Patronus Legal has a premier finance team with deep product expertise and extensive multi-jurisdictional experience. Our top ranked finance lawyers have a track record of executing transactions with innovation and vigour, and advise clients at the forefront of their markets.

A global team

Our multi-jurisdictional capacity and technical expertise enables us to provide an international perspective coupled with an understanding of local client needs. We have a track record of successfully managing large and complex multi-jurisdictional transactions and projects, and delivering practical and commercial solutions wherever in the world our clients operate.

An integrated solution

As the complexity and breadth of financing arrangements continues to develop, so has our practice. We deliver integrated solutions by drawing on the support of specialist legal expertise across our regulatory, M&A, commercial, litigation, competition, real estate, tax and insolvency practices.

A commercial approach

Financial markets across the world have undergone unprecedented change in recent years. Our clients need us to understand their business and industry in order to help them to respond to rapid market changes. By placing industries at the heart of our strategy, we have a greater understanding of the commercial drivers that affect our clients' business, allowing us to deliver truly commercial solutions.

Patronus Legal is one of Georgia's leading regulatory advisors. We handle both sensitive local regulatory matters and complex cross-border ones.

A full advisory service

Patronus Legal is at the forefront of financial services regulation. We have an in‑depth knowledge of the regulators and their concerns, and we know what is on the regulatory horizon for our clients. 

We advise a wide variety of clients in the regulated sectors including banks, insurers, trading platforms, market participants, market infrastructure operators, asset and fund managers, private equity firms, hedge funds, and corporate finance clients.

Financial Regulation experts

We are particularly noted for our expertise in: compliance and risk management policies and procedures; the regulatory aspects of complex products and their distribution; surveys and advice covering cross-jurisdictional regulatory issues; responding to domestic and global regulatory investigations and enforcement actions including market abuse and insider dealing issues; buying and selling regulated businesses and the regulatory implications for lending and other financial transactions; and financial disputes between counterparties.

Our approach

Our client-oriented approach has won us industry recognition and the respect of our clients. Not only do we advise on regulatory issues, we provide commercial, practical and innovative solutions to the challenges that those issues create. That is why we are regularly asked to work on the most complex and sensitive of matters in the financial services sector.

Seamless and integrated legal service

We bring together the best of our non-contentious and contentious regulatory capability to develop solutions to complex regulatory issues.

We frequently advise clients on handling regulatory problems, often at the earliest stages where questions of self-reporting or global co-ordination may arise. We have acted for high profile individuals facing insider dealing allegations, firms facing allegations of benchmark manipulation, and on contested enforcement proceedings relating to breaches of conduct rules.

Data has evolved to become the lifeblood of global trade. In particular, in the digital economy, the commercial value attached to data has increased dramatically as businesses try to use data to predict and respond to their customers in ways that were not previously possible. 

DATA PROTECTION AND PRIVACY

Patronus Legal's data protection and privacy practice is comprised of a team of experts in the field of data protection and privacy. Our practice covers the full range of data protection, privacy and associated matters, including advising on general regulatory compliance, data transfers, subject access requests, employee monitoring and surveillance, cyber security, data breaches, data retention and global data compliance.

Our lawyers have been involved in drafting legislation, formulating regulation and advising in the area since its inception, and advise clients on contentious and non-contentious matters. Together with our professional support lawyers, we are also involved in the thought leadership aspects of data protection and privacy, including analysis of legal and industry developments in the data protection and privacy sectors and their impact on our clients and our practice. This has resulted in published articles, webinars and strategic advice to clients.

Our approach is to find practical and commercially realistic solutions to our clients’ data protection and privacy issues, with a focus on strategically maximising data value while minimising legal and reputational risks. This enables our team to be in the best position to provide comprehensive and strategically important data protection advice to our clients.
 

CYBERSECURITY

Patronus Legal cyber security team comprises specialists who combine legal, technical and commercial expertise to help global corporates, utilities and financial institutions manage their cyber security.

We work with our clients across the full cyber security life cycle, helping to design and embed cyber security policies and procedures, including incident response planning, training and education. We also advise on regulatory compliance (such as financial services regulation and data protection), procurement and supply chain risk – including contractor vetting and cyber contractual provisions, and cyber issues in the context of corporate due diligence, joint ventures, projects and outsourcing.

We also work with in-house legal and technical teams in responding to incidents, and can coordinate or lead your response depending upon your requirements, as well as advising on regulatory notifications and reporting, best practice for working with regulators and law enforcement, litigation and recovery of assets. A number of our lawyers have technical backgrounds so are able to understand the technical causes and implications of cyber issues, as well as being able to work seamlessly with your internal IT teams or third party technical consultants.

We are also instructed by clients through ongoing cyber security retainers, so that we are available to advise on incidents or other issues at short notice. Our dispute resolution practice is well placed to handle any litigation that arises from an incident. 

Our practice covers three main areas:

Cyber risk management and advisory: Understanding, planning for and mitigating cyber risk is critical in reducing the impact of any breach. We help clients with drafting policies and procedures, training, contractual review, data protection compliance and policies, data retention, regulatory compliance, procurement (such as contractor vetting and contractual protections) and cyber insurance.

Incident response: We can be the primary point of contact for our clients, investigating and coordinating the response in conjunction with third party technical incident response teams as appropriate. We also advise on the legal issues that frequently arise from breaches such as data protection, employment law, intellectual property/confidential information, regulatory, insurance, health & safety and product liability. In particular, we can manage on your behalf necessary regulatory notifications and reporting, liaising with data protection authorities and working with law enforcement as appropriate. 

Non contentious transactional and project work: Cyber security issues permeate many other fields of legal advice. We frequently advise on cyber security issues as part of, for example, transactional work, joint ventures, projects work and outsourcing.

​Our multi-disciplinary team offers sophisticated, incisive and commercial competition and antitrust advice across European Union member and Non-EU countries.

A renowned leader in competition law

Our competition team has achieved great results in complex and ground-breaking competition investigations, merger reviews, litigation and appeals. We deal successfully with competition authorities, courts and regulatory bodies across Europe and elsewhere . We assist our clients with risk-based, practical strategies to help meet their commercial objectives, defend their commercial interests and, in some cases, challenge the anti-competitive behaviour of others. We are one of the few law firms with an in-house team of economists and many of our lawyers have backgrounds in economics, business strategy or with competition regulators.

Full service antitrust practice

Our team covers the full range of competition and antitrust issues including merger control, cartels and other anti-competitive agreements, abuse of dominance/market power, market/sector investigations, competition litigation, judicial reviews and appeals, state aid, public procurement, trade law and utilities and infrastructure regulation. We advise clients across the spectrum, from industry incumbents to new market challengers.

Economics, business and regulatory experience

Competition and antitrust is not just a legal discipline. Most of our team have qualifications in economics or business, or experience of working with regulators. Combined with our unique in-house economic expertise, we consistently deliver high quality, pragmatic and clear advocacy and advice.

​Combining an understanding of the market, legal expertise and a commercial focus we help our clients take advantage of opportunities in a changing and diverse market.

Real estate experts

Our seamless blend of market leading expertise allows us to carry out the most complex and often pioneering transactions across the real estate space.

We have extensive experience advising on all real estate transactions ranging from the acquisition, planning, construction and development, letting and sale of mixed use sites, office buildings, business parks, retail units, shopping centres, government property, hotels and leisure, industrial sites and aged care facilities. We also advise on major urban regeneration projects, the real estate aspects of energy, resources and infrastructure projects, property financing transactions, public private partnerships and private finance initiatives and joint ventures.

Comprehensive real estate offering

Our team advises on all aspects of real estate activity including high profile acquisitions and divestments, large scale regeneration and development schemes, real estate finance, funds, joint ventures, construction and planning advice. 

We operate at the heart of the real estate industry worldwide

With unrivalled international capability combined with extensive local experience, we operate a single team providing clients with seamless real estate solutions. Our multi-jurisdictional capability, local knowledge and depth of technical expertise enables us to deliver a responsive, efficient and tailored service for any real estate transaction across the world.

Our multi-disciplinary practice

Working closely with teams across all practice areas, we seamlessly integrate our skills and expertise to advise on the opportunities and risks associated with property development and management in a dynamic market environment and offer specialist insights on a range of issues that come into play in real estate transactions.

Full service offering

We have extensive experience in all types of real estate investments including office, retail, residential, hotel, leisure, healthcare, agricultural, transport and real estate debt. Our team can support you with fund and investment structuring, debt financing and capital raising, construction and development, environment and planning, tax, divestments and joint ventures.

Value creation

By looking at the built environment as a whole, rather than separate areas, we believe this more cohesive approach creates value for our clients by generating better return on investment, exploiting connected opportunities and applying a similar base of knowledge required for both real estate and infrastructure investment.

Our top ranked practice provides advice to the businesses to manage and exploit their intellectual property and to resolve their complex, high profile disputes.

Covering all aspects of IP across every major industry

We advise on, and develop legal strategies to maximise and protect, the commercial potential of brands, ideas and existing and new technologies. We give pragmatic and commercial advice to our clients and work closely with them to achieve their commercial objectives as we understand how important IP is to their business.

We are renowned for our broad IP services in both contentious and non-contentious matters. This includes dealing with IP issues in corporate and finance transactions, advising on patents, trade mark, copyright and designs, regulatory and marketing and advertising issues and acting for clients in significant (and often multinational) intellectual property, consumer protection and passing off disputes.

Experts in intellectual property

We have an excellent reputation for providing cutting-edge advice on strategic IP matters, acting for some of the world's leading companies. We work seamlessly and collaboratively across geographic boundaries to provide the best possible service to our clients.

Commercial and innovative solutions

We take a strategic approach to all IP matters. Not only do we advise on the legal aspects of IP issues facing our clients but we provide commercial, practical and innovative solutions to the challenges that these issues create. Our reputation as a leading law firm rests on the quality of our commercial advice and our service. We focus on the issues that matter to clients.

​Whatever business our clients are in, managing tax costs risks and disputes is a priority.

Providing a comprehensive service

Our team of experts advise businesses on the most complex and demanding tax issues of today. We provide a comprehensive range of direct and indirect tax services covering advice on corporate and financing transactions and contentious taxes. We work with clients across industries including energy, transport, and infrastructure, banking and finance, funds, and real estate.

Leading tax experts

Many of our tax professionals have specific and leading edge practices in finance, private equity, transfer pricing and cross-border planning, investment funds, real estate taxation and dispute resolution. Some are also qualified accountants. Through our multi-disciplinary expertise, our advice is current, clear and practical.

Seamless delivery

From corporation taxes and value-added tax to transfer taxes, we have the knowledge and experience to deliver the tax solution our clients need to ensure their business operates efficiently and compliantly.

Meeting business goals

Working as part of multi-disciplinary teams, we seek to understand our clients' business and the wider tax implications of each transaction. This enables us to provide advice which suits our clients' commercial objectives.

A full service employment practice: advice on all aspects of employment law.

Partnering with you to manage your key business asset: people

Our employment team delivers incisive legal advice and pragmatic solutions to multinational clients on all aspects of employment law. We advise across all advisory, transactional and contentious issues.

Discreet, trusted and incisive

We advise on highly confidential and sensitive board matters and are recognised for providing strategic, robust, commercially driven advice in a timely manner. We have many long standing clients who come to us as their trusted advisers on matters ranging from day-to-day HR queries to group strategy impacting corporate reputation and wider commercial objectives.

End to end service: the entire employment relationship

We advise on all legal, strategic and practical issues arising out of the employment or engagement of employees, workers, directors, consultants and contractors, from their recruitment, terms and conditions, retention and motivation to performance management, investigation, dismissal, redundancy and retirement.

A long-standing adviser to the financial, resources and infrastructure industries

As a trusted adviser to many of the Georgia's largest financial institutions, resources and infrastructure businesses, we advise on business critical employment and regulatory issues and investigations. We understand your industry and can guide your business through all day-to-day and strategic employment issues.

Cutting through the complexities of digitalisation to provide practical, commercial legal solutions to deal with your business problems regardless of the uncharted nature of the legal issues they present.

Why we exist

The digitalisation of business knows no boundaries and no insurmountable barriers. It is impacting businesses in all industries, and it is doing just that, right now. We all know that dealing with the challenges of digitalising your business can be complicated and unpredictable.

Our group was born out of the need to support our clients in developing their digital strategies - to enhance their existing activities or introduce entirely new business models, service offerings and cultures into their organisation through the exploitation of technology, communications and data developments. Our aim is to identify how they can achieve this from a legal perspective while maximising value and mitigating the threats and uncertainties.

How we do it

We work to cut through the complexities of digitalisation to provide practical, commercial legal solutions to deal with your business problems regardless of the uncharted nature of the legal issues they present. 

In order to deliver this, you need a team of lawyers who understand your business, digitalisation strategies and the legal issues they raise across the whole of your organisation, however and wherever they are. 

We have assembled a digital economy group which includes digital specialists at its core, working hand in hand with our sector specialists and lawyers in all key legal disciplines and across our network of offices to give you exactly that. 

What we do

Our digital economy group adopts a tailored approach to the digitalisation of particular industries. We have a key focus on fintech, infratech, proptech and TMT, but recognise that digitalisation is affecting all sectors of the economy from agriculture to transport.

Our team has been assembled to identify issues and provide legal solutions across all key disciplines including strategic commercial arrangements, M&A, IPOs, financing, joint ventures, outsourcing, disputes, exploitation of IP, tax and other key commercial activities.

​​​In the rapidly evolving Technology, Media and Telecommunications industry, you need to be ahead of the game and understand opportunities that seemingly emerge from nowhere.

With many of our lawyers having worked inside Technology, Media & Telecommunications companies and a fluency in the technologies that drive our clients businesses, we are able to offer a level of TMT understanding that is hard to match. 

Our internationally recognised Technology, Media and Telecommunications (TMT) practice is a multi-disciplinary group of lawyers with specialist skills covering all aspects of the TMT sector including commercial/transactional, regulatory, corporate/M&A, finance, competition, outsourcing, employment and pensions, intellectual property, dispute resolution, real estate and tax advice. This broad coverage of the sector means we are perfectly positioned to advise TMT suppliers and their customers on any legal or commercial issues they may be facing. 

With a proven track record in advising clients across all three sub-sectors of TMT - from start up companies to some of the sectors largest players - our lawyers have been involved in some of the industry's landmark cases and deals and advise regularly on sector defining projects. 

This level of industry focus, when coupled with our corporate credibility and international reach is of clear benefit to our clients. By being fully immersed in our clients commercial landscape, we are able to reflect their business drivers in the solutions and advice we provide, positioning us as trusted business advisors. 

Telecommunications

• we act for a full range of companies including cable, mobile and satellite companies, domestic and international operators, industry associations and service providers
• we advise on every aspect of specialist communications and regulatory work, including significant wet and dry infrastructure projects, interconnection issues, establishment issues for new market entrants, access issues such as local loop unbundling and the impact of Georgian and EU legislation. 

Internet / ecommerce

• we advise internet service providers, start-up and established businesses on issues such as online contracts, branding, linking and framing, data protection, copyright and consumer protection as well as acquisitions, joint ventures and strategic partnerships
• we represent clients across the B2B and B2C sectors including banks, shopping portals and gaming sites. 

IT / ebusiness

• we advise on all aspects of contentious and non-contentious technology issues
• we have significant experience in public procurement for large scale IT projects along with the more traditional outsourcing, software license and maintenance agreements
• clients range from government departments through to software providers and internet start ups. 

Broadcasting & New Media

• we advise on content and transmission for government and industry. In particular we have provided advice on issues ranging from broadcasting law, regulation and policy to interactive television and WAP content deals.

​As leading industry advisors, we are renowned for our proven track record of delivering on major projects and transactions across the oil and gas, electricity, nuclear and renewables sectors.

At the forefront of the market

Our globally integrated practice applies our in-depth expertise across the spectrum of participants in the oil and gas industry. We routinely advise IOCs, NOCs, regional oil companies and funders (debt and equity) on high-profile projects and transactions defining the market. Providing strategic advice to all of these industry players allows us to understand the commercial and legal issues from a number of different perspectives.

Delivering across the value chain

We offer a comprehensive service across the oil and gas, electricity, nuclear and renewables value chain, delivering integrated solutions on a global basis. We cover upstream, midstream and downstream for oil, gas, LNG,other petroleum products and electricity, nuclear and renewables. This exposure allows us to support your business objectives by adapting to the service you need.

Multi-disciplinary expertise

We advise on all aspects of work in the industry, including: M&A, joint ventures, project and corporate finance, commercial agreements, project development, environmental law, shipping law and dispute resolution; together with associated areas such as competition and regulation, tax and international law. Our broad expertise covers contracts for differences, power purchase agreements, fuel supply agreements, licensing and setting up generating projects and distribution systems, electricity trading arrangements and power derivatives.

Flexibility to support your needs

Our nimble team is able to be deployed at short notice across multiple locations and jurisdictions, meaning that we can support you wherever you need us to.

Corporate governance failures in the past have driven a trend towards transparency that is set to continue, making it critical for companies to maintain the highest standards of compliance and for boards to be confident in their decision making.

We work alongside our clients’ boards and various management teams, providing pragmatic advice on legal and regulatory requirements, market practices and emerging trends and the governance, regulatory and reporting standards that apply to them.

We can help you with directors’ duties and liabilities, board compositions and general board and effectiveness policies, market disclosure, insider trading and related procedures and systems, director and senior executive contracts, remuneration structures and disclosures, including employee share plans and incentive arrangements, annual reports and preparation for annual general and other shareholder meetings and communications and internal capital management initiatives such as buy-backs, capital reductions and dividend reinvestment plans.

By aligning with their business strategies we guide some of Georgia's leading corporates, commercial organisations, financial institutions, governments and public sector bodies through all stages of their corporate development across a broad range of sectors.

We understand that to deliver local and cross-border corporate transactions successfully in any economic climate, you need us to: 

• Support your commercial decisions by investing time in understanding your objectives and working alongside you to achieve them
• Understand the local markets in which you do business and the differences between developing markets and developed economies and between regions to ensure consistent service delivery in markets around the world
• Conduct due diligence to identify risks and challenges and address them before they threaten the success of deals
• Prioritise the big issues and help you navigate through complex regulatory requirements
• Execute end-to-end transaction management for the duration of deals and support all negotiations 
• Consider potential litigation risks and, if required, embed disputes lawyers into deal teams to stress test warranties, indemnities, liability limitations and jurisdiction clauses
• Guide you through all communications with stakeholders