About

What are the most important transactions and litigations that you have been involved in during the last two years?

The proposed merger of Bank Pekao and Alior Bank – the biggest potential banking merger in Europe in 2018 – cancelled post negotiation. The spin-off of an organised part of enterprise of PZU Centrum Operacji, a subsidiary of Powszechny Zakład Ubezpieczeń, and its transfer to Pekao Financial Services (a subsidiary of Bank Pekao). The integration of brokerage activities within Bank Pekao’s capital group and private placement of two issuances of subordinated bonds of Bank Pekao and their listing on the stock exchange, at a value of PLN750m and PLN350m respectively.

How important are “soft skills” or personal attributes outside of technical legal skills, and which “soft skills” do you feel are most important for an in-house lawyer to possess?

In-house lawyers should have extensive communication skills. In particular, they must be able to present the results of their analysis in a clear and comprehensible manner. Organisational skills and the ability to carry out tasks from “a” to “z” within the deadline are also very important. Thanks to this, in-house lawyers can become trusted partners for business units with which they work.

What are the main qualities you look for in a potential new hire?

The recruitment of talented lawyers is crucial for all legal departments. In particular, legal departments compete with law firms for the employment of young law graduates. To this end, legal departments should have an offer for young people similar to that in law firms. Such solutions were implemented in my organisation by creating a traineeship programme for students. When recruiting people for this programme, I pay special attention to their level of commitment, willingness to gain new experiences and ability to learn quickly.

What advice would you give to any peers or colleagues working in the Polish market for the first time?

The Polish economy has the status of a developed market, and the Polish legal market is comparable to the legal markets in other European Union countries. Therefore the way of providing legal services is similar in Poland and in other countries. However, considering my specialisation – the banking sector and the equity and debt
capital markets – I would like to point out that it is very important to take into account local practice and the approach of the local regulator. These differ from country to country. People working in the Polish market for the first time should therefore try to learn and understand this specificity, in order to provide legal services tailored to local needs. However, this advice applies not only to the Polish market, but also to others.

What can law firms in Poland, and the wider CEE region, do to win more business from you?

Understanding business needs and a proactive attitude are very important in cooperation with legal advisors. Firstly, like in-house lawyers, external legal advisors should focus on seeking legal solutions that match the client’s business expectations. Secondly, they should proactively anticipate the next stages of the projects, proposing solutions in advance that require discussion with the clients or in-house lawyers.

FOCUS ON… NEW CHALLENGES

Legal departments do not work in a vacuum, they are part of large organisations and should help in achieving business goals, with appropriate mitigation of legal risks. For this reason, it is a very good solution to organise groups working on a given business project in such a way that in-house lawyers from the very beginning participate fully in the process. In other words, an in-house lawyer is not only a supporter, but an equal participant in the business project that can affect the actions taken on an ongoing basis. On the one hand, this allows in-house lawyers to better understand the business needs of the organisation, on the other, managers receive ongoing legal support. In my opinion, such a solution makes the implementation of a business project more efficient, and the legal problems are better solved.

The banking industry with which I am associated, as well as a number of other industries, is subject to very strong technological challenges. The banking sector is also heavily regulated, and technological changes are very dynamic. By their very nature, legal regulations will always be falling behind technology. The question arises as to what to do if a given section of technological reality has outpaced legal regulations, and thus there are no dedicated regulations to regulate it. It is then necessary to assess new technological reality from the point of view of existing regulations. In such a situation, specialised in-house lawyers play a very important role and they should attempt to apply existing regulations to new technological solutions, whether by using analogy or by appropriate interpretation of the law, often in discussion or cooperation with the regulator. This is a very important task, because without regulatory security it will be difficult for organisations to implement new technological solutions in their activities.

To meet new challenges, such as those from new legal regulations as well as technological and economic changes, legal departments are undergoing increasing development. In particular they implement technical solutions copied from advisory firms such as the use of appropriate software, as well as expand their ability to independently and fully handle complex legal processes. This trend resulted in creation within my organisation – one of the largest banks in Poland – of a specialised team of lawyers (managed by me) responsible for legal advice on complex, multifaceted projects, such as bond issues, M&A via cooperation with entities from the fintech sector. It is a unique organisational solution on the Polish market, enabling the implementation of complex processes almost internally.

I had the opportunity to work for many years in an international law firm, as well as spend few years in the legal department of one of the largest banks in Poland. Working in a large, international law firm is very helpful for quickly learning a legal workshop, due to the opportunity to work with various clients on various projects. On the other hand in-house lawyers have the possibility to participate very closely in business processes, which allows them to better understand the needs of recipients of legal services. This combination of skills is very useful in both law firms and legal departments of large organisations.