The 34th annual ball of the Hellenic American Bar Association of New York

It was dreamy and perhaps the only ball where the majority of the diners were young students, lawyers and judges, who excel in all fields.

It was simultaneously glamorous because the bright faces of the young people competed with the flashes of the cameras.

It was full of messages because four important events were combined. The first was related to the changing of the guard of the Association and the handover of the reins from George Zapantis to Giannis Zervopoulos with the only difference that George Zapantis is not leaving as is the case with other Greek diaspora organizations, but will serve the Association in the capacity of chairman of the board of directors (chariman).

The second was related to the swearing-in of the president and the board of directors, which was undertaken by the appellate judge Eleni Voutsina.

The third was related to the awarding of scholarships to Panagiotis Angelarakis, Themistoklis Alepakos, Angeliki Bouzalakou, Sofia Chioti, Nicoletta Daskaloudi, Eleftheria Charalampaki, William Kanellopoulos, Magdalena Krajtsek, Eugenia Malla, Andrea Miya, Theodora Papantoniou, Eleni Papastefanou, Sotiria Pateroulaki, Antonios Sideris and Demosthenes Theofanopoulos.

The fourth was related to the awarding of Theane Evangelis, the daughter of Greek immigrants who is currently a partner in the global law firm “Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher LLP” based in California.

The Hellenic American Bar Association recently benefited from a $25,000 bequest from one of its former presidents, and the Association’s leadership decided to allocate this money to establish a scholarship reserve fund and managed to triple the amount in a short period of time. And this is because the Association decided to contribute another $25,000 to the fund.

This event prompted the honoree Theane Evangelis to offer a matching fund of $10,000 and the challenge was fulfilled that same evening.

The dinner was attended by the Archbishop of America, Mr. Elpidophoros, the Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs for Greek Diaspora Affairs, George Kotsiras, the Consul General of Greece in New York, Ifigenia Kanara, the Chief Justice of New York, Madeleine Sigga, the Permanent Representative of Greece to the UN, Ambassador Evangelos Sekeris and the State Assemblyman, Michael Tannousis and other Greek and American judges.

New Leadership

The Board of Directors (Officers) of the Hellenic American Lawyers is comprised of Yannis Zervopoulos (President), Konstantina Papageorgiou (First Vice President), Thomas Papin (Second Vice President), Christina Gotsi (Treasurer), James Stevens (General Secretary) and Haris Koulos (Secretary).

The Board of Directors is composed of George Zapantis (chairman), Michael Tiliakos (co-chairman) and their members Ted Anastasiou, Irene Angelaki, Niovi Christopoulou, Magdalene Economou, Dimitra Karamanou, Despina Keegan, Fotini Mamou, Peter Metis, Matia Nikolovgeni, Ioannis Papaspano, Memi Stathatou, Janet Tasigianni, Daniel Tantro and Chrysanthi Zapantis – Member.