Gvinadze & Partners LLC > Tbilisi, Georgia > Firm Profile

Gvinadze & Partners LLC
10 Melikishvili Street
0179
Georgia

Georgia > Dispute resolution Tier 1

Gvinadze & Partners LLC‘s broad offering encompasses courtroom litigation, administrative disputes and commercial arbitrations in a wide range of fields including employment, IP and real estate.  The highly experienced Nick Gvinadze, described as ‘very reactive, pragmatic, strategic, and a top expert in his field’, leads the team. Zakaria Shvelidze is an acknowledged expert in labour law, training members of the Georgian judiciary on the subject. Litigator and patent attorney Sophie Panjikidze is also noted.

Practice head(s):

Nick Gvinadze

Other key lawyers:

Zakaria Shvelidze; Sophie Panjikidze

Testimonials

‘Highly capable technically and good to work with.’

‘Nick Gvinadze is excellent.’

‘Nick Gvinadze – very reactive, pragmatic, strategic, and a top expert in his field.’

Key clients

Catena Media UK

Tamagnone Di Marco Law Firm

European Broadcasting Union

Levenfeld Pearlstein LLC

Cushman & Wakefield (Veritas Brown Caucasus

LLC)

E&M Manufacturing Ltd.

Amorim & Irmãos, S.A.

MTU Maintenance Lease Services B.V.

Clifford Chance US LL

Mr. Franco Muzzone

Work highlights

  • Co-counselling with DLA Piper UK LLP to defend a major client in international arbitration proceedings in relation to breach of contract for a luxury hotel operation in Tbilisi.
  • Working with Stephenson Harwood LLP to advise an oil and gas exploration and production company in multijurisdictional arbitration and litigation proceedings.
  • Representing the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) in a dispute against one of the largest Georgian broadcasting companies regarding the recovery of significant debt and losses.

Georgia > Banking and finance Tier 2

The varied offering at Gvinadze and Partners includes representing international firms in tax and banking matters, supporting clients in Georgian-bank related KYC and AML mandates and assisting IFIs the EBRD and the ABD in major loans and financings. The team also frequently acts as local counsel for international law firms. Nick Gvinadze leads the practice and is supported by Sophie Panjikidze .

Practice head(s):

Nick Gvinadze

Other key lawyers:

Sophie Panjikidze

Key clients

European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD)

Asian Development Bank (ADB)

Viber Media SARL

Score Capital AG

Klarna Bank AB

GenesisAI

G-Core Labs S.A.

EnerMech

Global Benefits Group

China Development Bank (CDB)

Dreymoor Fertilizers Overseas Pte. Ltd.

Commerzbank AG

Raiffeisen Bank

Paysend Group

GEOLEB

Reed Smith / The World Bank

Georgia > Commercial, corporate and M&A Tier 2

The diverse offering at Gvinadze & Partners LLC includes advising on cross-border M&A transactions, assisting international companies with employment, antitrust and IP matters and representing corporate clients in tax mandates. An ‘in-depth understanding of local Georgian laws‘ has also allowed the practice to assist blue-chip clients with corporate restructurings following recent changes to Georgian company law. Nick Gvinadze heads the practice; he is supported by Sophie Panjikidze  who offers expertise on free trade issues and Zakaria Shvelidze who is noted for his strong background in employment law.

Practice head(s):

Nick Gvinadze

Other key lawyers:

Sophie Panjikidze; Zakaria Shvelidze

Testimonials

‘In-depth understanding of local Georgian laws.’

‘High level of professionalism, good interpersonal relationships.’

Key clients

Viber Media SARL

G-Core Labs S.A.

Global Benefits Group

King & Spalding / Amazon, Coca-Cola

Reed Smith LLP

Energize Global Services, Inc.

Monster Energy

Robert Bosch

SPORTRADAR GROUP

Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty Inc

Amplitude, Inc.

Covington & Burling LLC

Virtual Internet Services, Inc.

Branded Group SA

NEXTCLINICS International GmbH

SOCAR Midstream Operations Ltd.

Syneos Health

Dreymoor Fertilizers Overseas Pte. Ltd

EnerMech Limited

 

Work highlights

  • In collaboration with King & Spalding LLP, advising Amazon and the Coca-Cola Company on Georgian law regulations applicable to their operations in Georgia.
  • Assisting Rakuten and its subsidiary Viber Media SARL on all corporate and commercial law aspects of the launch of their activities and obtaining a special tax status in Georgia.
  • Providing corporate and commercial support to Robert Bosch, including on corporate structuring, tax, employment, data protection and competition law compliance matters.

Georgia > Real estate and construction (and projects) Tier 2

Led by the highly experienced Nick Gvinadze, Gvinadze & Partners LLC is active in contentious and non-contentious work for hoteliers, developers and various other key players in the real estate and construction sector. An additional area of expertise is energy and infrastructure; the firm routinely assists with construction, permits and zoning regulation for large-scale projects, with wind farms, hydropower plants and oil and gas projects among the team’s recent mandates. Sophie Panjikidze and Zakaria Shvelidze are also noted.

Practice head(s):

Nick Gvinadze

Other key lawyers:

Sophie Panjikidze; Zakaria Shvelidze

Work highlights

  • Providing Georgian law advice to Sinohydro Corporation, a major Chinese state-owned company that leads several major multi-million roads rehabilitation/reconstruction projects in Georgia.
  • Advising the Asian Development Bank (ADB) in relation to its $100m loan to the Georgian Government supporting reforms in the major state-owned enterprises operating in the energy, infrastructure and construction sectors.
  • Assisting the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) in the financing of the development, construction and operation of what will be the largest wind power plant in Georgia.

The firm: Gvinadze & Partners is a leading Georgian business law firm with a long and successful history of serving inward investment in Georgia. In this crucial post-independence period of Georgia’s development, the firm has represented the lion’s share of a truly diverse international clientele, ranging from international NGOs and diplomatic missions to industrial giants, multilateral lending institutions and multi-billion oil and gas consortia. The firm’s experience is equally diverse and all-inclusive, ranging from start up guidance and incorporation of numerous investment vehicles to representation in some of the most noteworthy and complicated projects of the region in the past two decades. Gvinadze & Partners is equally well-known for its dispute resolution expertise, having acted in some of the highest profile disputes in the Georgian courts as well as in international arbitration, and having provided quality support to many cross-border arbitration and litigation matters involving Georgian law, including successful enforcement of a number of foreign arbitral awards in Georgia.

Throughout the firm’s various name changes and reincarnations since the early 1990s, its core value and the key element to its success has been the unparalleled and uncompromised quality of the firm’s legal work. Indeed, ever since the early days of Gvinadze & Partners’ legacy firm GCG Law Office, its law practice has been known as the highest quality legal service provider in Georgia. The firm is proud that in a difficult transitional period it has been at the forefronts of the development of Georgia’s newly born legal profession, and has aspired to the highest standards of professional ethics with the clients and peers alike.

Areas of practice: Gvinadze & Partners prides itself on over two decades of extensive private practice experience in all key areas of business law, such as corporate and M&A, banking and finance, capital markets, energy and infrastructure, real estate and construction, tax and customs, dispute resolution, intellectual property, employment and competition. The firm is led by three partners and is supported by highly experienced counsel and associates.

Perhaps the most telling example of the firm’s profound expertise in virtually every area of business law is its role as lead Georgian legal counsel throughout the planning, negotiation and implementation of all the major oil and gas pipeline projects in transit through Georgia – the Baku-Supsa, Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan (BTC), and South Caucasus Pipeline (SCP) projects, which have put Georgia firmly on the energy map of Europe and assured its strategic place as the nexus of the modern silk road. The firm’s 15 years of intensive work on these projects of the century has involved the widest possible spectrum of commercial law practice, including drafting, negotiation and implementation of complex intergovernmental and host government agreements, legislative drafting, representation in multi-billion secured syndicated financing, elaboration, documentation and implementation of detailed land acquisition strategies, detailed advice on a myriad of real property, tax and customs, environmental, labour, permitting and contractual matters, and finally successful resolution of hundreds of compensation, environmental and right of way disputes in the Georgian courts.

Nick Gvinadze (managing partner) with nearly a quarter of a century in busy private practice, he has accumulated abundant experience in the whole spectrum of both Georgian and cross-border commercial law, with particular focus on energy, infrastructure, tax and dispute resolution. Nick has advised on a number of key foreign investment projects in Georgia, including major oil and gas transportation projects in the Caspian region, and has acted in a number of higher profile proceedings in the Georgian Courts as well as in international arbitration.

Sophie Panjikidze (partner) having started with the legacy firm Georgian Consulting Group (GCG Law Office) back in 2002, Sophie has been responsible for successful incorporation, reorganization and winding up of many dozens of foreign investment vehicles, and has advised on a number of complex cross-border corporate and finance transactions as well as major privatization matters. With nearly 15 years of extensive private practice experience, Sophie has acquired valuable expertise in corporate, banking and finance, contracts, real estate, labor, insurance, IP and competition law matters, and has also been instrumental in supporting the firm’s extensive litigation practice with important background research and due diligence.

Zakaria Shvelidze (partner) Zakaria’s practice encompasses a wide area of civil and administrative law and dispute resolution, with particular expertise in energy and infrastructure, construction contracts and permitting, land and real estate, tax and labor matters. With nearly a decade at the firm, Zakaria has advised and represented the interests of numerous foreign investors in Georgia. In addition to his broad transactional experience, Zakaria is an experienced dispute resolution lawyer with an impressive track record of successfully completed matters in Georgian courts as well as in numerous administrative proceedings in front of various governmental and municipal agencies of Georgia.

DepartmentNameEmailTelephone
Corporate M&A Nick Gvinadze
Corporate M&A Sophie Panjikidze
Banking and finance Nick Gvinadze
Banking and finance Sophie Panjikidze
Energy and infrastructure Nick Gvinadze
Energy and infrastructure Zakaria Shvelidze
Real estate and construction Nick Gvinadze
Real estate and construction Zakaria Shvelidze
Tax and customs Nick Gvinadze
Tax and customs Zakaria Shvelidze
Dispute resolution Nick Gvinadze
Dispute resolution Zakaria Shvelidze
Privatisations and regulatory compliance Sophie Panjikidze
Privatisations and regulatory compliance Zakaria Shvelidze
Intellectual property Nick Gvinadze
Intellectual property Sophie Panjikidze
Employment Sophie Panjikidze
Employment Zakaria Shvelidze
Antitrust Nick Gvinadze
Antitrust Sophie Panjikidze
Capital markets Nick Gvinadze
Capital markets Sophie Panjikidze
Restructuring and insolvency Nick Gvinadze
Restructuring and insolvency Sophie Panjikidze
Private equity Nick Gvinadze
Private equity Sophie Panjikidze
Number of lawyers : 16
English
French
Georgian
German
Russian
American Chamber of Commerce in Georgia
International Chamber of Commerce (ICC) Georgia
Georgian-Swiss Business Association
EU-Georgian Business Council (EUGBC)
German Economic Association (DWV)
Chamber of Commerce and Industry France-Georgia