Areas of specialisation
Litigation
Our Law Firm represents clients in disputes within the broadly defined field of civil and administrative law. As of the establishment of the firm, we have appeared in over 2,000 proceedings; in some cases, the amount in dispute exceeded PLN 100,000,000. Within the first area, we serve as attorneys in civil, commercial and labour law proceedings. These include disputes concerning ownership (in particular dissolution of co-ownership and division of the estate), intellectual property protection (distortion of competition), protection of personal interests, corporate disputes (including repeal of resolutions and expulsion of a partner), reconciliation of the content of land and mortgage registers, and payment disputes, including compensation claims. Further, the Law Firm supports its clients in effectively obtaining consideration adjudged by a court. With regard to the latter, we act on behalf of our clients in administrative proceedings and court and administrative proceedings in the areas of construction law, spatial planning law, water resources law, energy law, the act on transporting hazardous goods, personal data protection law, the citizenship act, the act on acquiring real property by foreigners, and re-privatisation law.
Services for business entities
As a part of our day-to-day service provided to business entities, we offer comprehensive consultancy in all matters that require professional legal knowledge and assurance of legal safety. We handle the drafting of business transaction agreements, including trade agreements and labour law agreements, corporate documents, including articles of association, rules and regulations for the functioning of corporate bodies as well as work regulations. Moreover, we offer advice on current issues concerning the establishment and operation of business activity, also with regard to the necessary implementation of solutions resulting from changes to the legal situation (so-called compliance). We assess and negotiate agreements with banks (loan agreements, factoring agreements, etc.) and brokerage houses. We support our clients who operate as companies in the organisation of general meetings, meetings of the management or supervisory boards and in drafting of resolutions that are to be adopted by said bodies. Next, we assist them during registration in the National Court Register. To ensure that our clients receive a comprehensive service, we cooperate with external accounting specialists and chartered auditors. If a project may trigger any financial consequences, we never neglect to consider taxes. We support our clients in communication with the administration and represent them before authorities and courts of all instances.
Intellectual property and GDPR
Intellectual property law, in particular copyright law, are one of our main areas of expertise. For our clients from the creative industry, we prepare expert opinions, draw up and negotiate agreements, settlement agreements, regulations for competitions or events, we advise them on the copyright issues they encounter in their everyday business activity, we conduct audits in this scope, identify specific risk areas, organise training sessions (including workshops) and, if needed, represent our clients in mediation and legal proceedings before authorities and courts of all instances. The group of our clients encompasses creators (writers, directors, screenwriters, visual artists, painters, translators and interpreters, photographers and programmers), publishing houses (including specialist publishing houses, such as scientific publishers), architectural design studios, advertising and creative agencies, event agencies, enterprises implementing new technologies, design companies and collective copyright management bodies. In the 21st century, the era of digital transformation, no business may function without assistance concerning intellectual property or right of protection to information. Our clients’ interest in matters concerning the protection of information (its confidentiality or integrity) as well as personal data protection is successively increasing, especially after the implementation of the European General Data Protection Regulation, i.e. the GDPR. Our law firm implements the GDPR and regulations on information safety and confidentiality for clients from various industries (for example, medical industry, architectural industry, online sales or real estate brokerage). To those issues, as well as all others, we take a comprehensive approach. First we prepare an audit to verify the level of compliance with current regulations. Then, we draw up a set of documents dedicated to the needs and specificity of our client’s industry, in consideration of specific organisational solutions adopted by the client. Last but not least, we assist clients in effective implementation. We also represent our clients in proceedings conducted before the President of the Personal Data Protection Office as well as court and administrative proceedings in this respect.
Construction projects
Our law firm provides comprehensive consultancy services to business entities operating in the scope of construction projects (developers, construction companies, subcontractors, finishing material manufacturers). The scope of our services includes legal assistance during project planning (conducting due diligence of real property and checking its purpose in the local zoning plan, verifying whether outline planning permission must be obtained, etc.), during implementation (preparing or obtaining the necessary documents: investment agreements, construction contracts, contracts with architects, subcontractors or construction material suppliers, arrangements with neighbours, certificates on land use function; representing investors in administrative proceedings as well as court and administrative proceedings with regard to decisions issued in the architectural and construction process) and commissioning for use and sale. In this regard, we closely cooperate with renown notarial offices, architectural design studios, land surveyors and property surveyors. Moreover, our law firm has many years of experience in handling complex processes concerning investment and construction projects, in which we have represented investors, contractors as well as beneficiaries (purchasers of finished residential, service or industrial development projects).
Cross-border succession
We also have considerable experience in assisting foreign clients whose relatives left property in Poland, and citizens of Poland who have property abroad and need assistance in making dispositions upon death. Moreover, we represent clients in proceedings to obtain the European Certificate of Succession and advise Polish successors whose relatives left their estate abroad with regard to court jurisdiction (i.e. we help them establish which court is competent to ascertain inheritance acquisition); if it is a foreign court, we offer support in contacting foreign law firms. Our Law Firm represents successors as well as legatees, executors, curators and administrators of the estate; we also advise on matters of inheritance taxation in Poland. For many years we have been cooperating with European and global genealogy research offices, which provide their support when the completion of inheritance proceedings requires the establishment of other heirs, submission of queries in foreign archives or public officers, or sourcing of documents therefrom. Further, we cooperate with foreign law firms that specialise in inheritance proceedings, which often significantly speeds up cases when a Polish court must apply substantive law of a foreign country as the law governing the order of succession (or for the assessment of whether other legal events that affect the succession are effective, e.g. acceptance or rejection of inheritance).
Real estate transactions
Many of our clients purchase or sell real estate occasionally or as a part of their business activity (as we provide services to investors, developers and real estate brokerage offices). Our service includes comprehensive legal support in this respect. We establish the legal status of real property (by conducting a real property audit to verify whether there are any risks related to its purchase, such as third party claims, including potential re-privatisation claims); in consideration of taxation matters, we develop financing plans for the purchase of the real estate, and security for a given transaction; we assess or draft contracts or other documents related to broadly defined real property trade (agreements with agents, trust agreements, sale contracts, gift, exchange, developer, reservation or preliminary agreements), as well as agreements related to the lease (commercial lease or use) of real property and to the management thereof. Further, we advise our Clients or represent them when negotiating agreements (with business partners, entities financing the transaction and the insurers) and obtaining the relevant consents and permits (e.g. for the acquisition of real property by a foreigner, division or consolidation of real property); we coordinate the process of concluding the agreement (in cooperation with a notary, if a notarial deed is required).
