Areas of Practice
Victoria-Zoi Papagiannis is a Partner in the firm’s Litigation and Dispute Resolution department, with a distinguished practice in complex, high-value commercial and corporate litigation and arbitration.
Victoria has extensive experience in cross-border and multijurisdictional disputes and has successfully acted for multinational corporations and HNW individuals in a large number of high-stake cases involving fraud, misrepresentation, breach of contract, breach of fiduciary duties and negligence. She is highly regarded for her expertise in securing and defending urgent injunctive relief – including freezing, disclosure, search, and anti-suit injunctions – in support of both domestic and international court and arbitral proceedings (ad hoc and institutional).
She is also regularly involved in intellectual property litigation, advising and representing high-profile technology and video games companies in disputes relating to trade mark and copyright infringement, as well as passing off.
Victoria has extensive experience in proceedings for the recognition and enforcement of foreign court judgments and arbitral awards in Cyprus, where she frequently represents both private and public entities, including foreign states.
Victoria’s reputation for excellence in dispute resolution has been widely recognised. She was named ‘Cyprus Lawyer of the Year’ in Dispute Resolution at the 2021 Benchmark Litigation Europe Awards, while she is consistently ranked and recommended by leading international directories, including Chambers and Partners, Legal 500, and Benchmark Litigation.
A thought leader in her field, she regularly contributes to international legal publications such as Wolters Kluwer, Chambers and Partners, Lexology, ICLG, and Getting the Deal Through, and participates as a speaker in international legal conferences. She recently served as Vice-President of the Cyprus Bar Association’s Committee on International and European Law.
‘Victoria-Zoi Papagiannis is an outstanding lawyer. She is extremely hard-working and delivers on time. I have worked with her in five cases involving a multitude of complex issues and she is a star.’ TheLegal 500
“Victoria-Zoi Papagiannis is outstanding. She is knowledgeable, she has excellent communication skills and the ability to focus on the key points of the case. She is an excellent negotiator. She has a first-class mind and sound judgement.” TheLegal 500
“Victoria-Zoi Papagiannis is extremely capable, combining legal expertise, good judgment, and efficiency.” The Legal 500
“Victoria-Zoi Papagiannis is very diligent, competent and clear in her advice; she knows her cases inside-out.” The Legal 500
“Victoria-Zoi Papagiannis is very good – tough and effective.” Chambers and Partners
Admitted
- Cyprus Bar Association (2008)
- Bar Council of England & Wales (2007)
Education
- Bar Vocational Course (BVC), College of Law, UK
- LLM, University College London, UK
- Graduate Diploma in Law (GDL), College of Law, UK
- BSc Government, London School of Economics & Political Science, UK
Languages
- Greek
- English
- French
- German (basic)
- Italian (basic)
Areas of Practice
Litigation, Arbitration & Mediation
Victoria has extensive experience handling complex and high-value contentious corporate and commercial disputes. Her practice covers shareholders’ disputes, large-scale corporate and commercial fraud and conspiracy claims, derivative actions, breach of fiduciary duties, cancellation of fraudulent transfers, misrepresentation and negligence claims, as well as claims for breach of trust. She also has a strong track record in intellectual property litigation, having successfully acted in numerous trade mark and copyright infringement, as well as passing-off cases.
She is highly skilled in pursuing and defending interim relief applications, including freezing (“Mareva” and “Chabra”), disclosure (“Norwich Pharmacal”), search (“Anton Piller”) and anti-suit injunctions in the context of both litigation and arbitration proceedings.
Notable highlights of her work include:
- Securing the first-ever four pan-European interim injunctions issued by a Cypriot court in European Trade Mark (EUTM) infringement cases, prohibiting competitors from using identical or confusingly similar signs across the EU.
- Acting as co-counsel for the Republic of Argentina in proceedings for recognition and enforcement of a USD 16 billion US court judgment.
- Successfully representing the world’s leading potash fertilizer producer in a EUR 1 billion claim.
- Obtaining worldwide freezing and Norwich Pharmacal disclosure orders against a high-net-worth individual and related entities, including a listed company, in a EUR 500 million fraud and conspiracy claim.
- Representing 498 individual claimants in one of the largest class actions ever brought in Cyprus, involving fraud in investment and insurance schemes.
- Representing the Hellenic Republic (Greece) in recognition and enforcement proceedings concerning an ICSID arbitral award.
- Acting for a major Russian aluminium and power producer in a EUR 150 million dispute, including securing worldwide freezing injunctions.
- Representing over 100 depositors, shareholders, and bondholders of Cyprus Popular Bank and Bank of Cyprus in two separate legal recourses before the Court of Justice of the European Union, in Luxembourg, challenging the 2013 “bail-in” measures imposed on Cyprus.
- Obtaining worldwide freezing and Chabra orders securing assets of up to USD 50 million in support of proceedings for recognition and enforcement of an SCC arbitral award in Cyprus.
- Advising on Cypriot law in LCIA arbitration proceedings involving dividend claims exceeding USD 300 million.
- Serving as lead counsel for the Respondent in a USD 10 million ICC arbitration in Nicosia concerning an alleged breach of a Joint Venture Agreement and claims of oppressive conduct.
In addition to her dispute resolution work, Victoria is a CEDR-accredited mediator (since 2011) and has acted as mediator in numerous cases, including disputes handled under the auspices of the Financial Ombudsman of the Republic of Cyprus.
Victoria regularly advises on matters pertaining to a wide range of corporate and commercial law issues, including the drafting, conclusion, validity, interpretation, breach and termination of complex multi-party agreements, including shareholders’, agency, distribution and real estate agreements.
She also advises on the voluntary and involuntary winding-up of companies, fraudulent preference and fraudulent transfers, complex shareholders’ disputes, derivative actions etc.
Victoria represented 100 applicants, all depositors, shareholders or bondholders of the two largest banks which operated in the Republic of Cyprus in 2013, in the context of two landmark cases brought by the firm before the CJEU, in Luxemburg, against the decisions and acts of the European Central Bank, the European Commission, the Council of the European Union, the Eurogroup and the European Union as a whole, in connection with the ‘bail-in’ measures which were imposed on the Republic of Cyprus in March 2013.
In the context of these high-profile and complex cases, the applicants sought compensation for the loss they suffered as a result of the ‘haircut’ imposed on their deposits, as well as, the depreciation (in both value and number) or elimination of their shares and/or bonds in the said two Cypriot Banks, which gave rise to grievous violations, inter alia, of their rights to property and of the principles of non-discrimination, protection of legitimate expectations and the principle of proportionality, as prescribed by EU law.
Victoria also advises on preliminary ruling references before the CJEU, including in relation to challenges pertaining to the interpretation or validity of EU and national legislative provisions (transposing EU measures) in the Republic of Cyprus and other matters of EU law.
Victoria specialised in Human Rights’ Law through both her postgraduate studies (LLM) and past work experience at the International Standards Section of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO).
She has advised and represented applicants before the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg in cases pertaining to violations of the right to property, the principle of non-discrimination, as well as, the right to access to justice and to an effective remedy, while she also represented the families of two missing persons following Cyprus’s invasion by Turkey in 1974, in the context of recourses filed against Turkey before the same Court.
Public & Private International Law
Victoria regularly advises on issues pertaining to the recognition and enforcement in the Republic of Cyprus of foreign arbitral awards, as well as foreign commercial and civil court judgments issued within the EU or in third countries, pursuant to international or bilateral treaties or on the basis of common law or mutuality and reciprocity principles.
News & Publications
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