Ilias Anagnostopoulos

Practice Areas

Ilias Anagnostopoulos heads the Athens-based law firm Anagnostopoulos focusing on criminal and regulatory risk management and all aspects of business crime defence.

He has appeared as lead counsel in most significant cases in Greece during the past 30 years including business and financial fraud, procurement fraud, EU fraud, healthcare fraud, insider dealing, tax and customs fraud, money

laundering, asset recovery, anti-competitive practices, corruption practices, criminal corporate liability, anti-terrorism, product criminal liability, environmental offences, health and safety offences, medical malpractice, art crimes, mutual assistance, extradition and surrender procedures.

He is regularly instructed to advise and represent leading corporations from the energy, defence, aviation, shipping, automotive, construction, financial services, insurance, raw materials, pharmaceuticals, food, health care, tobacco, telecommunications, information technology, travel and leisure, and media sectors, as well as foreign governments and governmental organisations.

Ilias is a regular commentator of foreign and international cases and regularly offers expert opinions in domestic and cross-border proceedings.

Career

Since 2013 Ilias chairs the Hellenic Criminal Bar Association, a nationwide organisation of criminal practitioners. From 2006 to 2013 he chaired the Criminal Law Committee of the Council of the Bars and Law Societies of Europe (CCBE). He was a member of the Law Commission on the new Greek Criminal Code (2015-2019), which entered into force in July 2019.

Ilias received his education at the School of Law, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens (LLM,1978), and the J.W. Goethe University of Frankfurt am Main, Germany (Dr. juris, 1982) with a dissertation on pre-trial detention.

He is a Professor emeritus of Criminal Law and Criminal Procedure, School of Law, National University of Athens.

Ilias started his academic career at the same School of Law as a Lecturer (1989) and continued as an Assistant Professor (1996), Associate Professor (2009), Professor (2018).

Professional Memberships

Hellenic Criminal Bar Association (Chair, 2013-); Hellenic Ministry of Justice Experts Committee (2015-2020); High-Legal Council, Bank of Greece (2014-); European Criminal Bar Association (founder member); International Academy of Financial Crime Litigators (fellow); European Criminal Law Academic Network; European Law Institute; International Bar Association; American Bar Association (associate); National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers (international); International Society for the Reform of Criminal Law; World Justice Project.

Publications

Ilias has published extensively in Greek, English and German on matters of criminal law, criminal procedure, European criminal law, criminal justice policy, and fundamental rights.

Some of his publications are:

“Criminal Law in Greece”, Kluwer Law International, The Hague/London/Boston, 2nd ed., 2023, 282 pp; "Proportionality issues in European arrest warrant proceedings: Three stories from the field, in: Em. Billis et al, 'The Principle of Proportionality in Crime Control and Criminal Justice', Hart Publishing, 2021, p. 337-358; "One Act, Multiple Prosecutions Unlimited Sanctions?” American Bar Association, 31st National Institute on White Collar Crime, 2017, U11-15; “The right of access to a lawyer in Europe: A long road ahead?”, European Criminal Law Review 2014, p. 3-18; “Criminal justice cooperation in the European Union after the first few ‘steps’: A defence view”, ERA Forum 2014, p. 9-24; “Untersuchungshaft und Verfahrensbeschleunigung: Das Beispiel Griechenlands”, StrafverteidigerForum 2013, p. 453-457; “Contra Socratem”, Onasis Foundation, Athens 25.5.2012, (watch Socrates’ re-trial at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FPN7EVtvAto); “Ne bis in idem in der Europäischen Union: Offene Fragen”, Festschrift für Winfried Hassemer, C.F. Müller Verlag, Heidelberg, 2010, p. 1121-1140.

Personal

Ilias lives in Athens with his wife, Persa Lampropoulou, and their two sons, Kimon (21) and Aris (20), who are students.

Languages Spoken

Greek, English, German, French.