard to the intellectual property counselling is focused on the following:

• Patents
• Trademarks
• Trademark Surveys
• Design and Models
• Copyrights
• IP Litigation and Dispute Resolution
• Data Protection
• Legal advice on Greek intellectual property law
• Drafting contracts related to the protection of intellectual property
• Assistance and representation before the authorities linked to the intellectual property issues.

Licensing


Petalas & Partners Law Firm assists clients in a large range of licensing related legal services, being focused on:

• Registration, exploitation, transfer and protection
• Trademarks, inventions, innovations, copyright, know-how

Trademarks


We assist clients in:

• developing trademark filing strategies and coordinating trademark prosecution
• conducting national, international and Community trademark searches
• advising on rights in trade names, trade dress and unfair competition and in filing national, international and Community trademark applications.

We provide computer assisted maintenance and renewals of trademarks; domain name and corporate name acquisition, registration and maintenance and we represent clients in and coordinate trademark oppositions and appeals before the Greek Ministry of Development, as well as before OHIM - The Trade Marks and Designs Registration Office of the European Union and the World Intellectual Property Organization for International Trade Marks.

Civil Law


1. Family Law

Petalas & Partners Law Firm assists clients in a large range of family related legal issues, being focused on:

• Divorces, partitions, entrusting the minors, alimonies
• Paternity recognitions, paternity doubts, adoptions
• Adoption law
• Succession law

2. Labour Law

Petalas & Partners Law Firm assists clients in a large range of labour related legal issues, being focused on:

• Drafting employment contracts and employment regulations
• Legal advice on employment issues
• Legal solutions concerning the collective lay-outs, internal regulations, job description
• Legal solutions in view of collective lay-outs and various negotiations and representation in disputes with Trade Unions
• Transfer contracts between companies, branches of the some company or between the main company and other branches affiliated or not
• Legal advice in relation to the day to day issues of the companies
• Alternative solutions and wages outlines which concur to a fiscal optimization
• Mediation of the labor disputes
• Security and health on the working place
• Transfer of the companies: the dynamic of the working relation between employees of the sold company and the company bought
• Outlines for voluntary retirement
• Outlines for private pensions
• The state budget system
• Complex litigation in the field of labor law

Public Procurement


Petalas & Partners Law Firm is placed among the best-known law firms with respect to the legal provisions applicable to public procurement in Greece, a particularly technical sector, which requires an in-depth knowledge of both legal provisions and administrative procedures.

Arbitration / Mediation


We assist our clients in solving their business disputes (including those in arbitration or in insolvency cases) in an efficient manner.                                   

Banking


Petalas & Partners Law Firm assists clients in a large range of banking related legal services, being focused on:

• Loan facilities, including loan projects and documentations for loans
• Due-diligence reports and studies
• Bank operations including promissory notes, bill of exchange
• Internal and external leasing operation
• Legal assistance and consultancy in relation to listing, market withdraw and closure proceedings of companies
• Acquisitions of transferable securities, finance by capital market, public offers
• Legal assistance and advice in relation to making and license for the broker companies
• Bonds subscriptions or other transferable securities
• Legal advice concerning PPP
• Specific contracts for those activities

Finance, Stock Exchange and Securities


Petalas & Partners Law Firm assists clients in a large range of Finance, Stock Exchange and Securities related legal services, being focused on:

• Legal assistance concerning tax issues for the companies
• Customs law and classification taxes and duties
• Post-clearance recovery of customs duties
• VAT, excise duties, profit and revenue taxation involving Greek or foreign entities
• Taxation structures for mergers and divestures and insolvency matters
• Foreign investment incentives and relevant mechanisms
• Representation in front of Greek fiscal authorities and assistance during disputes involving such authorities

Mergers & Acquisitions


Mergers and acquisitions work represents a significant proportion of our activity, as we are specialised in complex national and cross-border transactions. We have particular expertise in the formation and acquisition of companies, advising on licenses requirements, regulatory compliance.

In the field of new business coming into Greece we offer a one-package services required to set-up a business in Greece (domiciliation of the head office, bookkeeping, identification of suitable residences, identification of business partners, recruitment of personnel etc).

The main advantage of our service is that a client who does not have yet a permanent presence in Greece can create and make operational its place of business here in a short time and with minimum efforts.

Our Firm advises foreign investors on the different methods of taking up stakes in Greek corporations, and undertakes legal audits, drafting and negotiating contracts, obtaining permissions from local authorities, contract monitoring.

Offshore Trust Accounts


Our comprehensive range of offshore services provides solutions to clients looking to minimize taxes, protect assets and limit liabilities.                                   

Project and Privatization


Our expertise in this area is based on a highly-developed technical knowledge of the regulations governing privatization and the public sector and extensive experience in securities and labor issues in this context.

Real Estate


Our Real Estate practice has unique experience in all types of real estate projects, from office buildings, residential and logistic related projects to handling concession agreements and public-private real estate partnerships.

We provide extensive assistance to our clients on real estate projects from inception to exit by performing due diligence analysis on the target property, drafting transaction documents, assisting in the negotiation process and providing clients with flexible and creative solutions to legal issues and deadlock situations and we undertake:

• Title checking
• Legal advice on property acquisition and disposal
• Transfer of property agreements

Competition and Consumer law


Our practice area with regard to counselling on Competition and Consumer issues is focused on the following:

• Legal advice in relation to the unfair competition
• Legal regime of the economic concentrations
• Proceeding for obtaining legal help from the state institutions
• Assistance and Representation in front of the Concurrence Council
• Consumer protection
• Exclusivity agreements
• Assistance and representation for determination of the protection of the commercial activity in relation with the consumers
• Consultancy in relation to the contracts between agents and consumers
• Assistance and representation in relation to the public institutions having competence on the field and with the consumers associations

Venture Capital Franchising


We offer a full range of services in all phases of franchise development and registration, including:

• design and preparation of franchise documents
• area development agreements
• franchising circulars
• master franchise agreements
• cooperative advertising agreements

Insurance


Petalas & Partners Law Firm provides advice on all aspects of the insurance business, focusing its counseling on:

• regulations on insurance companies and insurance brokers
• life and property and casualty insurance policies (contractual audits, reinsurance contracts, notified losses, advice on adequate insurance policies, drafting and analyzing insurance documents, etc.)
• assistance in services contracts, insurance sales (whether online or through brokers)
• tax aspects of insurance (taxation of insurance companies and brokers, taxes on insurance premiums and payments)
• litigation arising from insurance sales or claims, alleged unfair practices or anti-competitive behavior.

Our Firm thus acts for businesses present on the insurance market (insurers, brokers and reinsurers), as well as for any companies which either face insurance problems or wish to provide insurance services.

Litigation


Our practice area with regard to Litigation includes the following:

• Prelitigation assistance and negociation
• Preparing files for court or arbitration
• Litigation

Aviation


Our expertise in this area is based on:

• Drafting of various types of contracts
• Advisory services on transport legal issues
• Legal opinions on contracts, agreements and other legally binding documents
• Assistance in negotiation and closing contracts
• Disputes involving air freight carriers, contracts to operate aircraft, freight carriers and loaders’ liability

Maritime


Our expertise in this area is based on:

• Drafting of various types of contracts
• Advisory services on transport legal issues
• Legal opinions on contracts, agreements and other legally binding documents
• Assistance in negotiation and closing contracts
• Carriage contracts, ship arrests, Ship owner’s liability in tort, special liability under pollution laws, insurance