
NEOPHYTOU & NEOPHYTOU
LLC
ADVOCATES - ATTORNEYS - LEGAL CONSULTANTS
LAW CHAMBERS - NICOSIA, CYPRUS
& PIRAEUS, HELLAS
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Neophytou & Neophytou LLC - Areas of Practice |
| Albeit Cyprus
is a fairly small jurisdiction when compared to other EU jurisdictions and
dominions, it has traditionally been attracting a steady stream of EU as
well as international corporate clients. This is due to Cyprus'
preferential taxation system compared to other jurisdictions, its
proximity to North Africa, the Middle-East and East Europe, its stable
banking and numismatic system, the large number of Cypriots living in the
UK, etc.
For the abovementioned reasons our law office's areas of practice cover a wide and diversified spectrum of our clients' operations and special legal needs and they include: |
Contract
Law;
This includes the formation, drafting and completion of all types of contracts,
with special attention in the drafting of international contract agreements. The
primary objective is to safeguard the interests of all parties involved.
Special attention is given on securing the interests of the "weak"
party. Contracts may include employment contracts, lease agreements,
construction contracts, sales and purchase agreements, wills, charter-party
agreements, insurance contracts, etc. Special
provision is always given on the forum and the arbitration clauses.
Corporation
Law;
This includes the provision of legal opinions and advice on the legal
framework of the operations of different types of corporations in Cyprus,
regardless of their size, area of operations, or number/complexity of
inter-related issues. Our law office maintains high levels of expertise in
preparing legal opinions revolving around 1) Organizational Development, 2)
Project Management, 3) Budgeting, 4) Projections 5) Financial Controls. We
consider these as the core elements of success for any organization. For
this reason many international clients have entrusted our law office in
guiding them in setting up, managing and operating their company in Cyprus.
The more the complexity, the bigger the challenge and for our law office, no
business plan has ever failed. We help our clients excel, using exclusively
our sophisticated legal opinions and cutting-edge legal support as a
one-stop solutions provider for all corporate needs.
Company
Law; -
CYPRUS COMPANIES FORMATIONS
This includes the provision of legal opinions and advice on various issues
revolving around the legal framework of companies registered in Cyprus.
Advice may include the conditions of operating a company in Cyprus. It may
also include the benefits and the risks of maintaining an operations
company, or a holding company in Cyprus. This service is provided in close
cooperation and in association with Certified Public Accountants operating
in Cyprus.
Registration
and representation of local and international companies; -
CYPRUS COMPANIES FORMATIONS
This includes inter alias the search for, and/or the registration of companies in
Cyprus through the Office of Companies Registrar and Official Receiver of
Cyprus. This service includes the:
A. Drafting of the Memorandum and Articles of Associations
for companies based on the areas of operations;
B. Preparation of Share Certificates;
C. Issue of necessary Directors and other Company's
Certificates;
D. Preparation of the Legal Seal of the Company;
E. Opening of necessary Bank Accounts, in Cyprus, and/or
abroad;
F. Registration to the VAT;
G. Registration to the Inland Revenue Department of the
Republic of Cyprus;
H. Provision of legal and/or physical address;
I. Provision of full secretarial support.
The abovementioned services may also include the legal representation of such companies at
various levels and forums.
Our law office is also specialized in the formation and representation of
international companies, including but not limited to shipping,
construction, real estate, finance, brokering, insurance, or venture capital
companies, in jurisdictions such as 1) Belize, 2) British Virgin Islands, 3)
Hong-Kong, 4) U.A.E., 5) Delaware, 6) Liberia, 7) Hellas(Greece)/N.89/67, 8)
Cayman Islands, etc.
Business
and commercial law;
This includes the provision of professional legal advice to businesses on
conducting their legal affairs with other businesses (especially overseas
businesses) on various commercial matters and in specific on how to
safeguard their respective positions in case of one of the parties (or more)
do not honor, or is in breach of the commercial agreement. Our function is to setup a
professional legal framework in order to prevent unnecessary conflicts,
unnecessary (and usually costly) litigation and subsequent loss of time,
money and resources.
Real
Estate Law - International Real Estate Law;
This includes a very wide area of law which spans from searches at the
respective District Land Registry Offices in Cyprus for certain property
titles, boundaries disputes, referrals to the respective District Court for
compulsory acquisitions-compensations, division of properties, sales and purchases of
real estate property, conveyance, inheritance, tax-clearance, etc. In more complex cases it may
involve the invocation of expert witnesses in Court Actions such as land or
quantity surveyors, civil engineers, architects, property managers et. al.
Construction
Law;
This area of law includes inter alias issues such as securing ,as well
as insuring construction sites during the development of a construction
project through detailed analysis of the liabilities of all parties involved. Apart from Real
Estate Property, construction projects
may also involve the construction of Military or Civil Aircrafts, Marine
Vessels, Automobiles,
Electronic Devices, Mechanical Devices, Spacecrafts, Satellite Systems, etc. It commonly involves the
formation of special contractual agreements to accommodate large
construction projects in order to safeguard certain policies imposed either
by law (such as the percentage of subcontracting of a larger constructions
project to various other subcontractors), or to safeguard the respective interests of
all parties involved. At the litigation level, it involves claims for poor
materials, or poor workmanship.
Family
Law;
This includes the breakage of the holy, or, the civil bondage of marriage through a divorce.
It may also include the resolving of issues such as the legal custody of
dependents, the division of property between the parties, the recognition,
or the offence of the paternity of children, etc. Due diligence is always
given in order to safeguard the well-being of any children in the family as
prescribed by law.
Civil
Actions;
(Acting for both the Claimant, or the Defendant)
This includes Court Actions for or against a litigant. It
involves the preparation of the case, communication with opponent's
advocates, as well as all the appearances before the Court. Common cases
involve the collection of various types of debts resulted out of a breach of
a certain type of agreement, or contract. It may also include Court
Applications for Freezing Orders, Writ of Attachments on Movable/Immovable
Property, Interim Orders, Preferential Orders - Habeas Corpus, Applications
to serve Particulars of Claim outside of the jurisdiction, etc. Our law
office is specialized in initiating Actions in international contract
disputes, in Cyprus, or internationally, and with inherent jurisdictional
issues.
Employment
Law;
This involves actions arising out of breaching of employment contracts,
including cases of claims for unfair dismissals. Employment Law usually
works in conjunction to Contract Law and when foreign parties are involved (usually
the employee) it may also involve Immigration Law, particularly when
Employment is depended on a Work-Permit and a Visa. Further, our law office
is specialized in all European Employment Regulations dealing, inter alias,
with the transfer of employees from one European jurisdiction to another,
social security contributions regulations, unemployment regulations, pension
rights, transfer of social security/pension rights from one jurisdiction to
another, medical insurance, group insurance, etc. Our law office has the
expertise and can provide these highly specialized legal services to the
operational level of any company, regardless of size, or complexity. These
services sometimes require the involvement and/or the invocation of many
government offices under the Ministry of Labour and Social Insurance of
Cyprus, and/or the Ministry of the Interior, with which our law office is
particularly acquainted.
Immigration
Law;
This area of law deals with Immigration Law issues, such as various
applications for Employment Visas and Student Visas from different countries
outside the European Union. It may also involve issues such as political and
economic immigrants as well as asylum seekers. In certain cases it may
involve swift legal intervention to avoid, or delay deportations. We act for
either immigrants to safeguard their positions, or their employers in
criminal, or civil charges brought against them for immigration reasons.
Personal
Injuries Law;
This highly specialized area of law is sometimes
commonly referred to as P.I. Law and it is defined as "an actual harm
caused to people, or property" and it is calculated to interfere with
the health or comfort of the injured person. It involves actions arising out
of either accidents in the workplace, or, accidents other than in the
workplace. They may also involve injuries as a result of criminal action
such as common assault. The common denominator of all types of harms result
to major or minor injuries, or even death. Injuries may be physical as well
as psychological and compensation may be granted accordingly. Injuries may
be temporary, or they may be lasting, i.e. paraplegia. Compensation claims
may be for specific damages (quantifiable) or for general damages (unquantifiable).
An important issue in this type of Law is the level of liability of each
party (i.e. provocation, occupier's liability etc). That would play a major
role in the determination on the level of compensation. Other issues may
revolve around jurisdictional issues (cases of accidents occurring in
international airspace, or at open sea), or employment accidents occurring
in jurisdictions other than the one of the domiciles of the parties involved
(usually in shipping accidents). In all such cases, all efforts for an
out-of-court settlement are exhausted for the benefit of all parties
involved such as psychological reasons of the injured party, publicity
reasons, economical reasons, timing (i.e. justice delayed is justice denied)
etc. In most, if not all of P.I. cases the role of expert witnesses such as
doctors is pivotal to the final outcome of the case.
Sports
Law;
This specialized area of law is in essence a branch of Contract Law. It
deals with a number of legal issues revolving around the special legal needs
of professional athletes. These special needs range from immigration issues
(as explained above), contracts with football (soccer) clubs, basketball
clubs, or other athletic clubs, management contracts, insurance agreements,
advertising contracts with various sponsors, etc. Naturally it may also
involve disputes arising out of conflicts or disagreements between
contractual parties. Our professional legal services can safeguard the
interests of both the athletes as well as the interests of the advertisers,
clubs, managers, insurers, etc.
Professional
Negligence Law;
This involves actions arising out of harms occurring in the course of
carrying day-to day operations by people working under a professional
capacity, i.e. Medical Practitioners in carrying out surgeries, Certified
Accountants and Auditors in closing, auditing and submitting final accounts
, members of the legal profession in exercising their due diligence in
carrying out their services to their clients, etc. A prerequisite in this
type of actions is the infliction of harm to people, or to property.
Criminal
Litigation;
Our office usually handles criminal cases involving offences such
as all types of road traffic violations, issuing of uncovered cheques, theft, criminal
debt orders, slander, defamation, criminal damage, assault, etc.
Intellectual
Property/ Patent/ Trademark/ Copyright Law;
This mainly involves defending parties accused of alleged copyright
infringement of Microsoft software. It may also involve the drafting of
various privacy statements as well as copyright statements with regards to
intellectual property. Finally it may involve the registration of
trademarks and other intellectual property such as inventions.
Information Technology and Internet Law;
This is an evolving area of law and it involves duties, rights,
responsibilities and liabilities of parties carrying out economic transactions
electronically and over the internet. It also involves actions regarding
infringement of copyright and software copyright theft. Our office is highly
specialized in this narrow area of law and has pioneered in providing,
presenting, submitting, or challenging expert evidence that are
brought in front of the Court. We act both as advocates as well as experts.
We have pioneered in submitting to the Court electronic evidence generated
by a computer. We have successfully challenged the credibility of numerous
Cyprus Police Experts in Information Technology. We can say with confidence
that we can handle the most complex cases in Information Technology and
Internet Law.
Insolvency & Banking
Law;
It involves various aspects of Banking Law, including but not limited to
rights and responsibilities arising out o the issuing of bank guarantees,
the position of guarantors on various loans, and/or lease agreements, the
position of the bankrupts and general provisions on bankruptcy, loans
agreements, interest rates, mortgages, the obligations and responsibilities
of banking institutions with regards to steps and procedures to inform
prospective guarantors and/or debtors of their liabilities, actions against
debtors, European Directives on the protection of consumers, the Banking
Ombudsman, etc. It also covers all aspects of launching Court insolvency
proceedings against a person, liquidation of their property, compulsory
liquidations, etc. These legal services are realized in close cooperation
with the Offices of the Companies Registrar and Official Receiver of Cyprus
as well as the Lands Registry Department of Cyprus.
Probation & Administration
of Estates;
This involves the administration of the estate of a deceased, or disabled person as
prescribed by law. General considerations include the resolution of issues
such as the finite determination of the number of legal owners of the estate
of the deceased i.e. of the inheritance, their legal share of the
inheritance, the consideration of the legality of any will, the execution of
the will, the resolution of any jurisdictional issue, various Court
Applications of that matter, etc. With regards to the administration of
a disabled person, general considerations are
the submission to the court of
all necessary medical supporting documents;
the proper preparation of
statement of accounts of the estate of the disabled person;
the selection of
the most suitable person (s) to act as the administrator; and
the provision
for the upkeep/welfare of the disabled person, as well as of any other
dependents of the disabled person.
Taxation;
This involves the issue of administering an estate with the most efficient
taxation planning. It is a rather specialized area of law and involves
fairly complex knowledge of accounting as well as knowledge of the tax
system of other EU and non-EU countries. It also requires good
knowledge of Company Law as well as Corporation Law. Our Law office is
working collectively with renown Certified Public Accountants in Cyprus. We
are also interacting heavily with various government offices of the Republic
of Cyprus, particularly with the Internal Revenue Department.
Trusts- Offshore
Trusts - International Trust Structures;
This is a highly specialized area of law and it involves the administration
of the estate of a living person (the testator) by a group of trustees for
the benefit of the trustee, or for the benefit of a third person, or for the
benefit of a trustee and a third person alike. Trusts can be formed locally
in Cyprus, or they can be of an international form. A good and in-depth
knowledge of the financial sources of the trust is required before embarking
in setting up a trust. Moreover, a good working relationship as well as an
in-depth understanding of the special needs and concerns of the testator is
also required in order to safeguard his interests in the best possible way.
Admiralty/
Shipping Law - Yacht Registration - Marine Insurance;
This is a highly specialized and diversified area of law which inheritably
involves large amounts of money and complex jurisdictional as well as legal
issues. We are specialized in both dry as well as wet claims which may
involve from sales/purchases contracts, time-charters, and insurance, to
collisions, groundings, damage of goods en-route, stevedores liability, etc.
We are being instructed regularly to initiate Court Actions in Hellas (Greece)
and/or in Cyprus to arrest ships, change the ship-management of vessels,
claim damages, etc.
Further, we provide a full range of shipping/admiralty services such as:
A. Formation of shipping companies/ shipping group of
companies;
B. Preparation of legal opinions on the best way to
organize/re-organize a shipping group/consortium;
C. Registration of new-built, or second-hand vessels in the
Cyprus Ship Registry under the Cyprus Flag;
D. Preparation of Bill of Sale for the Sale/Acquisition of
marine vessels;
E. Arrange for Marine Vessel Insurance using renown insurance
brokers in Germany and in the United Kingdom;
F. Preparation/Inspection of Charter-Party Agreements;
G. Carry out ship-management arrangements, such as crewing,
spare-parts/provisions supply, etc.
Our aim is to be able and to provide a full range of high quality legal
services and representation in shipping.
Transport Law;
This is a highly specialized area of law in which our office is highly
specialized. It mainly involves the cross-border transport of goods by land
(trucks-lorries). We are in position to provide professional advice on how
to set up the most efficient legal structure in order to facilitate this
line of business, minimize overhead expenses, isolate and neutralize legal
complications and maximize profitability.
European Union and International Law;
As Cyprus is a member of the EU our office is committed in maintaining and
updating its knowledge and compliance with the European Union acquis
communautaire within the ambit and scope of the professional
legal services provided to our customers. As a norm, actions of this kind
usually involve vertical application of the law and involve actions against
states. Our office has been acquiring expertise on issues such as the
initiation of Court actions in a state other than Cyprus, serving of the
Particulars of Claim outside the Cyprus jurisdiction, the European
enforcement of Court Orders secured in Cyprus Courts, etc.
Arbitration
Law.
This involves out-of-Court settlements through various ways and methods
including arbitration, mediation, etc. Arbitration is extremely important in
cases where timing is of the essence such as in shipping, or in construction projects, and
in some specialized cases of sales/purchase agreements. Arbitration could be
a much more swift way to resolve disagreements between parties, especially
internationally, although not
necessarily cheaper than litigation.

Days and hours of
operation are Mon - Fri, 8am - 10pm, GMT+2.
Personal visits can always be arranged by appointment. Email:
info@neophytou-law.com
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Neophytou & Neophytou LLC Law Chambers - Nicosia, Cyprus. All rights reserved.
Reproduction in part, or in whole without prior written permission, is strictly
prohobited.