Maria Papaefstathiou Damianos, Managing Partner
Managing partner Maria Papaefstathiou Damianos explains how the firm is adapting to clients’ changing needs.
1) 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).
2) 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.
3) 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.
This is very beneficial and important for clients who have different needs and need to be serviced via different departments and not merely by specific lawyers on all matters.
4) 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.
5) 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.
The firm has recently acted for a long-standing client, who has founded a fintech real estate company, that is being managed by experienced real estate and technology professionals. We assisted with the legal aspects of the start-up’s website and online platform, including the preparation of terms and conditions, privacy notices, disclaimers, cookies policies, legal documents as well as the handling of data protection matters. Having a proper and compliant website is vital for our client’s business.
6) 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.