Kyriacos Scordis: The trend in the legal profession that is set to continue

The trend that will continue in the legal profession is specialisation, whether this means limiting the scope or services for smaller offices, or merging or developing offices by creating separate departments that will provide specialised services and a limited scope, says Kyriacos Scordis, Managing Partner of SCORDIS, PAPAPETROU & CO.

In an interview with InBusinessNews, as part of the "IN Business Forecasting 2025" series, he says that the services sector has been negatively affected and shrunk in recent years, due to the loss of large markets and the wars in Ukraine and neighbouring countries, as well as Western sanctions against Russia, noting that it took time to adapt to the new realities, find new markets and target/specialise.

Kyriakos Skordis' assessment is that in the future we will see law firms expand the range of their services beyond the classic Cypriot court-centred and international service centre model, e.g. by providing legal advice in the areas of taxation, VAT, corporate governance and planning, business development, personal data protection and environmental & social awareness.

How do you think the Cypriot economy will perform in the new year? How optimistic are you about its prospects?

The new year can move in many directions, we are influenced by international developments and events that are beyond our control.

As an example, the fall of the Assad regime in Syria may have a positive effect on migration, reducing not only flows but also the repatriation of legal and illegal refugees, but causing negative pressure on the construction sector and related services in which there is a shortage of labour.

Overall, despite the challenges, I believe that 2025 will be a better year for the services sector, which has gone through many difficulties and has suffered a contraction in the last two years.

What should Cyprus do to become an even more attractive destination for foreign investments? And how important, in your opinion, are they for its economy?

One of the most important factors is to further develop cooperation between the public and private sectors with the aim of reducing bureaucracy and service time for citizens and especially businesses.

This concerns all areas, such as applications to ministries and organisations, taxation, court issues, etc., to avoid dysfunctional or incorrect choices.

Characteristics of failed electronic applications are found in all sectors, such as in justice, e-justice which was abandoned, and in the everyday life of travellers: The first experience of Cypriots arriving at or departing from our airports is the electronic entry/exit control system, which not only does not work properly, but also needs to be re-checked by the police (instead of being fully automated, as in other countries).

The ongoing and expected digitalisation will help, but it must, on the one hand, work as a system, and on the other hand, maintain the flexibility of the human factor (without waste and chatter, like at airports).

Actions leading to significant growth

Regarding your company's sector of activity, how do you estimate it will develop in 2025? Are there any issues that concern you?

The services sector, as is known, has been negatively affected and shrunk in recent years, due to the loss of major markets and the wars in Ukraine and neighbouring countries, as well as Western sanctions against Russia.

It took time to adapt to the new realities, find new markets and target/specialise. The ongoing regional conflicts cause and maintain the element of uncertainty.

We hope that the actions we have taken, as SCORDIS, PAPAPETROU & CO., as a Law Firm, together with the investments we make as a group in technology and product and market development, will help us achieve significant growth in 2025.

We believe and invest in the future and in our executives, with a characteristic of all that I have mentioned above the admission of four new partners in 2024, who strengthen both the Corporate Services sector and the Shipping and Tax Services departments.

Specialisation and expansion of law firms’ range of services

What are the biggest trends/changes you expect to occur in your sector and what are the most significant challenges?

With the exception of changes at the international level, we do not expect substantial changes in the domestic sector of legal and related consulting services.

The trend that will continue is specialisation, whether this means limiting scope or services to smaller offices, or merging or expanding offices by creating separate departments that will provide specialised services and limited scope.

Furthermore, we will see law firms expanding their range of services beyond the classic Cyprus court-centric and international service centre model, e.g. by providing legal advice in the areas of taxation, VAT, corporate governance and planning, business development, data protection and environmental & social awareness.

Small offices, rather than mergers

A strong trend that seems to be taking hold in Cypriot business is that of acquisitions and mergers. Will we see it strongly in your sector as well?

In the legal profession, the trend in recent years has been the opposite, namely the creation of small law firms, rather than mergers.

This will continue as long as the large firms remain closed to new partner admissions, while others, like ours, which has a liberal philosophy, has successfully implemented mergers, pays appropriately and regularly promotes its executives up to the rank of partner, will continue to grow, either organically or through acquisitions or mergers.

What can we expect in terms of your organisation's plans and development strategy in 2025? What moves do you intend to make in this direction?

Further investment in our people and technology, by evolving our existing systems in a way that will better exploit the wide range of experiences and expertise we have accumulated over the past decades.