Interview with: Maria Papaefstathiou Damianos, Partner

Maria Papaefstathiou Damianos, Partner, explains how the firm is adapting to clients’ changing needs.

 

What do you see as the main points that differentiate Michael Damianos & Co LLC from your competitors?

We are an internationally minded law firm and the majority of the work that we do is international, being instructed by international law firms, financial institutions or other international organisations that do work in or via Cyprus.

The firm provides practical, commercial and non-academic advice which tends to be to the point.  As the firm’s founder has spent time in the City of London with two international law firms, the firm has been set up and grown to satisfy the needs of instructing counsel, such as to be responsive and to make instructing counsel feel that the firm is their own office presence in Cyprus (just like having an office in another part of the world).

 

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

We see growth in demand mainly in international acquisitions work in the technology and healthcare sectors.  Having said that, we also see a lot of demand in foreign corporations setting up offices or even moving their headquarters in Cyprus, which is something that provides growth for real estate, commercial, employment law and immigration work.

 

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

As the firm has grown over the years, it has been spilt into different departments such as the transactional department (dealing mostly in corporate and finance work), the advisory department (dealing with all types of commercial related work), the private client department, the corporate services and the business immigration department.

 

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

Technology has, especially during recent years, facilitated to a great extent our way of interacting with clients.  Meetings are now taking place online through various channels and this provides value to the client, in terms of not losing time in going back and forth in physical meetings, especially from and to different countries, unless it is essential.

 

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

The firm is committed to providing value to the businesses of all its clients and help them achieve the best possible result.  This is achieved through the professionalism and dedication of the members of the firm as well as their responsiveness, all of which drive the end result.

Our firm has recently acted as a key strategic counsel to a long-standing client, an international software developer, in the acquisition and subsequent integration of two entities, including a strategic Cyprus-based target.  Beyond traditional deal execution, the firm structured a streamlined post-merger corporate structure that eliminated operational redundancies.  By navigating complex competition and merger control hurdles, we successfully assisted in the transition of the client from a fragmented multi-entity model to a unified, high-efficiency operation. This resulted in a leaner, more cost-effective corporate structure that has significantly reduced the client’s ongoing regulatory and compliance burdens.

 

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

We see the firm expanding in the services it provides, in the regions that it is active in, and growing in numbers of employees, clients and of course revenue and profits.  We see it growing and expanding its technology, employee incentives and healthcare services.