On 12 May 2020, Jan Stranz, one of our Senior Associates, successfully defended his PhD dissertation on company law. On 09 June 2020, the Academic Council of the Faculty of Law and Administration of Adam Mickiewicz University resolved to award him a doctoral degree in legal sciences. Congratulations!
Dr. Jan Stranz has been working with SMM Legal since 2014. He specialises in commercial law, focusing in particular on company law, contract law and capital markets law. In his dissertation, he analysed the protection of minority shareholders against adverse consequences of agreements between a company and its affiliates. Dr. Stranz’s work was supervised by one of the SMM Legal founders, Prof. Tomasz Sójka.
The reviewers emphasized both the impressive knowledge of the author and his thorough understanding of the analysed matter as well as the very pragmatic nature of the selected topic.
‘When working on my dissertation I was drawing on my practical experience gained over many years I have spent at SMM Legal’, says Dr. Stranz. ‘On the other hand, I try to apply my academic expertise acquired through research to my ongoing work for our clients and the firm’, he adds.
The viva gained a lot of interest, not only due to its substantive topic. Because of the unusual circumstances caused by the pandemic, it was the first viva to be held remotely at the Faculty of Law and Administration of Adam Mickiewicz University.
‘We appreciate the consistence with which Jan Stranz has been developing his academic career parallel to working at SMM Legal’, says Przemysław Maciak, Managing Partner at our Firm. ‘ We are proud of his success, and the opinions of academic reviewers praising his dissertation only reinforce our strong conviction that supporting our lawyers in building their own professional reputation under our Firm’s wings is a goal worth pursuing’, adds Mr. Maciak.
