Greek-Speaking Attorneys

Michael C. Pyrros

Astoria, NY

Michael C. Pyrros has devoted his professional career to representing injured workers, with vast trial experience before the New York Workers’ Compensation Board. He is fluent in Greek and Spanish.

Athena R. Costis

Antioch, CA

Athena R. Costis is a partner attorney at Ivancich & Costis, LLP. She is a Certified Specialist in Workers' Compensation and has over 26 years of experience representing injured workers. She graduated from UC Davis and UC Davis School of Law.

James P. McNally focuses primarily on civil litigation, handling premises liability, automobile accidents, product liability, medical malpractice, contract disputes, and discrimination cases. He has practiced law since 1982 and has extensive experience with workers’ compensation claims. He is admitted to practice in the United States Supreme Court, the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania, the United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit, and the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania.

Dena C. Sarandos

Salt Lake City, UT

Dena C. Sarandos has over 24 years of legal experience, focusing her practice on family law, including substantial marital estates and complex custody issues. She is a member of the American Academy of Matrimonial Lawyers and Best Lawyers of America.

John J. Louizos

Stamford, CT

John Louizos focuses on commercial law, corporate law, and commercial and residential real estate. He has over 25 years of experience and serves as general counsel for closely held companies, private trusts, and high net worth individuals. John is admitted to practice in Connecticut, New York, Virginia, and various federal courts. He was recognized as a Connecticut Rising Star by Super Lawyers.

Pete B. Sarandos

Salt Lake City, UT

Pete B. Sarandos focuses primarily on family law, including divorce, alimony, child support, custody, and marital estate valuation. He has been recognized on the Mountain States Super Lawyers Rising Stars List.

Ms. Rubino has substantial experience defending all types of negligence and liability claims, including premises liability, municipal liability, construction accidents, elevator accidents, medical malpractice and motor vehicle accidents. She also handles insurance coverage disputes and regularly defends and prosecutes declaratory judgment actions. Ms. Rubino has an impressive track record in all stages of litigation, including trials and appeals. As a testament to her skill in the field of trial advocacy, Ms. Rubino has given numerous lectures and demonstrations to law students at Hofstra University School of Law for the Advanced Trial Advocacy course. She is also a member of the New York State Bar Association. Ms. Rubino graduated from Hofstra University in 1996 with a Bachelors of Art in both English and Philosophy in only three years. She earned her Juris Doctorate degree from Hofstra University School of Law in 1999 with honors. She is admitted to practice in New York and the United States District Court for the Southern and Eastern Districts. Olympia enjoys being a dance mom to her two daughters, playing the piano and going to the opera. She also speaks Greek and loves to cook.

George Tamvakis

Libertyville, IL

George Tamvakis is a Partner at Salvi & Maher, LLP, specializing in worker's compensation. He received his B.A. from Augustana College in 1983 and his J.D. from Valparaiso University in 1986, admitted to the Illinois bar in 1987. He is fluent in Greek and Japanese and serves as the Civil Service Commission Chairman for the City of Park Ridge.

Ms. Evangelou joined the Cascone & Kluepfel team in the summer of 2022. She brings to us more than 15 years of experience in defending actions involving New York’s Labor Law, as well as premises, motor vehicle, and general negligence matters. Prior to joining Cascone & Kluepfel, Ms. Evangelou worked in the Negligence Defense and Appellate Departments of a New York City insurance defense firm. Ms. Evangelou graduated from SUNY Stony Brook with a Bachelor of Science in Biology and attended law school at Hofstra University School of Law in Hempstead, New York. She is admitted to practice law in the State of New York. During law school, she worked at the New York State Attorney General's Nassau Regional Office where she investigated and mediated consumer complaints for the Department of Consumer Affairs.

Danny Cochetas

Scotts Valley, CA

Danny Cochetas is an experienced attorney serving Santa Cruz and Tuolumne Counties. He practices in various areas including estate planning, family law, intellectual property, personal injury (medical malpractice, wrongful death), bankruptcy, and construction law. He holds an LL.M. from Santa Clara University, which is highly rated for Intellectual Property Law. He was admitted to practice in California in 2014.

Leonard grew up in a suburb of Chicago as the oldest of seven children and as a result developed his advisory and communication skills at an early age. He attended Fenwick High School in Oak Park, Illinois and then University of Notre Dame in South Bend Indiana. Before attending Lewis and Clark Law School in Portland, he traveled abroad for 6 months, attempting to be understood in Spanish, German, French, and Greek with limited success. He is a trial lawyer with experience in criminal defense, family law, probate, and personal injury litigation. He was a pro-term Circuit Court judge appointed by the governor. For 45 years, he traveled statewide in this capacity and also presided over the Clackamas County night court for almost 45 years. Len and his wife have three daughters attending elementary and high school in Lake Oswego. The Kovac girls are all musicians, athletes, and scholars, keeping their parents busy with their obligations to orchestras, pep bands, soccer teams, and school and dance teams.

Elaine Vlahakis

Greenwich, CT

Elaine Vlahakis focuses on residential real estate, condominium law, and landlord-tenant law. She received her J.D. from New York Law School in 1984. She is admitted to the Connecticut and New York bars and is a member of several bar associations. She is also Counsel to the Church of the Annunciation in Stamford, Connecticut.

Athena J. Aitas

North Wales, PA

Athena J. Aitas is the Michigan Managing Attorney with Hladik, Onorato & Federman, LLP. She has years of experience in Bankruptcy and Creditor’s Rights. Athena is fluent in Greek and partially fluent in Spanish, and is active in several Church Philanthropic Organizations.

Eleni Melekou

New York, NY

Eleni's practice focuses on commercial litigation, complex business, and contract disputes. She represents a wide range of clients on the protection and enforcement of their Intellectual Property Rights (trademarks, copyrights and trade secrets). Eleni advises entrepreneurs on the formation and structure of their entity, registration of their trademarks and copyrights and all contractual matters of their business. She has graduated from New York University School of Law and received an LL.M. in Corporation Law and an Advanced Professional Certificate In Law and Business from NYU Stern School of Business. She also received an LL.M. in Intentional Shipping Law with distinction from Queen Mary University of London. She is admitted to practice in the State of New York and Greece.

Anthony M. Metaxas

Danvers, MA

Anthony M. Metaxas is a civil litigator with over 40 years of experience in business litigation and fiduciary relations, including trusts and estates. He founded a prominent North Shore firm and is regularly sought as a conciliator and arbitrator. He also has a working knowledge of Greek.

Nikki F. Karadimas

Hackensack, NJ

Nikki F. Karadimas is an associate with the firm, exclusively practicing family and matrimonial law. She is admitted to practice in New Jersey and New York. She graduated magna cum laude from Marist University in 2022 and cum laude from Elisabeth Haub School of Law at Pace University in 2025. She was heavily involved with the First-Generation Law Students Association and worked as a paralegal during law school. She also participated in the New York State Pro Bono Scholars Program, assisting victims of domestic violence.

Patricia D. Hatzopoulos

Lisle, IL

Patricia is a civil litigation attorney in our Chicago, Illinois office.

Alexis Cirkinyan

Encino, CA

Alexis has represented and advised private and public employers in all stages of litigation from initial responsive pleading to ultimate resolution in federal and state courts and on appeal in labor and employment matters for more than 20 years. She has defended employers in cases involving the California Fair Employment and Housing Act, Title VII, the American with Disabilities Act, Whistleblower actions, Constitutional violations, and the Government Tort Claims Act. Alexis also represents employers before government agencies such as the DFEH and EEOC. Prior to joining Ballard, Rosenberg, Golper, & Savitt, Alexis was a partner with the Los Angeles firm of Kessel & Associates. She is fluent in Greek, Armenian, and Turkish, with a limited knowledge of French.

Pavlo Pavlatos is an associate at Chopra & Nocerino, focusing primarily on plaintiff personal injury litigation. A graduate of Touro College - Jacob D. Fuchsberg Law Center, he previously defended insurance companies for eight years, gaining insight into the other side of litigation. He is a hard worker dedicated to helping victims navigate difficult times and ensuring everything moves properly in their cases.

Aggeliki Psonis

Miami Beach, FL

A graduate of Boston University, with a JD from CUNY law school, Aggeliki focuses her practice on real estate transactions, estate planning and administration, business law and general litigation. She has extensive experience representing buyers, sellers, investors and business owners based in New York and internationally. Aggeliki is admitted in the states of New York, New Jersey and Massachusetts, as well as in the Eastern and Southern Districts of New York. She is also a licensed Real Estate broker. She is a proud member of the Inspiring Women in Law League (IWILL) and the Hellenic Lawyers Association. She speaks fluent Greek and conversational French and Spanish. Aside from lawyering, she enjoys being a radio producer and performing artist.

Nicholas Kritikos

San Diego, CA

Nicholas Kritikos is Of-Counsel to Hoffman & Forde, with practice areas including general civil litigation, mortgage litigation, commercial real estate financing and transactions, and real estate disputes.

Jasmina de la Torre

Chicago, IL

Jasmina de la Torre is a commercial transactional and commercial litigation attorney with over twenty-five years of experience. Her practice includes sophisticated commercial disputes, transactional business law, commercial real estate, estate planning, and estate and trust administration. She graduated magna cum laude from the University of Illinois College of Law in 1998 and is admitted to practice in Illinois. She speaks Serbian, Spanish, French, German, and Greek.

Thanos Simoudis

Los Angeles, CA

Being a litigator since the onset of his legal career Mr. Simoudis co-founded Culver Legal, LLP, with one thesis in mind, championing for the rights of those injured as a result of the wrongful conduct of others. Mr. Simoudis takes pride in standing up to large corporations and insurance companies who take advantage of those when they are most vulnerable and sets out each day to protect injured victims. Mr. Simoudis continues to recover and has recovered millions of dollars for his clients, for these efforts, he has been recognized by multiple publications. For the past several years, Mr. Simoudis has been selected as a “Rising Star” on the Southern California Super Lawyers list, an award that is only given to less than 2.5% of practicing attorneys. Prior to co-founding Culver Legal, Mr. Simoudis ran the litigation department of a busy personal injury firm and successfully represented thousands of individuals in all types of injury claims in both state and federal court. Mr. Simoudis also worked in the legal department of Aramco, the world’s third largest oil and natural gas company. While at Aramco, Mr. Simoudis worked with the team tasked with setting corporate policies to reduce carbon emissions.