Gold Magazine December 2013 - January 2014, Issue 33 | Page 59

If it takes 7-8 years for a case to come
to court, that is ridiculous
“At first I was quite shocked and disappointed by what I saw as a lack of professionalism
among my colleagues,” he remembers, “many
of whom did not show the proper degree of
respect for judges. In fact they seemed to have
given up most of the court etiquette that I considered an essential part of the justice system.
It still goes on. They frequently fail to bow to
the court; they may not even be appropriately
dressed. I remember an incident when I was
writing and passing notes to a colleague rather
than talking during the court proceedings and
the judge later told me the oft-repeated ‘It’s
obvious that you are from England’. He went
on to say that he had once been like me and
that, like him, I would change my attitude as
time went by.”
He notes that sometimes courtrooms are
simply not quiet enough. “A lawyer has to
think on his feet as he tries to get a witness to
state something in the way that will help the
case. At that moment, the last thing he or she
needs is the sound of high heels tapping across
the floor. In other countries, there is usually an
antechamber between the court and the rest
of the building. Here there can be rather too
much noise.”
Nicolaides is proud that he still makes a
point of showing the same respect as he did
when he first came back to Cyprus but, he
says, he does not always receive the same
treatment. “I believe that lawyers and judges
should show respect to one another and to
their colleagues,” he insists. “There are judges
who, from the moment they are appointed,
suddenly start behaving as if they are God’s
gift to the legal profession, treating lawyers
with disrespect. It is especially annoying for me
personally when they are people with whom
I used to work and they were once asking for
my opinion and advice. In my experience it
is only in the Supreme Court that the judges
address lawyers in the right way; they listen
and they show patience. The first thing I told
my son when he started in the profession was
this: ‘In order to practice and to practice well
you have to be patient. Fight your cases with
passion and honesty but you also have to be
patient, to show respect to the judges and to
your colleagues’. Sometimes a lawyer’s patience
is truly tested!”
Asked if he is still as keen as he used to be on
the legal profession, he ponders before saying,
“No. I have matured of course but I’m still not
very happy with the legal system in Cyprus. If
it takes 7-8 years for a case to come to court,

that is ridiculous. ‘Justice delayed is justice
denied.’ Imagine taking someone to court for
€100 euros and waiting seven years for the
case to be heard! This is not an exaggeration.
For this reason, it’s good that arbitration and
mediation are becoming more accepted in
Cyprus. In the UK they have the small claims
court which I have proposed on several occasions but I always get the same answer: ‘This is
Cyprus’. Well, yes it is but that doesn’t mean
that bad things can’t change.”
For all the drawbacks, Constantine Nicolaides still enjoys his work. Indeed, he considers it a vocation.
“I don’t look at my job as a money maker
– I would have been a much richer person if I
had been different!” he says. “It is a vocation,
much like the work of a doctor or a priest. I
like advocating, presenting cases to court and
trying to persuade the judge that my client
is right. I never hide anything from my colleagues and I never hit below the belt. I still
try to do exactly what I used to do in England
and when I win I feel very glad because I feel I
have done a good job for my client.”
At 66, Nicolaides considers that he is much
too young to consider retirement – indeed,
this was one of the reasons that he turned
down the opportunity to become a judge,
despite his belief that he is “a very fair person”,
because judges retire relatively early in Cyprus.
“Most lawyers don’t want to become judges
because they don’t want to retire and of course
they can continue to a great age,” he says, adding, “I think, however, that judges should be
people who are experienced in life and this in
itself requires that they should be of a certain
age. In England you first become an assistant
recorder for three years, then a recorder and
then a judge. Here you can be a lawyer in November and a judge in December. I find this
ridiculous.”
Of all the cases he has undertaken, is there
one of which he feels especially proud? He
notes first that on occasion he has done extremely good work on cases that he has lost,
so winning does not necessarily mean the best
work. But he does recall one special moment
when he won a case on behalf of a woman in
the family court.
“I represented a woman who sued her
husband for division of property when they
divorced. I spent many sleepless nights working on the case and at first I tried to reach a
compromise. The husband at first agreed to
give my client £25,000 but then he reneged

on the agreement after being persuaded by
another lawyer that he needn’t give his wife a
penny. In the end he had to give her £80,000
plus costs. Previously, when I had spoken to
his lawyer and again suggested a compromise,
he told me, ‘Look, I always try my cases. If I
win I’ll be paid by your client, and if I lose I’ll
be paid by mine.’ At the end of the case, when
were we invited into the judge’s chamber ́Ѽ)