GREECE

George Ballas is the senior and managing partner at Ballas, Pelecanos & Associates L.P.C. Mr. Ballas heads the firm’s IP, IT & CT practice group, and the firm’s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) Compliance Program. His diverse career includes holding the posts of Secretary General, Hellenic Parliament; board member, Public Power Corporation; Chair, PPC Insurance Board; Chair, Association for the Establishment of Libraries; general legal counsel and member of the board, Fiat Auto Hellas SA; lead outside counsel for Greece, Microsoft Corporation, and Microsoft Hellas SA.

Mr. Ballas is a member of the Athens Bar Association, the International Bar Association (IBA), and the International Trademark Association (INTA), an advocate before the Supreme Courts of Greece, and a qualified European patent attorney. He read law at the Universities of Athens and Paris and was admitted to practice in Athens in 1972.

In addition to heading the firm’s litigation practice in complex pharmaceutical patents and anti-counterfeiting cases, he regularly advises clients in developing and managing strategic initiatives for optimizing intellectual assets protection, exploitation, and enforcement. Mr. Ballas has authored articles and contributed chapters to a variety of IP, IT & CT publications and has lectured on patent issues.

Theodore Konstantakopoulos is a partner at Zepos & Yannopoulos and the head of its TMT & Data Practice Group. He is a certified Data Protection Officer (DPO) Executive (ISO/IEC 17024). A graduate of the Athens University Law School (LL.B.), Mr. Konstantakopoulos earned a Master of Laws degree (MLE) from Leibniz Universität, Hannover, Germany, following which he was awarded a second Master of Laws degree (LL.M.) from Queen Mary College, University of London, in Computer and Communications Law.

Mr. Konstantakopoulos advises Fortune 500 companies on all aspects of electronic communications, technology, and media law with a particular focus on data protection and cybersecurity. Mr. Konstantakopoulos is a regular contributor in various technology law publications and guest speaker and panelist in data privacy fora, workshops, and conferences in Greece and abroad.

Zoe Provata is a Senior Associate at Ballas, Pelecanos & Associates L.P.C and a member of the IT/CT & Data Privacy Practice Group. She is an LL.B. and LL.M. graduate of the School of Law of the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens and a Certified Information Privacy Professional (CIPP/E). She is admitted before the Court of Appeals.

Ms. Provata has experience in providing legal advice to top-tier clients on a broad range of data protection, new technologies, AI, cybersecurity and innovative projects combining law and IT. She advises international and domestic clients in navigating the rapidly changing regulatory landscape of data protection and new technologies law. Her practice covers a wide range of data privacy issues, including direct marketing, compliance programs, employment data protection issues, and the operation of e-shops and smart apps. She is regularly involved in due diligence exercises, while her daily work covers the drafting of complex data processing and data sharing and outsourcing agreements. Ms. Provata has experience in a variety of industry sectors including energy, healthcare, retail, media and technology.