About Us

Located at the heart of the 'European Quarter' of Brussels's, Pappas & Associates was founded in 2004 by Spyros Pappas who reverted to private legal practice in 2001 after several years of service as Director-General in the EU Commission, where, he held the portfolios of Consumer Policy, Information, Communication, Culture and Audiovisual Policy and finally Education and Culture. Prior to this he was a Professor of Law at the European Institute for Public Administration and a Judge at the Supreme Court of Greece (Conseil d'Etat).

Pappas & Associates was founded on the conviction that the best way to understand Community Law is to appreciate that it is qualitatively different from its national counterparts. In contrast to national Law where legal analysis prevails over other considerations, Community Law is much more the result of the interaction between legal principles and political objectives; it is law that has been formulated and interpreted in a unique, specific and complex supranational political context, and consequently not necessarily amenable to normal methods of legal analysis.

Community Law is applied by the Commission long before it reaches the courts, which in any case have a propensity to interpret such laws in a teleological manner, highly sensitive to the EU's political context. By way of example, Article 226 of the EC Treaty (complaints procedure) appears, prima facie, to be a purely 'legally' technical provision. However, the final decision on its application rests with the Commission, whose decisions cannot be reviewed by the European Courts. The infusion of dynamic and unpredictable political variables makes the analysis of the implications of Community Law, which is now the source of over 50% of laws in many Member States, incredibly complex and challenging. In order to provide its clients with the high quality and relevant legal advice, Pappas & Associates seeks to combine both the judicial attributes of integrity and technical/legal expertise with an acute understanding of the complex political context in which Community Law is formulated, applied and interpreted.

In order to achieve its objectives Pappas & Associates is committed to:

• Creating and maintaining a team of highly qualified and competent professionals who have unrivalled legal experience as well as unparallel insight into the EU institutions.
• Guaranteeing and maintaining a high standard of professional and client-oriented service.
• Not only understanding present client needs but also proactively anticipating future concerns establishing a relationship of openness, trust and co-operation between the firm and all its clients.