The provision of legal services is allied with technology

Technology can make a difference in the legal profession as a useful tool, says Ms. Alexia Koukkoullis, Managing Partner of the law firm AC Couccoullis & Associates LLC in an interview with Capital.gr. “The ‘go digital’ decision for AC Couccoullis & Associates LLC was an undertaking that I am proud of, as it enables us to grow continuously and be international,” she said.

The interview of Alexia Koukkoullis, Managing Partner of the law firm AC Couccoullis & Associates LLC in detail

You run a leading and internationally renowned law firm, which operates in two countries, Greece and Cyprus, is distinguished by its international clientele and is a member of important international organizations and associations. Given this, how much has this digital transformation contributed to your success?

Being a 3rd generation lawyer and taking over an office that has been around for more than 50 years, technology has been a useful tool for me to make a difference.

The complete digitalization of our systems enabled our 35 partners in Greece and Cyprus to be in direct collaboration with more than 500 colleagues around the world for the needs of our clients, such as large investment companies, leading companies in the field of shipping, financial organizations but also companies active in the field of gambling, such as betting companies and casino companies.

The full digitization of A.C. Couccoullis & Associates LLC was my strategic choice, which was structured long before the requirements of COVID-19 made it imperative, with the result that the pandemic finds us ready to face with security, promptness and speed the needs that our customers have faced in the last 18 months.

I dare, therefore, to say that the digital age for our company has contributed crucially to both our smooth and smooth operation during the intervening period and effectively for our customers.

How do your clients cope with the new technological age in which your law firm has entered?

They are impressed, as they would not expect companies in the service sector such as ours in Greece and Cyprus to have harmonized and operated to the digital standards of colossal law firms in Europe and America.

Also, the full digitalization of our company gives us the opportunity of economies of scale, which we pass on to our customers, with the result that the provision of high quality services with fees that range within reasonable limits is our strategic advantage and added value for them.

Technological innovation in your field was the creation of the first electronic Mediation portal, www.mediatein.gr, in collaboration with EVEA, for which you received praiseworthy comments publicly and from the Minister of Justice. Have you studied at Harvard Law School to be able to meet the challenges of your industry with foresight?

My passage from the top university in the world was a milestone for me and my career. The individual requirements, the way of thinking, the method and of course the knowledge that are transmitted are unique supplies. During the last ten years of my professional career, I have had the good fortune to work closely with the Athens Chamber of Commerce and Industry, the 25,000 SA. about, and this gave me the opportunity to get acquainted with the way businesses operate and the needs of entrepreneurs.

The first electronic Mediation Portal was a complex project, designed long before the pandemic started, but started at the beginning. It was and is an innovative tool, which uses all modern digital facilities and through which businesses and citizens in general have the opportunity to search, by entering targeted criteria, Mediator of their choice, but also to conduct Mediation in order to the effort to resolve their dispute amicably (electronically). As we typically say, through www.mediatein.gr “Mediation is done with one click”.

Recently, you took over the scientific direction of the new portal www.φιlawσοφία.gr, which aims to inform businesses and individuals by analyzing the legal aspect of important current issues. The digital conferences you are preparing are expected to be a great success.

This new venture has been a challenge for me. Ensuring that everyday issues are approached and analyzed from their legal dimension or that legal aspects are highlighted in current issues is a great responsibility. I am assisted, of course, by a group of reputable colleagues with special expertise and readability in their field and this is another guarantee, but my overall information and in many matters deepening is now imperative.

The conferences are perfectly adapted to modern requirements. Interests, current, specialized, soon and immediate. Gone are the days when we would travel to attend a conference as often as we used to, which is my belief, even if attending conferences and lecturing was an integral part of my schedule on a monthly basis. The need for a simple conference is present and we hope that we will live up to the expectations, which are indeed high.

One would argue that the word “digital” is synonymous with you and your professional practice. Do you agree?

I have no room to disagree. It is a necessity and creates added value. In Greece and Cyprus the need arose due to the pandemic and the fact that it found us with ready-made structures contributed decisively to both our customers and our Partners.

I was nurtured in an environment where books were considered and certainly wealth, but we are growing up in a world where our mobile phone is our extension and our computer screen has zeroed in on distances. Specializing in the field of gambling and representing colossal companies in the industry, but also because of my doctorate in this field, I realized how quickly traditional forms of providing these services evolved into electronic service companies.

The opportunity to read my grandfather’s handwritten briefs amazes me and the joy with which I saw, as a student at the time, the first computer in my dad’s law firm is not forgotten. The “go digital” decision for AC Couccoullis & Associates LLC was an undertaking of which I am proud, as it gives us the opportunity to grow continuously and be international, as a result of which we claim our participation in similar projects.

Dr. Alexia Koukkoulli – LL.B., IALS Arb, MPhil (UoL), HLS, MBA (EUC), PhD (UoL)

He is a Managing Partner of the law firm AC Couccoullis & Associates LLC, which operates in Greece and Cyprus. She is an Accredited Mediator and Instructor of Mediators and has participated as an Arbitrator and Arbitrator as well as a legal representative in important international commercial Arbitrations. The way of management and the evolution of a law firm with a course of 50 years in a Law Firm with international displacement and a top clientele, using every digital tool, makes it a case study that we will approach in our interview.