Gvinadze & Partners delighted to welcome back Lesley Rogers as a Senior Counsel at the firm. Lesley is an experienced, New York qualified international corporate and finance lawyer based in Tbilisi since 2004. Prior to joining our predecessor firm DLA Piper Gvinadze & Partners, where she worked on inbound investments and cross-border infrastructure projects, Lesley practiced law with US law firms Arnold & Porter LLP and Coudert Brothers LLP in New York, where her practice included cross-border acquisitions, joint ventures, private and public offerings, sovereign debt issuances and securities filings. Lesley has worked for years as a Tbilisi-based consultant to the International Finance Corporation (IFC) on energy policy, climate finance, agri-finance, regulatory reform and investment and trade promotion matters affecting countries in the Europe and Central Asia region. She has also worked as a consultant to Booz Allen Hamilton in Tbilisi and the Embassy of Georgia in Japan, and served on the Advisory Board of the Georgian Institute of Public Affairs (GIPA). Lesley holds a J.D. from Stanford Law School, an MSc from the London School of Economics and Political Science, and a B.A. from Vassar College (Poughkeepsie, NY, USA).

We are equally delighted to announce the promotion of Tornike Amilakhvari to the leadership position of Legal Director at the firm. In his eighth year with the firm, Tornike has proved himself as a core member of our legal team and an accomplished lawyer who can be trusted to uphold the firm’s stringent quality standards when advising and representing the firm’s distinguished clientele. Tornike’s practice encompasses a wide area of civil, administrative as well as white collar criminal law. In addition to his broad corporate/transactional experience, Tornike is an experienced dispute resolution lawyer instrumental to the firm’s success in Georgian courts as well as in front of various governmental, municipal and law enforcement agencies of Georgia. Prior to joining the firm, Tornike completed internships at the Civil Cases Chamber of the Georgian Supreme Court and a major Georgian law firm, and worked as in-house counsel at JSC Healthy Water, one of Georgia’s leading natural mineral water extraction and bottling companies. Tornike holds a Master of Laws (with high honours) from Tbilisi State University and is a member of the Georgian Bar Association.

“Careful and conservative as we historically are with promotions, Tornike’s career path from Associate to Senior Associate and now to Legal Director is the testament to our merit-based approach and the potential of a bright and hardworking lawyer when exposed to top calibre legal work. By the same token, when a long-standing alumna such as Lesley comes back to us after such long and diverse legal career, what can better exemplify the continuity of our practice and the corporate culture of enduring friendships we managed to cultivate over the years”, commented Managing Partner Nick Gvinadze.