Stavroula Politi, Attorney-at-Law

Stavroula Politi, an attorney with Dr Helen G. Papaconstantinou and Partners (HP&P) in Athens, has been named Anti-Counterfeiting Law Expert of the Year in Greece at the 2024 Corporate INTL Global Awards. The recognition reflects her focused practice in brand protection and, in particular, the anti-counterfeiting and customs enforcement work through which she helps rights holders defend their marks against illicit trade in one of the European Union's key gateway markets.

Ms Politi has built her career in intellectual property from its outset. A member of the Athens Bar Association since 2012, she began working in IP-specialised practice in 2014 before joining HP&P in 2020. Her work has centred throughout on trademarks, anti-counterfeiting and domain name disputes, giving her a concentrated expertise in the enforcement side of brand protection rather than a more general commercial practice. This early and sustained specialisation is characteristic of the leading practitioners in a field that rewards both technical knowledge and practical familiarity with enforcement channels.

Her enforcement expertise is complemented by considerable strength in trademark prosecution. Ms Politi has extensive experience of handling trademark matters at national and EU level, as well as in foreign jurisdictions, and of conducting trademark clearance searches. She also acts in opposition and cancellation proceedings before the European Union Intellectual Property Office, work that requires a sure command of both substantive trademark law and the procedural rules governing contested matters. This breadth allows her to advise clients across the full span of a brand's protection, from securing rights through to defending and enforcing them.

In the anti-counterfeiting arena Ms Politi is recognised as a familiar figure before the customs authorities, where she strategises the protection of clients against the illegal activities that threaten their brands. Enforcement of this kind calls for close cooperation with border and enforcement agencies and for the ability to respond quickly and decisively to infringements, whether encountered at ports and borders or online. Her academic background, a law degree from the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki together with a master's in business from a leading graduate business school, lends a commercial perspective to this enforcement work.

Ms Politi practises within HP&P, a firm that celebrated its centenary in 2020 and is widely regarded as one of the oldest and largest intellectual property practices in Greece, as well as the country's leading IP boutique. Within that long-established setting her contribution has strengthened the firm's brand protection offering. The Corporate INTL Global Awards recognise advisers who demonstrate genuine command of their field within a jurisdiction, and in naming Stavroula Politi Anti-Counterfeiting Law Expert of the Year in Greece for 2024, the awards acknowledge both her specialist focus and her effectiveness in protecting brand owners against counterfeiting.