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XIV
Liber Amicorum in Honour of Ioannis K. Rokas
Founder and Senior Partner of “Rokas” Law Firm, as well as the coordinator of the
“Rokas” network of legal firms & legal consulting companies, which spread across
the countries of the Central and South-East European region. In that role, he has
long established and exceptional experience as a practising lawyer in fields such as
international arbitration, mergers & acquisitions, privatizations, dispute resolution -
particularly in the insurance field,
et al
. He has been named numerous times as the
leading legal practitioner in Greece in Insurance and Reinsurance by the international
Who’s Who of Insurance & Reinsurance Lawyers (e.g. 2007
et seq
) of the International
Bar Association.
The presentation of the current
Festschrift/Liber Amicorum
book with legal
contributions from scholars and practitioners from Greece and from various parts of
the world, marks and honours his academic career and his so far long life’s journey
in the field of law and practice, and constitutes a vivid proof of the calibre and of the
contribution of Professor Ioannis K. Rokas to the science of law. The broad range of
topics dealt with in these essays as well as the international range of countries from
which the contributors originate, illustrate the wealth and spectrum of the impact
that he has had. In my personal and humble opinion, all the above serves as enough
evidence to constitute him as the biggest name in Greek insurance law and one of the
most renown worldwide.
Professor Ioannis K. Rokas has always regarded himself as both an academic teacher
and as a practitioner. Professor Rokas’s convictions about the importance of teaching
are reflected in his own prolific list of publications. For example, his book “Private
Insurance Law: the law of insurance contracts and of insurance enterprises”, that
excellent students’ and indeed professionals’ textbook, which he has kept up to date
over the years, so that it is now in its 12th edition, is a remarkable achievement. The
book is more than a clear exposition of the elements of private insurance law. The
mature scholar of the subject can still, by consulting “Private Insurance Law: the law
of insurance contracts and of insurance enterprises” find nuggets of illumination, or
explanation, or a possible new approach, on almost any topic in the field. Professor
Rokas’s teaching approach towards his University students, as well as his guidance
towards his fellow legal practitioners was not solely doctrinaire, for he has always
been insistent on making his peers see more than one side of a question and, hence,
argue and appreciate different approaches. Myself too, having worked next to him in
practice as well as within AIDA - where currently we both serve at the AIDA World
Presidential Council - can avidly testify the above. I consider him as one of my mentors
and continue to learn from him.