Litigation and dispute resolution work is central to the Firm’s practice. Our team of lawyers have extensive experience and broad expertise in high-value domestic and cross-border international disputes which has allowed our Firm throughout the years to navigate complex disputes with ease.
Due to the international nature of the shipping industry which is our core industry practice area our Firm enjoys an impressive reputation for its expertise and legal skill both in domestic as well as international litigation and in both ad hoc and institutional arbitration cases on both maritime and non-maritime/general commercial matters. The Firm is involved predominantly in:
(a) complex domestic litigations before Greek Courts with multi-jurisdictional or cross-border elements.
(b) in ICC, LCIA, LMAA (maritime and commercial) and even recently JAMS as well as PAMA and the Hellenic Chamber of Shipping arbitrations.
(c) in complex cross-border court litigations around the world through a network of international law firms developed over a long standing presence over five decades of the Firm’s international activity (appointing local lawyers and providing strategic handling of the cases).
The Firm’s senior partner, Gregory Timagenis, has also been appointed regularly as an arbitrator in ICC and Hellenic Chamber of Shipping arbitrations.
ADR
In the context of ADR, our Firm uses and has used (where appropriate) alternative dispute resolution and settlement procedures. This has proved in a number of cases highly beneficial for the Firm’s clients saving clients’ management time and costs and removing the uncertainties that any litigation inherently has.
General Commercial and Banking Litigation
In the general commercial and banking litigation sectors (non-shipping), our Firm has been involved in a high profile litigation cases, defending a major Greek Bank in Swiss Francs Loans cases. This includes recent successes before the plenary session of the Greek Supreme Court and before the European Court of Human Rights, solving issues affecting thousands of similar cases.
In other landmark cases our Firm successfully acted for a major Greek bank in one of the largest class actions in Greek litigation history filed against it by approximately four thousand claimants (borrowers and personal guarantors).
Another high profile case involved the representation of a foreign government in a $318 million lawsuit before the Greek Courts against a major Greek shipping company for the latter’s role in the export of crude oil.
Shipping Litigation
Specifically, in the area of Shipping Litigation, the Firm is consistently involved in high profile and innovative litigations involving complex issues of liability in relation to shipping debts, jurisdictional issues, family and corporate shareholder disputes, asset tracing and recovery as well as admiralty cases, including major pollution cases and casualties. A number of those cases are currently shaping the Greek shipping litigation case law.
In the context of emergency procedures and injunctive relief, our Firm can act on short notice on any form of injunctive relief and predominantly in respect of ship arrest and casualty emergency response.
The Firm has dealt with some of the most innovative matters in Greek (and in some cases international) legal practice. In the context of shipping litigation, the Firm has been involved before the Piraeus Courts (maritime claims division) and before foreign courts in debt recovery claims for banks and other creditors at both domestic and cross-border scale as well as high value cross-border shipping shareholders’ disputes. More specifically, its experience on the field of shipping finance and shipping litigation includes proceedings related to the enforcement of judgments and arbitral awards, enforcement of mortgages on ships or real estate, arrest of vessels, bank account attachments and in general enforcement of the entire security package of a ship finance loan agreement, jurisdictional disputes, performing asset searches, corporate veil piercing proceedings and imposing interim charges such as provisional orders, prenotations or similar charges on assets etc. including defending ship-owners, ship managers and operators against similar proceedings.
Enforcement of Arbitration Awards
We are consistently instructed to assist with enforcement of international commercial arbitration awards of any jurisdiction within the New York Convention. By way of illustration, indicative highlights include:
- Successfully declaring enforceable a CAS Arbitration Award on behalf of a global non-profit independent sports international organisation against a Greek company and initiating enforcement proceedings in Greece for more than US$4 million (principal) (before the Court of First Instance and Court of Appeal).
- Successfully acting against a major international Korean shipyard on behalf of a Greek management company and guarantor in the enforcement of a London arbitration award of more than US$11 million and reaching favourable settlement (Korean shipyard paying the Greek company).
- Successfully defending and reaching a favourable settlement in enforcement proceedings (enforcement of an award issued by DIS) initiated by a German manufacturer (of shipping pumps) against a Greek ship management company (Piraeus First Instance Court and Court of Appeal).
- Successfully enforcing an English Arbitration Award on behalf of charterers combined with piercing the corporate veil proceedings before the Piraeus First Instance Court forcing respondents to settle the Award in full.
Litigation Cases Supervision – Legal Opinions to be used in Foreign Court Proceedings
Our Firm is continuously instructed to get involved in existing-ongoing cases handled by other firms to either “supervise” the existing law firm and/or to actively handle and/or take over an ongoing case (particularly in higher courts –Court of Appeal and Supreme Court).
Our Firm has been recognized for its excellence in dispute resolution and arbitration by peers, clients and various legal publications. We are proud of our reputation for providing high-quality legal services to our clients with integrity and professionalism.