Polycarpos Philippou & Associates LLC

The firm: We are an independent family-owned law firm in Cyprus offering trusted advice and representation of a world class standard. We have been acting for individuals, families and foreign investors since 1980 and over time our clientele has extended to include some of the biggest companies in Cyprus, local authorities and high net-worth individuals in relation to their international planning and dealings in Cyprus and abroad.

The practice was started by Polycarpos Philippou, the senior partner of the firm, back in 1980 initially focusing on litigation. Polycarpos, or Polis for those close to him, was and still is a vigorous fighter in Court and an ethical idealist. In 2002, Eleni Philippou joined the firm bringing her highly organised nature and setting the processes that allowed the firm to grow and develop, predominantly in the real estate sector.

In 2013 Gregoris Philippou joined the practice after completing his training with a well-known law firm in Nicosia. Having specialized in corporate and commercial work as well as trusts, the firm’s offering increased. Today our team is evidencing steady growth as we still value quality over numbers. We are currently a team of 13 and while we may not be one of the biggest firms in Cyprus in headcount, we are compact enough to ensure that the people in our team are exceptional and properly trained.

The family character of the firm has extended to the rest of our members and underpins our culture, which is based on combining innovation with traditional values. By building on Polycarpos’ legacy, we truly strive to be the best by achieving results, continuously improving and maintaining an ethical but vigorous stance in our dealings. This is crucial in continuing to create long-term relationships with our clients and their families.

Areas of practice: We mostly work with foreign private clients in most if not all aspects of their issues, including immigration, investment, litigation, corporate and commercial aspects.

In the immigration sphere we successfully handle dozens of applications for Citizenship and Permanent Residency every year. We also handle a large number of property purchases and sales and have also assisted several of our clients to create viable joint ventures with local partners for the development of major real estate and other projects. At the same time we have also protected international agents for their dealings and financials in Cyprus and have secured the issuance of title deeds for purchasers of properties who found themselves in dead end.

Our litigation practice has successfully handled many major commercial litigation disputes as well as property, planning and construction disputes. Where necessary we have secured freezing or other injunctions and have successfully set aside such injunctions against our clients. Among other we have recently secured a worldwide freezing injunction for €30.000.000 against a Russian businessman, acted on a €35.000.000 international fraud claim, successfully defended claims in a multimillion international trust dispute and obtained judgment in several commercial claims.

In the corporate and trusts department we incorporate companies, assist with corporate finance (including bonds, convertible shares etc.), handle the companies’ administration (provision of nominees, shareholder agreements, tailored articles of association etc.), transfer the centre of operations of clients, dealing with tax issues, conduct mergers and acquisitions, draft international trusts and act as trustees.

Lastly a significant part of our work is helping individual clients investing or resident in Cyprus to protect their wealth and tax efficiently transfer it to the future generations. We have advised on the taxation effects and assisted in the formulation of prudent international tax planning in co-operation with the clients’ advisors abroad and have set up trusts, foundations and companies to protect the wealth and prevent family disputes from arising.