While Turkish firms have dropped out of The Euro Elite this year, recession continues to plague firms in Greece
The financial crisis in Greece continues to affect the legal market and reduce volumes of work, following the unsettling negotiations between the Greek government and its international creditors, and the six-month anti-austerity strike by Greece’s lawyers last year. However, some argue a modest rebound is in sight.
‘There are international equity funds that are beginning to invest in hospitals, real estate companies and new banking licences. So there is some movement, but of course the number of transactions is still smaller than it used to be,’ says Panayotis Bernitsas, managing partner of Athens firm Bernitsas Law. ‘The smaller firms that depend exclusively on Greek clients were affected most. Some have disappeared. The only ones surviving, like us, are the bigger ones with an international dimension and we have seen some stability.’
But despite the fact that several small law firms have disappeared in Greece and this is significantly decreasing competition at mid to low level, there is still plenty of pressure in terms of hourly rates.
‘There is a tendency, especially for certain law firms, to underprice their services. We are trying to resist that. But clients are much more aggressive, have many more expectations, so one has to be very careful with quality of service and pricing policies,’ Bernitsas adds. ‘If the cashflow of the Greek market improves, there will be some better terms and one can expect a sustainable growth of the legal market.’
2016 was a turbulent year for Turkey, a country going through terrorist threats, an attempted coup over the summer and a tight referendum earlier this year, controversially conferring the president new powers.
Pekin & Pekin and Hergüner Bilgen Özeke, owing to their relatively small size, fell out of the 100 this year, while Yüksel Karkın Küçük, which was raided by the authorities and shut down following the coup attempt, has disappeared entirely.
While it is widely agreed that the unsettled environment in Turkey visibly led to a decline in transactional activity, opinion is divided as to whether this has significantly affected the legal market.
‘It’s not a very positive story in terms of western appetite for investment in Turkey, among instability and uncertainty,’ Jason Mogg, managing partner of CEE firm Kinstellar, asserts.
Elias Neocleous, managing partner of Cyprus’ largest firm, Elias Neocleous & Co, agrees: ‘The legal market in Turkey has been affected, mainly by the western perception that there is no rule of law. But the legal market in Turkey is big so firms still benefit at the top tier. I wouldn’t be surprised if some of the big banks start having problems with their loan portfolios and will need to raise more capital, generating good, interesting work for top law firms there.’
Neocleous adds that Cyprus is broadly viewed as a ‘small oasis of stability’ and an antidote to the turbulence experienced in the eastern Mediterranean. ‘Because it is part of the EU/eurozone with an attractive business and tax legal regime, it is perceived as a place where businesses may come and create a base if something bad happens in their home countries. Cyprus is benefiting no doubt – we have a lot of people coming here from the turbulent countries in the Middle East.’ LB
georgiana.tudor@legalease.co.uk
| Firm | Country | Total lawyers | Total partners | No. of offices |
| Elias Neocleous & Co | Cyprus | 134 | 18 | 9 |
| Kyriakides Georgopoulos Law Firm | Greece | 87 | 19 | 2 |
| Zepos & Yannopoulos | Greece | 58 | 22 | 1 |
| PotamitisVekris | Greece | 55 | 10 | 2 |
| Bernitsas Law | Greece | 50 | 11 | 1 |