An in-depth look at Mika Lalaouni of Drakopoulos covering her career path, education, and top projects as a lawyer as well as a few insights about her as a manager at work and as a person outside the office.

In The Corner Office, we ask Managing Partners at law firms across Central and Eastern Europe about their backgrounds, strategies, and responsibilities. With the first quarter of 2023 wrapped up, we turned to the future and asked: In which practice area do you expect the most growth – in terms of work volume – in the next 12 months?

The real estate market in Greece has risen the most in the last years, creating attractive incentives for institutional investors, who are constantly seeking optimal investment structures to implement their large-scale real estate projects. A highly popular investment vehicle among seasoned real estate players has been the Real Estate Investment Company (REIC), which promises investors financial benefits and a more stable and favorable tax regime.

In The Corner Office, we ask Managing Partners at law firms across Central and Eastern Europe about their backgrounds, strategies, and responsibilities. Keeping in mind last year’s complexities and the uncertainties ahead, this time we asked: Has your team shrunk or increased in the last 12 months and what are your expectations for 2023?

The last few years have seen a long list of investors turning their eyes to the Greek renewable energy source market and an abundance of new projects being developed throughout the country – to the extent that one would assume an excessive capacity of the Greek distribution network. Sadly, that is not the case. The occupation of grid space has been very loosely regulated for quite a long time, and final grid connection offers (GCOs) have been granted to licensed producers largely on a first come first served basis, and without any specific priority requirements.

Drakopoulos has advised Procaffe on the acquisition of a local distribution network from Sinbrico and the establishment of Procaffe's Greek subsidiary.

Drakopoulos has advised the Orphee Beinoglou shareholders on their sale of an 80% stake in the company to HIG Capital. Your Legal Partners advised the buyer. AKL reportedly advised Eurobank on financing aspects.

Drakopoulos has advised UK-based engineering consultancy Ricardo on its EUR 27 million acquisition of a 93% stake in E3-Modelling. Mentis-Filopoulou and Associates reportedly advised the seller.

2022 was a difficult year. To put a more positive spin on things, Rojs Peljhan Prelesnik & Partners Managing Partner Bojan Sporar, Deloitte Legal Senior Managing Associate Ened Topi, Redcliffe Partners Managing Partner Olexiy Soshenko, Drakopoulos Managing Partner Panagiotis Drakopoulos, and Polenak Partner Tatjana Shishkovska share what was, for them, the biggest positive surprise in 2022.

The recent decision no. 35/2022 issued by the Hellenic Data Protection Authority (HDPA) on July 13, 2022 (Decision), marked a record-high EUR 20 million fine against US company Clearview AI Inc. (Clearview). This Decision adds even higher pressure on Clearview, on top of other data protection authorities’ (DPAs) relevant decisions (French, Italian, British), while a similar decision is expected soon by the Austrian regulator, all as a response to a series of complaints filed by an alliance of non-profit privacy-driven organizations.

Contributed by Drakopoulos.

Drakopoulos has advised the European Commission's Directorate-General for Energy on reviewing the transposition process of Directive 2018/2001 (RED II) on the promotion of the use of energy from renewable sources into the Greek legal framework. Dimitrov Petrov & Co, Kirm Perpar, Wardynski & Partners, and Kinstellar Croatian affiliate Zuric i Partneri advised on the transposition review in Bulgaria, Slovenia, Poland, and Croatia, respectively. CLM Bitai & Partners and Vojcik & Partners also reportedly advised the European Commission.

The highlight of Drakopoulos’ work this year would be corporate and M&A, according to Managing Partner Panagiotis Drakopoulos, as a result of the overall Greek business climate and the country’s good position geopolitically, making it particularly attractive for foreign direct investments.

Public procurement in Greece by entities operating in the energy sector is regulated, mainly, by Law 4412/2016 on Public works, supplies, and services contracts – Transposition of Directives 2014/24/EU and 2014/25/EU. Public tenders are conducted via the National System of Electronic Public Procurement and the award of public contracts must comply with the general principles of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union, namely equal treatment, non-discrimination, mutual recognition, proportionality, and transparency.

The growth rate of public-private partnerships (PPPs) in Greece, which commenced almost four years ago and retained the same dynamics throughout the COVID-19 era despite the internationally unfavorable economic environment, remains undoubtedly impressive.

Entering into force on February 19, 2021, the EU Recovery and Resilience Facility aimed, according to the European Commission, “to mitigate the economic and social impact of the coronavirus pandemic and make European economies and societies more sustainable, resilient, and better prepared for the challenges and opportunities of the green and digital transitions.” CEE Legal Matters spoke with lawyers from Bulgaria, Greece, Hungary, Latvia, Poland, and Romania to learn what each country focused on, with its Recovery and Resilience Plan (RRP), and what difficulties lie ahead, now that these plans have been submitted to the EC.

Despite current geopolitical challenges and the related inflation and price hikes, the current situation in Greece is much better compared to the COVID-19 crisis, with increasing interest in the country's hospitality sector, according to Drakopoulos Partner Michalis Kosmopoulos.

January is always a good time to look back, take stock, and make plans. And 2021, while a complicated year, was in no way uneventful. Across CEE, we’ve had lawyers and law firms variously reporting on – besides the obvious pandemic-related restrictions and increased work flexibility – a record year for M&A transactions, growing green energy, effervescent capital markets, a surprisingly solid real estate sector, ascendant ESG practices, a renewed focus on infrastructure, and TMT going from strength to strength.