About

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

Amongst others, I have been involved in several divestment transactions with respect to the sale of the following office properties: An office building called Nowy Rynek A in Poznan to Corum Asset Management for €36m; an office building called Nowy Rynek B in Poznan to Franklin Templeton Investments for €73m; an office building called Generation Park X in Warsaw to HANSAINVEST Real Assets for €83m and the High5ive C&D office buildings in Kraków and Nowy Targ in Wrocław to Credit Suisse for €214m.

How important have “soft skills” or personal attributes outside of technical legal skill been to the team’s success, and which “soft skills” do you feel are most important for an in-house lawyer to possess?

Soft skills have been essential when it comes to my team’s success. Not only have they made my team exceptional on the market but also helped to build a better relationship within the team, promoted greater collaboration and built up people’s confidence in their abilities.

In my opinion the most important soft skills are:

Effective communication skills – by being able to communicate effectively during business negotiations and internal meetings;
High personal integrity – by living his or her values in relationships with coworkers, customers, and stakeholders and allowing to build trust, and effective interpersonal relationships;

Confidence and persistence – by remaining calm in tense situations, focusing on the big picture and persevering in the best interest of the clients.

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

An enthusiastic approach towards new tasks and challenges, high expertise within specific fields of law, good communication skills and focus on practical business solutions.

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

The key to success when entering the Polish market is market knowledge and understanding, and building expertise within those fields – then it’s much easier to navigate through the Polish market. Be open minded to new ideas and listen carefully to people with experience; Polish professionals have great knowledge about the market and legal challenges and are very well educated. By building great relationships with experts, making a mark on the Polish market would become less difficult.

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

Approach each and every legal challenge from many, different perspectives and show them to your clients. Make them aware of your capability to manage his or her problems comprehensively and make them understand that by solving one issue, you are also taking care of other issues they were not even aware existed.

FOCUS ON… FROM CORPORATE LAWYER TO LEGAL BUSINESS PARTNER

A few years back, someone starting a career as an internal counsel would be expected to read and draft numerous legal agreements and company documents. The growth of the commercial real estate industry and the complexity of legal matters increased the demand for internal counsel to perform beyond their traditional roles. Legal counsel not only have to master fundamental legal competencies but also they have to develop a new business skill set.

It is not unusual for my colleagues to start the day addressing issues of corporate reputation, later discussing the commercial and legal aspects of a transaction with the client, and finish off in the afternoon assessing new tax regulation risks with the legal team and the management. Legal counsel are no longer expected just to draft documents or to manage the relationship with external advisors. What business leaders expect more of a legal counsel is strategic advice and an active decision-making role.
Some of us welcome the change with excitement which requires us to develop new habits and go outside our legal comfort zones. Inevitably, we need to master new business skills to be effective business advisors and to shape the new model of corporate counsel.

I have learnt that assessing a legal risk and giving advice from a perspective is no longer enough for the management. As we play a growing role in the decision-making process and have a direct impact on the business outcome, we are expected to support the management and facilitate a culture of trust and expertise.

Many of my colleagues have mastered skills
beyond technically legal matters. Legal counsels have developed their communications skills and
use different communication channels to be
effective in influencing business partners. Solid
legal and business analysis drives a proactive approach to propose solutions that consider commercial, tax, fiduciary and marketing aspects of the real estate business. Legal counsel are now looking at risks comprehensively, they are considering competing interests amongst business decision makers and propose solutions that
minimise overall risk.

I have been in meetings where legal counsel are in the position to express the inconvenient truth and to provide advice that takes different risks into account. Such approach builds a position of the legal counsel as a trusted business advisor.

Business leaders rely on the knowledge and expertise of legal counsel to help them take strategic decisions. What is more rewarding and challenging for legal counsels is to see risk holistically and be eager to offer advice and expertise showing authorship for business decisions taken.