17 April 2020 - Article
Eleni Polycarpou
Partner | London
Eleni is a partner in the litigation and arbitration team and focuses on international arbitration.
She specialises in international commercial disputes both in litigation and arbitration. Eleni is co-head of the international arbitration team and also head of the UK art law team. She is a Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators.
Eleni is a member of the Middle East group and has worked with clients and on cases with connections particularly with Abu Dhabi, Dubai and Saudi Arabia for many years.
Eleni acts for high net worth individuals and their companies often advising on shareholder and joint venture disputes and contractual disputes in a variety of fields including banking, oil and technology. She has a specialist practice advising on art related disputes and leads the UK art team advising collectors, galleries, museums, auction houses on all art-related matters.
Eleni is also well versed in mediation and has a track record of achieving a successful settlement of disputes via this method.
Eleni lives in London and is a dual national (Cyprus and UK). She speaks fluent Greek, English and Italian often acting for clients from those jurisdictions and from Russia and CIS who hold companies in Cyprus.
Track record
Admissions
Publications
Memberships
Acting for NRC (a Cypriot company) in relation to fraud proceedings issued in London and in Cyprus against a former business associate (AAD) and companies controlled by him. In London Eleni and her team obtained a default judgment in the sum of £5 million. Their attempts to enforce this Judgment by obtaining a charging order over a property in West London legally owned by a BVI company, ended in a 3 day trial in the High Court in which the BVI Company vigorously defended the claim for the final charging order. Eleni and her team won at that trial and the Judge found that the Property is beneficially owned by AAD and that therefore NRC could proceed to enforce its default judgment.
Dexia Crediop SpA and Provincia di Brescia and Deutsche Bank AG London and Provincia di Brescia: Acting for an Italian local authority in two misselling of swaps claims against two banks and related Italian proceedings
LCIA Arbitration – acting for a company in fraud proceedings over the alleged alienation of a Russia based asset; proceedings brought in the LCIA and in parallel proceedings taking place in Russia, Cyprus and in the BVI and involving resisting freezing order applications in all the jurisdictions
England and Wales, 2005
British Virgin Islands, 2013
‘The Art Market Adjusts: Managing contractual obligations in uncertain times - US and UK’The%20Art%20Market%20Adjusts:%20Managing%20contractual%20obligations%20in%20uncertain%20times%20-%20US%20and%20UK,’%20Withers%20article%20-%20April%2017,%202020,%20co-author,’ Withers article - April 17, 2020, co-author__
‘Proposed EU regulations on the import of non EU-cultural goods’, Withers article – 19 February 2019, co-author
‘UK: Tough legislation to beintroduced for dealers in elephant ivory’, Withers article – 14 August 2018, co-author
Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators (FCIArb),
Association of Young Lawyers (AIJA),
British Italian Law Association (BILA),
British Russian Law Association (BRLA),
Russia and CIS Arbitration Network (RCAN),
Hellenic Law Association of London
Education
Languages
- English
- Greek
- Italian
Dates
Joined
2003
Partner
2017
