Travel industry lawyer Joanna Kolatis has started her own legal and strategic advisory business having left law firm Hill Dickinson.
The former partner has set up Themis Advisory Ltd, which is named after the mythological Greek Titaness Themis, the personification of divine order, fairness and law.
Kolatsis, who announced her departure from Hill Dickinson last month, said Themis “was born out of a desire to provide current, pragmatic legal and business solutions for the world in which we operate today”.
She added: “We believe modern businesses require agile, flexible support that allows them to focus and drive their long-term commercial objectives.
“All too often lawyers are viewed as an expensive, but necessary evil, required to tick boxes from a liability perspective. It really doesn’t have to be that way.”
Themis Advisory will provide tailor-made legal consultancy and strategic advisory services which Kolatsis says are “not trapped in a ‘one size fits all’ mentality”.
It will specialise in commercial agreements, contract reviews, terms and conditions reviews, policies and procedures, regulation, compliance and governance, legal affairs management, non-executive director services, strategic business affairs, risk management and Brexit.
Themis’ specialist industry sectors include aviation; travel, tourism and leisure, including tour operators and travel agents; cruise lines; corporate and business travel, start-up companies, and owner-managed businesses.
It will not operate as a law firm, instead focussing on ‘unreserved’ legal activities, which Kolatsis said gives “flexibility” – and has made strategic alliances with “commercially-minded” law firms for when formal legal support such as litigation, mergers and acquisitions activity and property transactions, if needed.