Nicolas Kanellopoulos – Chara Zerva & Associates > Athens, Greece > Firm Profile

Nicolas Kanellopoulos, Managing Partner

What do you see as the main points that differentiate “Nicolas Kanellopoulos- Chara Zerva and Associates Law Firm” from your competitors?

“Nicolas Kanellopoulos- Chara Zerva and Associates” is a Law Firm that focuses on providing high quality legal services to its clients. Our team consists of proactive, experienced, innovative and collaborative lawyers, who are determined to do an outstanding job, to go the extra mile to meet and exceed the expectations of our clients always based on high-quality ethical values and professional standards.

Which practices do you see growing in the next 12 months? What are the drivers behind that?

In a constantly evolving environment and taking into account the transition to a digital era, the field of data protection and security seems to gradually gain more attention in the legal field. The recent challenges of the Covid-19 pandemic underlined the importance of the new technologies as a way to promote products, as well as provide services to the public.  Moreover, there is a growing interest in the real estate and energy field. Taking the above into account, we expect to see growing our GDPR, as well as the Real Estate and Energy Departments.

What’s the main change you’ve made in the firm that will benefit clients?

Our Law Firm has expanded during the last years, developing specialized teams per field of Law, thus achieving the highest level of expertise and developing unique solutions for its clients. Moreover, we have modernized our internal processes with the help of new technologies in order to offer to our clients innovative, strategic and forward-thinking solutions.

Is technology changing the way you interact with your clients, and the services you can provide them?

Since the beginning of the Covid-19 pandemic, our Law Firm has managed to adapt its way of operation to the new and exceptional circumstances. It was also a chance to expand the Firm’s use of new technology tools which enabled us to provide our services in a more efficient manner while maintaining the same level of high quality. However, the traditional face to face interaction with the clients remains of prime essence for us.

Can you give us a practical example of how you have helped a client to add value to their business?

Our Law Firm provides data protection officer (DPO) services to major stakeholders of the public and private sector. As such, it has played an important role in the organization and implementation of the compliance projects of its clients. More specifically, our Law Firm has been involved in the planning, deployment and implementation of significant projects, both in terms of ensuring the accuracy and quality of data (e.g. data cleansing projects), as well as in terms of expanding their business through the launch of targeted marketing campaigns, while complying with the requirements of the GDPR and the applicable national legislation.

Are clients looking for stability and strategic direction from their law firms – where do you see the firm in three years’ time?

Our Law Firm invests in long-term relationships with a focus on understanding clients’ businesses, including their changing goals, strategies and challenges. We have a hands-on approach and work hard to stay at the forefront of emerging legal issues and developments that impact our clients’ businesses – and work even harder to keep them informed. As a matter of fact, being proactive and adapting to the evolving market needs, means that new sectors will bloom and further expand.

Chara Zerva, Managing Partner

Chara Zerva, Managing Partner explains the business oriented approach of NKLAW FIRM

What do you see as the main points that differentiate NKLAW FIRM from your competitors?

If I could briefly describe our key element in the competition field is our passion to efficiency and the commitment to our clients. Our daily main objective is to assist our clients in achieving their goals, efficiently and in the time framework that will enable them to thrive. Being a business-oriented law firm, we daily compete with the need to provide fast and high-quality legal consultation services, that will enable our clients to take business decisions, which are well researched from a risk-based approach. Our tactics to work under a strict code of ethics, our profound expertise that combine our partners and associates’ common efforts, lead to a result-driven and client-focused business approach. With a proven expertise in both private and public sector, we are in the unique position to provide legal services that satisfy the business needs of our clients in this new complex era. What is more, our Law Firm efficiently combines the structure of a large law firm and the flexibility of a compact boutique law firm, with checks, balances, and personal daily input of the top- end management.

Which practices do you see growing in the next 12 months? What are the drivers behind that?

Over the past years, investment-friendly reforms in the Greek legal system, such as the significantly reduced taxation for labor and capital, the reform of the Strategic Investments legal framework, the investment incentives deriving primarily from the Recovery and Resilience Fund and the NSRF 2021-2027 and the overhaul of the public procurement framework, are transforming the “red tape” into a “red carpet” for welcoming investments. The effects of this structural shift are expected to become even more evident in attracting and promoting investments in Greece. A significant amount of investments which is expected to be channeled into tourism development, new tech, energy projects and business parks seem to be the most promising investment sectors for the post-covid period. Having supervised the assessment of strategic investments in Greece during the last 13 years, our Law Firm can by rights claim to have imputable expertise in the provision of business oriented legal services.

What’s the main change you’ve made in the firm that will benefit clients?

In 2023, significant changes have taken place in the Law Firm’s partnership blend. More precisely, having successfully served for a long time as Senior Counsels our Law Firm, four new partners have been added to the scheme. Having demonstrated excellent scientific expertise and undeniable ethic values, Dimitrios Tsonis is appointed as Head of the litigation team, Pelopidas Tserepas as Head of the real estate team, Ira Chioni as Head of the Data Protection (GDPR) team and George Patrikios as Head of Public Law and Public Procurement team. Further transforming long-lasting collaborations into partnerships, and addressing acknowledgement to commitment, efficiency and faith, the addition of our new Partners to our Law Firm’s structure adds forces to the partnership and upscales our dynamics.

Is technology changing the way you interact with your clients, and the services you can provide them?

Our Law Firm makes use of all the new technology tools, which enable us to provide our legal services in real time even remotely, while maintaining the same level of high quality, serving different geographical sites, during the day. Teleconferences serve in a more effective use of time. New technologies in the judicial sector facilitate services, better time allocation and due allocation of information. However, we highly encourage face to face meetings, if necessary or desired in order to build or further elaborate strong and trusted relationships with our clients.

Can you give us a practical example of how you have helped a client to add value to their business?

Being extremely experienced in both the public and private sector, we provide our clients a blend of market based legal advice bearing a thorough consideration of rules and constraints in the procedural arena. Having said that, I would point out efficient job performed supporting both the departments as well as, at a Board of Directors level, Enterprise Greece in assessing positively all strategic investments in Greece last year, evaluating projects and compatibility with grants and state aid issues, or assessing and implementing corporate governance policies and procedures to distribute in transparency NSRSF funds through HDB, or adsorbing funds from the Recovery and Resilience Fund through fast and reliable services rendered to the relevant ecosystem. Our added value to our private sector Clients resides to our multilayered involvement in all funding or granting pipelines, as well as to the provision of legal assistance and advice in investment friendly mechanisms they undertook.

Are clients looking for stability and strategic direction from their law firms – where do you see the firm in three years’ time?

More than ever before, clients are seeking law firms that truly understand the nature of their business and are capable of providing strategic and tailored made legal advice, quickly and reliably. Our Law Firm invests in long-term relationships with a focus on understanding the clients’ business, mentality, and modus operandi, including their changing goals, strategies and challenges and strives to be their partner in success. In that sense, investing in setting in place a legal but, at the same time, efficient corporate environment, along with using all new legal instruments, including flattering financial pipelines, or other incentives, such as fast track licensing and/ or tax benefits is of prime significance. In other words, drafting clean corporate rules and processes in terms of corporate governance combined with profound knowledge of ways of exploitation of all modern funding lines or ways to create and / or maximise business growth, is a prominent window in the new era.