About

‘Be innovative and always try to see the broad perspective. Remember that in every effective company, business comes first before law. Therefore, lawyers ought to be business-oriented but in a way that serves other departments in the company’, advises Piotr Bielarczyk, general counsel and director of the legal department at Bank Gospodarstwa Krajowego (The State Development Bank of Poland). Beginning his legal career in the litigation and arbitration practice of Polish law firm FKA Furtek Komosa Aleksandrowicz, Bielarczyk has developed into one of Poland’s preeminent in-house lawyers thanks to a myriad of experience and achievements. In 2012 he became general counsel of Polish Post where recognition of his skills was almost immediately bestowed, winning an industry award for innovation, which was followed up two years later by being given “The Most Valuable Director” award by other directors and the management Board. As part introducing a complex restructure within Polish Post’s legal team, he oversaw ‘renegotiations of employment contracts of legal counsellors, introduction of specialisations, centralisation of external legal services, internships and placement programs, a radical increase of work efficiency and the preparation and implementation of the concept of a structure of departments’. In a transactional sense, Bielarczyk lists a number of achievements including Polish Post’s first process of selling a large portfolio of receivables to a debt recovery company, the supervision over Polish Post’s first program of issuing bonds; supervision over the legal aspects of rebranding and introduction of a policy of managing, intellectual property rights in the Post’s corporate group, ensuring satisfactory settlements in several dozen litigations and the supervision over nearly 3,000 court cases. He joined BGK in January 2017 and manages a legal department of 40 employees. Evincing the trust he is held within in upper management circles, he attends supervisory board and general shareholders meetings, advising the former concerning any legal problems that may arise.