EY Law

Of Counsel

Zakaria Shvelidze serves as an Of Counsel at EY Georgia. He joined EY’s legal practice in September 2023 after previously holding a partner position at one of the leading Georgian law firms.

Zakaria is an experienced lawyer with several areas of expertise. He is a seasoned litigator with practice primarily focusing on complex dispute resolution matters, including the areas of cross-border investments, land and real estate, energy, infrastructure, civil, bankruptcy and administrative law. His practice also encompasses corporate and commercial advisory, providing strategic counsel and client representation in a wide area of transactional matters. Zakaria assists clients in negotiating, drafting, navigating and enforcing contracts in various industries, including global retail, franchises, hospitality, insurance sector.

Zakaria is renowned for his expertise in national and international labour law. He provides comprehensive representation and advisory services to both national and international clients on all aspects of labour law including employment disputes, redundancies/terminations, industrial relations, labour regulatory and policy compliances, cross-border and multi-jurisdictional labour and HR projects. Zakaria's contributions in the field have played a pivotal role in shaping labour law reforms in Georgia, involving the development of labour legislation – labour code, law on labour safety, labour inspection law and several governmental orders. He is a co-editor and author of commentaries on the Labour Code of Georgia, and author of numerous academic publications who regularly serves as an expert speaker at national and international conferences on labour laws and regulations.

Zakaria holds both - LL.M and PhD degrees from the Faculty of Law at Tbilisi State University. With over 15 years of scholarly experience, he has been teaching labour law classes at the same university. He has enhanced his academic experience through the successful completion of a visiting scholarship program at the University of Washington, School of Law in Seattle, USA. Since 2014, Zakaria has served as a member of the International Labour Organization (ILO) group of trainers dedicated to developing and delivering training sessions on Labour Law and International Labour Standards for the judiciary in Georgia. He regularly delivers trainings for the members of the Georgian Bar Association and labour inspectorate.

Georgian, English, Russian, French.

Georgian Bar Association Georgian Association of Arbitrators