Mr Michał Mężykowski > CMS > Warsaw, Poland > Lawyer Profile

The ‘leading banking and finance practice’ at CMS boasts an impressive client roster that includes banks, financial institutions, state-owned sponsors, investors and investment funds. The practice is well-equipped to advise on project, real estate, structured, export, and acquisition financing mandates. Michał Mężykowski sits at the helm of the department, while Rafał Zakrzewski heads up the firm’s English law desk, providing English law advice on international financing transactions. Other key members of the department include Jakub Wieczorek, who supports both lenders and borrowers, and Jakub Podkowa, who specialises in real estate financing mandates.

CMS‘s insurance team sits within the firm’s banking and finance group and offers insurance stakeholders across the CEE support with both contentious and non-contentious mandates. This offering encompasses advice on regulatory compliance, M&A transactions and specialised insurance programmes, as well as coverage and defence matters. Another key area of activity for the group is consumer protection issues, and the team frequently appears in proceedings before regulatory authorities. Michał Mężykowski is a key name in the team as head of the banking and finance department, as is Paweł Wajda, who is adept at representing clients in administrative proceedings.

The ECM and DCM teams at CMS benefit from the firm’s wide expanse of international offices, enabling the smooth coordination of multi-jurisdictional projects. On the ECM side of the practice, the group supports clients with their IPOs, secondary public and and private placements and delistings, while the DCM team advises issuers, investors, investment banks and financial institutions on bonds, bank securities, covered bonds and bills of exchange. Having joined the firm from Deloitte Legal, Gizicki i Wspólnicy sp.k. in March 2024, Ryszard Manteuffel now heads up the ECM practice, within which the chair of the M&A practice, Sławomir Czerwiński, is also a key name. Michał Śmiechowski sits at the helm of the DCM team, and leader of the banking and finance group Michał Mężykowski is also active in this space.