Chiara D. Kalogjera-Sackellares

Chiara D. Kalogjera-Sackellares is a commercial litigation and arbitration attorney in Holland & Knight's New York office. She advises and represents clients in high-stakes litigation disputes across a broad range of industries, forums and jurisdictions, from federal court to arbitration to administrative proceedings. Her practices centers on complex commercial litigation and cross-border dispute resolution, with significant experiences in the transportation, real estate, energy and infrastructure, and financial services industries.

General Commercial Litigation and International Arbitration. Ms. Kalogjera-Sackellares represents clients in complex contract disputes in federal and state courts as well as international arbitration forums. She is experienced in all phases of complex dispute resolution, from dispositive motion practice to large-scale discovery and e-discovery processes to arbitration and court hearings, settlement and mediation proceedings. Her representative matters include:

• representing major financial institutions in disputes involving fraudulent misrepresentation, breach of contract and mutual mistake claims
• representing a European Union (EU) manufacturer and distributor of food industry raw materials in an International Chamber of Commerce (ICC) arbitration concerning distributor agreement disputes, addressing EU competition law, Article 101 of the Treaty of the Functioning of the EU and noncompete clauses
• representing a utility company against breach of contract claims regarding a Firm Transmission Capacity Purchase Agreement, addressing force majeure issues

Transportation Industry: Dispute Resolution and Compliance. Ms. Kalogjera-Sackellares has extensive experience representing a diverse range of transportation clients, including shipowners, charterers, shippers and ocean carriers. She has successfully represented clients in numerous cross-border shipping disputes arising from contracts ranging from charterparties and bills of lading to demurrage and detention invoicing and cargo disputes. Her representative matters include:

• representing major U.S. Fortune 500 companies, who are consignees of cargo in Federal Maritime Commission (FMC) proceedings against ocean carriers and intermediaries for Shipping Act violations, by handling document review, depositions, motion practice and collaborating and communicating with her team, the client and experts
• negotiating favorable settlements for parties in cargo damage disputes involving through bills of lading
• representing a Norwegian chemical tanker company in Society of Maritime Arbitrators (SMA) proceedings, by conducting discovery, drafting briefs, preparing witness testimony outlines, working with expert witnesses, collaborating with Protection and Indemnity (P&I) club co-counsel and serving as primary client contact
• representing a global offshore wind energy maritime company in multiple charter party dispute arbitrations before the SMA

Real Estate and Land Use. She has represented clients in complex real estate disputes, including:

• representing a land developer in civil rights, Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act (RICO), Article 78 and state tort claims against town and planning boards for interfering with property development rights, addressing historical preservation matters
• representing a full-spectrum institutional investment management firm in breach of contract litigation against a real estate investment firm
• representing an end-to-end real estate brokerage and technology company in securing a favorable settlement of a property management agreement dispute

Entertainment and Transactional Experience. Ms. Kalogjera-Sackellares has represented clients in the entertainment industry, with her representative matters including:

• representing a global rock band in obtaining a favorable settlement in a breach of contract dispute involving a group agreement with a former band member and protecting client against overbroad discovery of confidential information
• represents entertainment industry clients ranging from documentary producers to live performance institutions by drafting various agreements to facilitate their productions, including options agreements, executive producer agreements, materials license agreements, copyright and trademark license agreements, non-disclosure agreements, release agreements and deeds of gift

Environmental Advisory. Ms. Kalogjera-Sackellares provides advice on compliance with maritime and environmental regulations and law. Her representative matters include:

• advising a large global seafood company on compliance with the Clean Water Act and related discharge regulations under 33 U.S.C. § 1311(a) and the Vessel Incidental Discharge Act (VIDA)
• providing counsel to an environmental technology company regarding dispute resolution processes on the high seas

Pro Bono. Ms. Kalogjera-Sackellares dedicates time to pro bono clients in the Immigration for Kids in Need of Defense (KIND) and entertainment space. She has helped individuals attain guardianship and special immigrant juvenile status through U.S. Immigration proceedings, as well as acquiring their employment authorization cards. She has also drafted agreements for civic-minded entertainment projects.

Prior to joining Holland & Knight, Ms. Kalogjera-Sackellares was a student attorney for the Tulane Environmental Law Clinic, where she represented clients in administrative and environmental law cases related to the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) and compliance with agency orders on consent.

While in law school, Ms. Kalogjera-Sackellares participated in the John R. Brown Admiralty Moot Court Competition and then served as the appellate chair and coached the appellate team for the UC Davis Asylum & Refugee Law National Moot Court Competition. She also served as the senior managing editor of the Tulane Journal of International and Comparative Law.