Giorgi Kekenadze

Giorgi Kekenadze is a head of corporate practice at Nodia, Urumashvili and Partners LLC. His practice combines strategic transactional work with sophisticated dispute resolution across multiple jurisdictions. He advises on M&A transactions across key sectors including construction, energy, FMCG, hospitality, telecommunications, and education.

In dispute resolution, he has represented multinational corporations, investment funds, and leading Georgian companies in complex commercial, shareholder, construction, IP, insolvency, and constitutional litigation. Furthermore, Giorgi has extensive experience in international arbitration and advised clients in arbitrations conducted under LCIA, ICC, NAI and other institutional arbitration Rules.

Early in his career, Giorgi interned at the Civil Chamber of the Supreme Court of Georgia, before going on to represent clients in high-profile cases before the Constitutional Court of Georgia. He served on the governing board of the Georgian Association of Arbitrators and, for the past eight years, has taught commercial arbitration at Ilia State University. Giorgi has co-authored arbitration guides for Georgian judges and is the founding editor-in-chief of the Georgian Arbitration Blog.

Giorgi is a member of the Georgian Bar Association (GBA), Georgian Association of Arbitrators (GAA) and Arbitration association of Central and Eastern Europe (ArbCEE).

Recent notable experience in Dispute Resolution:

- Advised and assisted a Dutch investor in arbitration conducted under NAI Rules, with a seat in the Netherlands.

- Represented an Estonian company in a dispute concerning trademark annulment before common courts of Georgia and assisted the same client in related proceedings before the courts of England and Wales.

- Represented one of the largest US-based pharmaceutical companies in patent infringement and data exclusivity cases before courts of Georgia and assisted in successfully settling the dispute.

- Represented a subsidiary of a Swiss pharmaceutical company in disputes towards its distributors in CIS region (Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan) and assisted in the settlement of the dispute.

- Represented one of the largest industrial factories in Georgia before common courts of Georgia in litigation concerning claims of up to USD 100 million.

- Represented a leading player in the FMCG sector, in a dispute with its suppliers before the common courts of Georgia and assisted in settling the dispute.

- Represented a leading Chinese construction company before the court in a dispute related to the construction of a cement plant in Georgia and assisted in settling the matter.

- Represented one the major retail company in insolvency proceedings before the common courts of Georgia.

Recent transactional highlights:

- Advised a Dutch company in USD 64 MLN acquisition of shares of one of the leading players in Beverage’s sector in Georgia.

- Advised a major construction company in acquisition of shares in a factory, with a value of around 15 MLN USD.

- Advised investors in relation to acquisition of Free Industrial Zone in Tbilisi.

- Advised a leading player in FMCG Sector in setting up a franchising system and its operations in Georgia.

- Advised an Austrian investor in acquisition of shares in a company operating hydro power plants in Georgia.

- Advised shareholders of one of the leading distributors of machinery in Georgia regarding corporate structure and alienation of shares.

- Advised one of the leading Georgian Construction Companies in execution of the transaction with Tbilisi City Municipality.

- Advised an investor in acquisition of a school in Georgia.

- Advised a party in acquisition of entirety of assets in a Georgian company operating commercial offices.

Tbilisi State University

Bachelor of Laws

2010 - 2014

University of Graz

Exchange student

2013 - 2014

Central European University

LLM in International Business Law

2015 - 2016

Tbilisi State University

LLM in Private Law

2015 - 2017