Andreas Erotocritou

Practice Areas

Andreas’ is a “Band 1” leading authority in the litigation sphere in Cyprus who is highly regarded and ranked by all international legal directories.

His practice focuses on cross border commercial litigation. He specialises in various fields of commercial and corporate litigation and regularly appears before the district courts and Supreme Court in Cyprus representing prominent local and international clients, mostly in complex disputes with an international dimension. Andreas has vast experience in corporate fraud and asset recovery, shareholders’ disputes, recognition and enforcement proceedings as well as in corporate insolvency and restructuring. He also has significant expertise in obtaining and defending interim injunctive relief in support of proceedings in Cyprus and elsewhere.

As noted, Andreas is consistently ranked and recognised as a leading practitioner in the dispute resolution arena by the leading international directories such as Chambers and Partners, Legal 500 and Who’s Who Legal. Andreas has been described as one who “fulfils all the clients’ needs in a competent and professional manner”, as a lawyer who was “perfect and performed beyond expectations”, “dynamic & methodical”, “accurate in the execution of his work”, “a strategic thinker” and having “great commercial awareness”.

Andreas is a Barrister of the Middle Temple, and a member of, amongst others, the Cyprus Bar Association, the International Bar Association and the Honourable Society of Middle Temple. Andreas has authored numerous articles for publications on various topics relating to international cross-border litigation and arbitration and is a lecturer at the law department of Frederick University in Cyprus. In the past, Andreas has worked for Berwin Leighton Paisner LLP in London.

Memberships

In 2022, Andreas Erotocritou had the honour to be appointed as the country’s fellow representative at “The International Academy of Financial Crime Litigators”. https://www.financialcrimelitigators.org

In 2023, Andreas has been also appointed as an officer at the International Bar Association (IBA) newly established Asset Recovery Committee, as a representative of Mediterranean / Leviathan area. https://www.ibanet.org/officer/officerList/3462

Recent litigation cases include advising:

Instructed to act in the in the USD 840.000.000 dispute over the privatisation of a leading telecom provider in the CIS area. The dispute involved parallel proceedings in London, Cyprus and Ukraine and has attracted wide-spread press coverage, as a world-wide freezing injunction issued in Cyprus covered the personal assets of an UHNWI.

Instructed to advise a leading Russian Bank institution, in relation to the rights stemming from the enforcement of the pledge over the shares in a multinational group, which eventually lead to the sell-off of the assets of the Group.

Instructed to oppose the recognition and enforcement of an arbitral award in Cyprus, issued by the LCIA in London, in relation to a global dispute between a Russian energy company and a German utility provider, in relation to an investment the value of which exceeds 1.2 billion Euro.

Instructed to act as Cypriot counsel for a HNWI in relation to a dispute over an oil venture. Our firm offered advice on matters of Cyprus Law raised, in the main proceedings taking place before the Supreme Court of New York, and took a leading role in the Rogatory Proceedings raised in Cyprus which involved the cross examinations of key witnesses residing in Cyprus. The value of the case exceeds 2billion USD. The case was described by the Financial Times, as “the biggest oligarch legal battle in the US”.

Instructed by the global leader in the IT & Technology sector in relation to proceedings raised against key management in Cyprus.

Instructed to advice upon, structure and implement the largest ever (in terms of size and magnitude) Scheme of Arrangement between a Cyprus holding company, and its creditors, in relation to debts exceeding USD 700 million. The complex restructuring project, involved, inter alia, the defence by the company of 14 high value cases raised before the District Courts of Cyprus.

Instructed in the infamous dispute between successors of an UHNWI, who passed away resulting in a multijurisdictional dispute over his estate which is estimated to be worth over USD 4 billion.

Proceedings have been raised in various jurisdictions whilst one of the assets of the estate controlled through Cyprus is the one of the largest yacht in the world, which is subject to probate proceedings before the Cyprus Court. Following proceedings pursued in Cyprus, the firm has secured an injunction prohibiting the sale or usage of the yacht pending the determination of the inheritance dispute.

Main areas of practice

Dispute Resolution

Banking and Finance (contentious matters)

Private Client

Restructuring and Insolvency

Shipping, Admiralty and Marine Insurance

Financial Services (contentious matters)

Professional Memberships

Barrister of the Middle Temple

Cyprus Bar Association

IBA

Country’s representative of the “The International Academy of Financial Crime Litigators”

Officer of the newly established IBA Asset Recovery Committee / representative of the Committee in Mediterranean/Leviathan region

Publications

Recent publications (2021-2022)

Getting the Deal Through: Asset Tracing (Cyprus Chapter)

Lexology - Litigation (Cyprus Chapter)

Cyprus chapter of CDR - Fraud, Asset Tracing & Recovery 2022

Andreas has previously contributed several publications including the country chapter for Reuters, ICLG, etc