On 16 March we held our first Greek Alumni Reunion in Athens. The event was attended by over 100 alumni students, legal professionals and prospective students interested in studying at the Centre for Commercial Law Studies (CCLS).
The event started with a Welcome Speech from the Head of the CCLS, Professor Spyros Maniatis who outlined the history of CCLS, the current developments and future ambition. The Panel’s Chair was Professor Ioannis Kokkoris, who oversaw presentations by leading academics of CCLS as well as by some of the eminent QMUL alumni in Greece. Professor Rodrigo Olivares-Caminal spoke about the sovereign debt saga and Mr John Hadjiprodromou, (Senior Partner, Hadjiprodromou-Triantaphillou and Partners) commented on the Greek legislative developments in the last 6 years. Dr Noam Shemtov spoke about challenges in relation to copyright issues for content that is accessed online and Marina Perraki, (Partner, Tsibanoulis and Partners) commented on the Greek judgments that have addressed this issue. Dr Miriam Goldby spoke about charterparty repudiations during the recent financial crisis and Ms Dimitra
Capas (Senior Associate, Norton Rose) discussed the challenges faced by the shipping industry during the current period of global uncertainty. Finally, Dr Maria Ioannidou presented the Aegean Air/Olympic Air merger that was approved during the recent financial crisis, and Mr Dimitris Emvalomenos, (Partner, Bahas, Gramatidis and Partners) presented the decisional practice of the Hellenic Competition Commission during the crisis.
The concluding remarks of the alumni event were given by Zoe Lappa-Papamatthaiou, (Legal Director, Danaos Shipping Co Ltd) who discussed the challenges faced by an in house counsel of a major shipping company during the crisis. The event was concluded with a Drinks Reception, which gave our alumni an opportunity to network with legal professionals and to catch up with old friends.