On July 18, 2017, Mr. Nicola Mariani, managing partner of Dechert Georgia LLC, visited ISET within its Summer School programme and discussed economic reforms, political transition, and development organized by the International School of Economics (ISET). Mr. Mariani talked about the reforms that have been implemented by the governments of Georgia, and what should be done to ensure the independence, professionalism, and efficiency of the judicial system, which is crucially important to ensure that Georgia remains an attractive country for foreign investors.

“Investors need reliable court systems all over the world,” stated Mr. Mariani while going over the reforms in the Georgian Judicial System. According to him, the Georgian judicial system has undergone significant reforms since adopting the organic laws on Common Courts and on the Supreme Court in 1997-1998, major achievements of which – among others – are the passing of the Organic Law on Common Courts of Georgia, the passing of the Organic Law on the Supreme Court of Georgia, the introduction of a new system for the appointment of judges, and the appointment of judges who have passed exams and gone through a stringent selection process.

As Mr. Mariani noted, some of the key disadvantages of litigating commercial cases – among others – within the common courts system of Georgia are overstocked dockets, lengthy proceedings, an inability to adequately address commercial interests, and a base lack of confidence in the quality and independence of the judiciary.

Mr. Mariani highlighted the importance of specialized chambers and other jurisdictional issues such as disputes with state elements, arbitration-related disputes, and complex cases that do not fall within a clear jurisdiction, which are of the utmost importance for the development of commercial practices.

Nicola Mariani is the managing partner of Dechert’s Tbilisi office. He focuses his practice on local and cross-border merger and acquisition transactions, complex commercial matters, and joint ventures as well as commercial arbitration and pre-litigation negotiations.