Charis is a Partner, leading the regulatory compliance and funds services at Grant Thornton (Cyprus) Ltd. He is an experienced corporate lawyer, member of the Cyprus Bar Association, and law lecturer at the Department of Digital Innovation, School of Business of the University of Nicosia. Charis obtained his law degree from the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens in 2005 and continued his postgraduate studies in the United Kingdom, with emphasis on International and European Business Law, obtaining his LL.M in International Commercial Law from the University of Nottingham and his PhD in Law from the University of Sheffield. His doctoral thesis was on competition law and more specifically on the EU regulatory framework on state aids to firms in difficulty.
His practice areas include, among others, the regulatory framework of digital services and digital markets, especially in the areas of corporate, investment and financial law. Charis is also one of the leading lawyers in Cyprus in the field of Blockchain and crypto-asset advisory services, serving a vast clientele in regulated markets, such as Investment Firms, Alternative Investment Funds and Fund Managers, Crypto Asset Service Providers, Banks and Electronic Money Institutions.
Charis is regular speaker and instructor at professional seminars, workshops and conferences, where he shares his knowledge and experience about the regulatory status and trends in the fields of Investment Funds and the broader area of regulation and technology, including Blockchain and digital currencies. He is also Expert Panel Member of the EU Blockchain Observatory & Forum (a European Commission initiative to accelerate blockchain innovation and the development of the blockchain ecosystem within the EU), as well as member of the Cyprus Investment Funds Association (CIFA) and member of the Technology Committee of the Cyprus Bar Association.