Event Report

On 27 February The Legal 500 was proud to formally hold the inaugural GC Summit Czech Republic, taking place at the Hotel Kings Court in Old Town Prague. The event brought together more than 100 leading general counsel, private practitioners and consultants based in Czech Republic and the broader CEE region. 

GC Summit Czech Republic 2024 looked at the Czech Republic on the world stage and how GCs and senior in-house lawyers from around Central & Eastern Europe dealt with legal and business challenges. 

The first panel of the day,  sponsored by Wolf Theiss, “Culture eats strategy for breakfast” or “Never waste a good crisis!” How to build and maintain a compliance management system in the face of a constantly changing regulatory environment and different cultural realities?, proved to be a highly engaging panel moderated by Jitka Logesová, head of investigations, crisis response and compliance, Wolf Theiss. She was joined by panellists Camilla Tellefsdal Robstad, executive vice president, legal and compliance, Orkla;  Dr. Alexander Tesche, chief compliance officer, STRABAG SE; Jiří Černý, legal, compliance & corporate security director/ board member, Tesco Central Europe; and Aleksandar Ristić, attorney/partner, Wolf Theiss. Attendees then asked numerous technical questions for the panellists using the Legal 500 app, ranging from AI to what made Czech Republic unique within the CEE region. 

The second panel of the day, Integration of the CEE region and trends in the purchase of legal services, was moderated by Ondřej Peterka, founder and managing partner of Peterka & Partners. It covered investigations and compliance in the CEE & SEE region, and saw a broad range of issues covered by Slawomir Patkowski, partner, deputy director for Peterka & Partners Poland; Karolína Kachlíková, head of legal cluster east, Konica Minolta Business Solutions Czech; and Eva Adamcová, legal & compliance manager, FLEETCOR. The questions raised by attendees included inquiries into suggested reporting tools to keep all relevant members of a company’s ‘legal cluster’ fully informed on developments and budgeting for external legal services. The questions extended beyond the allotted time and into the brief lunch and coffee break. 

Following a short break, JŠK began their mini-panel, Scoping Due Diligence, with JŠK partner Tomáš Doležil moderating a panel discussion that included Klára Šmídová, senior associate, JŠK; Pavel Kvíčala, legal partner, Genesis Capital; and Christian Blatchford, general counsel, chairman of supervisory board, Energo-Pro. This panel became a freewheeling discussion involving a rapid round of questions from Tomáš and attendees to the panellists that ranged from legal tech and AI developments to explaining the pros and cons of preparing due diligence reports at different stages, trends within the due diligence space, and how digitisation and big data analysis have changed the field. 

The last panel of the day was lead by Taylor Wessing partner Karin Pomaizlová, partner, on The opportunities, challenges, and risks of using AI tools for and in legal departments. This panel proved highly stimulating, with Axel von dem Bussche, partner, Taylor Wessing; Ondřej Kramoliš, senior legal counsel, GEN; Lukáš Herma, head of legal, EUROWAG – W.A.G. payment solutions; and founding partner at Verdikto Group Milan Dang. The open and honest discussion focused primarily on the hard truths for legal professionals relying on AI tools, oftentimes leading to roars of approval and agreement from attendees. 

Following a closing statement from Legal 500 Research Editor Nathan Oseroff-Spicer congratulating the sponsors and general counsels for their successful and highly engaging panels, as well as thanking attendees for participating in the inaugural GC Summit Czech Republic, all present exited for canapes, drinks and in-depth conversation in an adjoining room at Hotel Kings Court. 

We are grateful for all our sponsors, the in-house counsel that volunteered their time as panellists, and the broader Czech in-house community for collaborating with us on the successful first GC Summit Czech Republic. We expect great things in the future in Czech Republic. 

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