Friday the thirty-first of January saw the launch of EG Arghyrakis & Co, a new law firm specialising in shipping, commodities, admiralty and insurance.

The firm was formed by George Arghyrakis, a partner at Richards Butler since 1994. He is being joined by his assistant at Richards Butler, Michael Harakis.

The new firm already has an impressive client list with clients from Greece, Turkey, USA, Canada and the Netherlands.

"When I was planning this venture, I imagined that we would be starting from zero" said Mr Arghyrakis. "Luckily, this has not been the case. One hundred percent of our old clients, and 95% of their cases, are following us to the new firm."

Mr Arghyrakis continued, "There is very little time for preparation. But on the other hand, being small also means that we are very agile."

The new firm expects the bulk of its work to come from the shipping industry which Mr Arghyrakis says is not subject to the same recessionary pressures as other sectors of the economy.

"The recession in the UK is actually good for us, because we can take advantage of soft markets and reduce our overheads" Mr Aghyrakis said.

"Lawyers' fees have shot up over the last few years, I believe because of irreversible commitments to overheads that are too high for today's market. That means higher prices, and also pressure on lawyers to clock up large number of hours.

"Our overheads are lower, so our rates can be quite competitive. At the same time, we will not be subject to the pressure to build up the hours we charge."

Mr Arghyrakis concluded, "at the end of the day, we do not want to be a factory. We enjoy our work and want to provide our clients with the service they deserve."

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