The Pafos Bar Association, as a Local Bar Association as we know it today, was founded with the entry into force of the Lawyers Law, Chapter 2, in 1955.
Prior to the entry into force of the Lawyers Law, President of all Local Bar Associations, as well as of the Cyprus Bar Association, was the Attorney General, while duties as a Chief Secretary of the Association were performed by the senior advocate of the Association.
The habit of electing the oldest lawyer to be automatically the President of the Bar Association without elections continued, mainly due to the small number of members of the Pafos Bar Association, even after the entry into force of the Lawyers Law.
The first elections of the Pafos Bar Association took place in 1976, and Lefkaros Korakides was elected Chairman of the Pafos Bar Association, who was elected President for three consecutive terms until 1985.
From 1985 until 1994, for three consecutive terms, Agapios Kakoyiannis was elected President of the Pafos Bar Association and from 1994 until 2003, for four consecutive terms, Andreas Dimitriadis was elected President. From 2003 until October 2014, Ioannis Papazacharias was elected President and from October 2014 until September 2020 Epaminondas Korakidis was elected. In September 2020, Savvas Zannoupas was elected President, a position he holds to this day.
The First female lawyer, as a member of the Pafos Bar Association, was Ms Elli Ioannou Katsiartou, who enrolled as a lawyer at the Association in 1972 and retired in 2011.
An important moment in the history of the Pafos Bar Association was, under the presidency of Agapios Kakoyiannis, the establishment of the Office of the Pafos Bar Association in 1988, which was operating and has been operating until today in the Pafos Court, and in which the lawyers can, in addition to gathering and discussing their affairs, be supplied with Stamps and Barters for the registration of proceedings, which the Association sells to its members with a minimum commission. This was the first and only revenue of the Association and the beginning the creation of the Fund of the Association, necessary to cover the expenses of the Association. The first employee of the Pafos Bar Association was Ms Maria Siali, while today is Ms. Anna Themistocleous.
Furthermore, the contribution of the Paphos Bar Association and the then President Agapios Kakoyiannis was very important to the lobbying of the new Court House, in which the District Court of Pafos is housed and which was inaugurated on 25/11/1995.
Also, the involvement of the Pafos Bar Association in the competent bodies of the Republic, local and not only, to share the cases referred to the Court by the Republic, to private lawyers, was essential. Initially, the cases were shared by the Pafos Bar Association equally to its members, but later the duty to share the cases of the Republic that were referred to private lawyers was undertaken by the Legal Service.
Last but not least, the twinning of the Pafos Bar Association with the Thessaloniki Bar Association, which took place in 2001 at the initiative of the then Presidents Mr. Agapios KaKyiannis and Charalambos Nasla, is also important. Since then, the two associations have developed close links, exchanging frequent visits and developing broad legal co-operation, as well as creating deep friendly relations between members of the two associations.
Note:
We warmly thank the former Presidents of the Pafos Bar Association. Agapio Kakoyianni and Andreas Dimitriadis, for the valuable information they gave us, without which we could not have a brief overview of the history of our Association.
