GP Partners Gawroński, Biernatowski Sp.K. > Warsaw, Poland > Firm Profile

GP Partners is an independent Polish business law firm offering a broad range of legal advice, with a focus on digital transformation.

Highlights: Polish Data Protection Office Award 2021, “Guide to the GDPR” No 1 Bestseller 2018/19, “LIttle Book on Drafting Pleadings” No 1 Bestseller 2022

Main practice areas: Data and technology (incl. cloud, cyber, data protection, IT); Corporate and M&A; Regulatory (incl banking and finance, AML, anti-corruption, anti-terrorism); Dispute resolution (including arbitration, investment arbitration and white-collar crime). Public procurement; Employment (inc. immigration).

GP Partners’s team authored the bestselling “Guide to the GDPR” textbook (published in 2018 in Polish and in 2019 in English).

In 2021 Maciej Gawroński received the ‘Michał Serzycki’ Data Protection Award from the President of the Polish Data Protection Office, in recognition of his active support of the protection of personal data in Poland and the EU over many years.

Our new book “How to Communicate in a Dispute – a  Little Book on Drafting Pleadings” (in Polish) published in June 2022 became Wolters Kluwer Polska No 1 Bestseller 2022.

Sectors and practice areas
Anti-money laundering, anti-corruption, and anti-terrorism: compliance systems, incident management, transaction monitoring, internal audits and assistance in regulator’s audits.
Highlights: transaction monitoring, regulator’s audits

Banking and finance regulatory: FinTech GP Partners provide major banks as well as various FinTech companies with regulatory and technology-related advice, in areas including AML IV, compliance as a system, CRR II, CRD V, PSD2, licensing and delicensing, cloud computing, cybersecurity (NIS/NIS2/DORA), data protection, eID, IT, and outsourcing.

Cloud computing: implementation advice to various regulated sectors (banking & finance, public administration, critical infrastructure, energy, Polish Bar) . We are a leading practice in relation to EU policy matters.
Highlights: Maciej Gawronski advised European Commission on cloud computing contracts, international data transfers, contributed to GDPR, published on cloud computing  for almost 15 years, we published flagship analysis for the Polish Bar.

Compliance: GP Partners assists clients in building compliance systems and implementing new regulations, in areas such as corporate responsibility, AML, anti-corruption, data protection, non-discrimination, anti-mobbing, whistleblower protection, market practices, criminal corporate liability, and payment deadlines. We also support our clients in relation to suspected irregularities.

Corporate: GP Partners supports public and private companies at all stages of their development, including advising on M&A (particularly technology M&A), complex restructurings, matters of corporate governance, corporate disputes, and corporate housekeeping.

Cybersecurity: implementing information security management systems in accordance with the Polish Act on the National Cybersecurity System and ensuring an adequate level of personal data protection, we conduct investigative audits in connection with cybersecurity incidents.

Privacy and data protection: GP Partners advised on major GDPR implementations in sectors such as banking, energy and telecoms, and maintain thought leadership in data protection and cybersecurity in Poland as well as internationally. Our “Guide to the GDPR” is a No. 1 legal bestseller 2018 in Poland, with 14,000 copies sold within a year. Members of our team acted as experts for the Article 29 Working Party and European Commission. In 2022, the European Data Protection Board appointed Maciej Gawroński as EDPB’s Expert for legal and technical expertise in new technologies and information security.

Dispute resolution; domestic and international arbitration: GP Partners’ team acted in disputes worth billions of euros, and are renowned for taking an unorthodox approach to disputes. We are the authors of the flagship textbook on contentious communication: “„Jak pisać pisma procesowe i prowadzić komunikację w sporze czyli książeczka o pisaniu pism” (“Little Book on Drafting Pleadings”). Members of GP Partners’s team represented Poland before the Arbitrational Tribunals for BIT disputes, and have also represented clients before the Arbitration Court at the International Chamber of Commerce in Paris and the Arbitration Court for Sport in Lausanne, as well as in ad hoc arbitration disputes.

Employment: wide-ranging labour law practice covering areas including dismissals, collective redundancies, trade unions, contracts with C-level executives, immigration.

Intellectual property: GP Partners team has longstanding capabilities in soft IP and also in patent litigation. We have advised international corporations and domestic entities in patent and trademark disputes, and in cases related to the violation of business secrets and unfair competition. We also develop and implement comprehensive strategies for protecting the IP of companies.

Media: we have assisted in relation to film and television productions, as well as in the acquisition or recovery of copyrights or licensing. We also act for several media organisations in Poland – including The Union of Associations Advertising Council (Rada Reklamy).

Public procurement: GP Partners provides comprehensive services in the field of public procurement law, on the side of both contracting authorities and contractors and acting for both Polish and international entities. We represent clients before the Polish Chamber of Appeal and in court proceedings, and also carry out legal and business audits of purchasing processes.

Regulated sectors: GP Partners provides extensive support to clients operating in heavily regulated sectors – including banks, insurers, payment institutions and other financial institutions; energy companies; telecoms companies; and pharmaceutical companies.

Technology: we advise on all matters of the digital era and The Fourth Industrial Revolution, in particular in the new area of digitalisation, e-commerce and internet law, cyber security, data protection, big data and cloud computing. We have advised on some of the largest IT implementations in Poland and Central Europe.

White-collar crime: GP Partners’s team has many years of experience in conducting major financial crime cases in Poland, many of them involving international aspects.