The Trailblazers – Orestis Omran: A case study of innovation in the legal services market

by Maria Akrivou

Usually, professional success comes with age and the experience gained by working on a given subject matter. This is the rule. There are, however, some bright exceptions – professionals who, despite their young age, are high achievers, have stood out from the outset, and have taken the lead in major projects. These are the “Trailblazers” or, in other words, the pioneers of their generation.

Orestis Omran’s rich biography is indicative of a man who believes in the motto “the best is the enemy of the good”. He is a lawyer in Athens and New York and head of the EU-Greek Practice of DLA Piper, one of the largest full service business law firms in the world, with some 4,000 lawyers and offices in 60 countries, where he was promoted to partner in a short period of time.

DLA Piper provides high-quality legal services, with clients including Global 1000 and Fortune 500 companies, as well as startups offering innovative technologies. He works in the only Greek department of an international law firm based outside Greece that is staffed by Greek lawyers and supports transactions in our country and the wider SEE region, having provided legal support for transactions worth over 1.5 billion euros over the last three years, mainly in the banking, energy and construction sectors.

He has a wealth of experience in cases involving both European and national authorities in general. In other words, he is the youngest Greek equity partner in an international law firm and one of the youngest in the world, historically, as well as the co-founder of the “Brain Gain” and “Consensus” initiatives to strengthen the influence in the country of Greek professionals and scientists living abroad.

DLA Piper employs approximately 4,000 lawyers in more than 60 countries in the Americas, Europe, the Middle East, Africa and Asia.

“We are changing the establishment of Greek law firms and introducing a new philosophy based on meritocracy, good corporate governance of an international legal organization and the high quality of Greek lawyers who studied in Greece and specialized abroad. We work with similar groups of competent and qualified lawyers based in Greece to ensure that we fully cover all the individual parts of each case assigned to us”, Orestis Omran tells Fortune Greece.

An optimist by nature and driven by a sense of love for Greece, he started – in the midst of the crisis, when confidence in the Greek economy was down – to do his bit for the country’s growth revival, helping large multinationals, banks and investment groups to invest in public and private assets. At the same time, young Greeks of the brain drain generation have been given the opportunity to apply their knowledge in Greece from abroad. A number of skilled professionals and scientists have returned and are already being utilised in large Greek and foreign companies, but also in the Greek university, which is slowly but steadily taking steps towards renewal and modernisation.

“Nobody thought that, in the midst of the crisis, a group of international lawyers with a focus on Greece could be set up from scratch” he says. Judging by the result, we can say that he has been more than vindicated.

Particularly proud of his team, he points out that it is staffed by some of the most qualified lawyers of the new generation and offers Greek companies access to one of the largest law firms in the world in Greece and abroad, benefiting from its international experience, expertise and credibility.

“We help successful Greek companies to operate abroad, thanks to our presence in over 60 countries”.

“One of the services that we offer is the capacity to support Greek transactions under English, American, Greek and Irish law by a single team of specialized lawyers and the logic of the “one stop shop”. We participate in the largest transactions in terms of value and importance for the country – privatisations, bank restructuring, and transactions in the tourism sector”, he stresses.

But apart from providing services to his business clients, Orestis Omran also plays an institutional role. He represents the Greek government in the European institutions on issues of competition law, state aid, implementation of European directives and implementation of national policies in compliance with European law, such as projects under the Recovery Fund.

“We help successful Greek companies to operate abroad. Thanks to our presence in over 60 countries, we support corporate, financial and other commercial transactions. Apart from providing legal support, we also facilitate transactions from foreign investment schemes thanks to our contacts in the Greek market”, he concludes.

*Read The greek version of the article here