News

A Simple Joint-Stock Company (Prosta Spółka Akcyjna, PSA), a new flexible legal vehicle facilitating the development of start-ups, is about to become a reality. The government has approved draft amendment to the Code of Commercial Companies regarding the introduction of this novel solution in Poland. Prof. Tomasz Sójka, an outstanding specialist in the field, has been working on the draft in a small group of top experts.

We are pleased to announce that our Firm has yet another PhD in its ranks. 

On 11 December 2018, Mr. Kalikst Nagel of SMM Legal’s Public Procurement Department successfully defended his PhD dissertation on human rights theory entitled “Inherent human capacity for inherent rights. A study in legal theory and philosophy of law” at Adam Mickiewicz University in Poznań. On 29 January 2019 the Council of the Faculty of Law and Administration adopted a resolution conferring on Mr. Kalikst Nagel the degree of PhD in legal sciences.

We are pleased to announce that as of 14 January 2019 Mr. Aleksander Czech becomes a managing partner at SMM Legal.

Mr. Czech has worked with us from the very beginning. In 2014, he joined S&M,  the predecessor of our Firm, and once SMM Legal was established, he became its limited partner, to obtain a senior partner status in 2017.

Since this October, Mr. Wojciech Kapica, a leading expert in the field of compliance, financial sector regulations and regulatory relations, joins SMM Legal. Together with Prof. Tomasz Sójka, he will coordinate the Financial Markets Department at our Firm.

On 11-13 September, the 3rd Conference on Rainwater and Meltwater Management (GWOR) was held in Zakopane. This year, as many as three SMM lawyers from our Administrative Law Department were invited to speak at the event: Mr. Jędrzej Bujny, PhD, Partner at our Firm, Mr. Mikołaj Maśliński, and Ms. Emilia Topolnicka, advocate trainee.

The Poznań International Fair (MPT) and the Ministry of the Environment have announced that MPT has been selected to handle the logistics of the biggest global forum on climate policy - the COP24 climate conference. SMM Legal supported MPT throughout the process of contract negotiation; our team, consisting of Ms. Olga Sokołowska and Mr. Maciej Goncerzewicz managed by Mr. Aleksander Czech, Head of our Corporate Department, will continue to provide comprehensive legal advisory related to the organisation of the event.

The 27th Economic Forum in Krynica, the biggest conference in Central and Eastern Europe on the current political, economic and social developments in the world, attended by more than 4,000 participants, is currently underway. On this occasion, we recommend an interview with Mr. Daniel Obajtek, CEO of PKN Orlen, summarising the developments in the European Union prenotification process.

Mr. Tomasz Lewandowski, PhD, was selected to join a group of reviewers of an UN project entitled ‘Global Survey of the situation of human rights defenders’.

On 05-08 August 2018, the Hanken School of Economics and  the IPR University Center in Helsinki hosted the prestigious annual international academic congress organised by ATRIP - the International Association for the Advancement and Research in Intellectual Property.

A new publication by Prof. Maciej Mataczyński, Managing Partner at SMM Legal, has just appeared in bookstores. The book, written in the English language, is entitled ‘Seat of the Company in Private International Law. Selected Issues’.

On 5-6 June 2018 the Fair and Exhibition Centre in Bydgoszcz hosted ENVICON Water – the 3rd International Congress of the water supply and discharge sector. This year SMM Legal was the legal partner of the event. Our Firm was represented by Jędrzej Bujny, PhD, Partner at SMM Legal, and Mr. Mikołaj Maśliński. Both lawyers are on our administrative law team.

The National Centre for Research and Development announced a call for proposals in its new program “Hydrogen storage”. Following the “Blocks 200+” programme, this is the second contract to be awarded in an innovative pre-commercial procurement (PCP) procedure designed by the Centre with the assistance of SMM Legal.

SMM Legal has been selected by PKN ORLEN to provide comprehensive legal advisory on its merger with the LOTOS Group. Our Firm will carry out the due diligence audit of the LOTOS Group and will assist ORLEN in developing a merger strategy. What is more, we will draft comprehensive documentation of the deal and will participate in its preparation and closure, including the anti-monopoly procedure.

Prof. Maciej Mataczyński, Managing Partner at SMM Legal, is attending the European Economic Congress, a three-day event (14-16/05/2018) launched today in Katowice.

On the 7th of May 2018, SMM Legal will welcome a new member – an outstanding lawyer, Ms. Agnieszka Sztoldman, PhD, will join our team.

She will partner with Prof. Rafał Sikorski to manage a dozen lawyers from our intellectual property and competition practice.

As announced in the Rzeczpospolita Law Firms Ranking, SMM Legal is the 13th biggest law firm in Poland in terms of number of lawyers, and the 14th in terms of advocates and legal advisors nationwide.

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On 24 April, a conference “Intellectual Property Law – Competition – New Technology” was held in Warsaw. Prof. Rafał Sikorski, head of the IP and Competition law and partner at SMM Legal was among the speakers.

SMM Legal Team provides the Polish National Centre for Science and Research with comprehensive legal assistance in the first and so far the largest Polish project (total worth over PLN 2 billion) aimed at boosting the development of the electric transportation sector in Poland. The programme is being carried out within the innovative partnership formula. So far advisory has focused on public procurement law and electro-mobility regulations, but SMM Legal supports the Centre also in ongoing liaison with other contracting parties and stakeholders.

As in previous years, SMM Legal is amongst the law firms recognized by the prestigious THE LEGAL 500 RANKING. This time, we were recommended in two categories: Corporate Practice, Capital Markets and M&A Transactions, as well as Telecommunications Law.

On 26 March 2018, the Faculty of Law and Administration of Adam Mickiewicz University in Poznań had the pleasure to host Prof. Lionel Bently of Cambridge University, who presented his lecture entitled “Claims, Notice and Property Definition in the Law of Trade Marks”. The lecture was organised with the support of SMM Legal by the Faulty, the British Law Centre and the Intellectual Property and Competition Law Society.

We are honoured to announce that the Board of the Faculty of Law and Administration of Adam Mickiewicz University has awarded tenured professorship to Mr. Rafał Sikorski, PhD, Senior Partner at SMM Legal. 

SMM Legal welcomes a new doctor of legal sciences (PhD) to its legal team.

The SMM Legal team has been advising the National Centre for Research and Development on the largest public contract to be awarded in Poland in the innovation partnership procedure. The successful bidder will develop and deliver innovative emission-free public transport vehicles.

On 20 November 2017, ‘Economics & Market’, a specialist insert in leading Polish daily ‘Rzeczpospolita’, published a comment by Mr. Przemysław Maciak, Managing Partner at SMM Legal, on the possible renegotiation of the long-term agreements made by Energa-Obrót S.A.

Tomasz Andrzej Lewandowski, PhD, Senior Associate at SMM Legal, is among the lawyers awarded a special prize in the ‘Rising Stars’ Lawyers – Leaders of Tomorrow 2017, a prestigious competition organised by the Dziennik Gazeta Prawna, a specialist daily dedicated to legal issues, and Wolters Kluwer Polska, to distinguish outstanding lawyers aged under 35.

From 26 to 28 October 2017, a member of SMM Legal team, Tomasz Lewandowski, PhD, attended the 10th International Conference for Young Researchers on International Humanitarian Law at the University of Yerevan.

On 25 October, Mr. Rafał Sikorski, PhD, Partner at SMM Legal and the Head of our Intellectual Property Team, will present his lecture entitled “Searching for Optimal Response to PAEs’ Excessive Enforcement Practices” at the University of Wellington  in New Zealand.

The Financial Times recently published an article on actions that Invenergy, an American Corporation, intends to take against Poland.

Ever since the joint press conference held by SMM Legal on behalf of the ENERGA Group announcing precedent court and arbitration actions, the media have been incessantly covering the case.

The prestigious specialist legal website, CEE Legal Matters, recently looked at the precedential nature of actions declaring the invalidity of contracts for the purchase of so-called green certificates, brought by SMM Legal on behalf of the Energa Group.

Peter Lang, a prestigious German academic publishing house, has just published a volume of collected works, edited by Prof. Maciej Mataczyński.  The book is entitled The Takeover of Public Companies as a Mode of Exercising EU Treaty Freedoms and features papers by a number of scholars, including Prof. Mataczyński and Prof. Sójka.

From 21-22 September 2017, the Faculty of Law and Administration at the University of Warsaw hosted the 11^th Meeting of Commercial Law Chairs. This year’s meeting was entitled ‘Searching for the optimum company governance – effective management and supervision’, and included a presentation by Prof. Mataczyński on Management and supervision models in a limited company, outlined in the European Model Company Act draft.

At the recent National Advocate Trainees’ Academic Conference, which ran from 22-24 September 2017 in Warsaw at the Ministry of Development, Prof. Mataczyński presented his paper entitled The supervisory board and audit committee functioning model in the corporate oversight system viewed from the perspective of the Act on Statutory Auditors, Audit Firms and Public Supervision of 11/05/2017 and the Code of Commercial Companies Act of 15/09/2000.

The SMM Legal team, managed by Prof. Maciej Mataczyński and Mr. Przemysław Maciak, Managing Partners at SMM Legal, is representing ENERGA-Obrót S.A. in 22 precedent court and arbitration cases concerning framework agreements on the sale of proprietary rights under certificates of origin for the energy generated from wind farms (green certificates).

Recently, a company controlled by Mr. Igor Chalupec (currently serving as CEO at RUCH S.A.) acquired control of RUCH S.A. from Eton Park. The SMM Legal team (composed of Prof. Maciej Mataczyński, Managing Partner, Mr. Wojciech Sikorski, Partner and Mr. Maksymilian Saczywko, Associate) had the pleasure to advise the buyer on the transaction.

Today (27/06/2017), the Council of the Faculty of Law and Administration at Adam Mickiewicz University conferred a PhD degree in Legal Sciences on Mr. Tomasz Lewandowski of SMM Legal.

On 24 May 2017 the Poznań Court of Appeal upheld a lower instance court judgement finally confirming the acquittal of gynaecologists accused in the high profile case of the death of a patient and her unborn children in a Poznań-based maternity hospital. During the trial Prof. Drews was represented by SMM Legal partners Mr. Przemysław Maciak and Mr. Krzysztof Urbańczak.

SMM Legal provided advisory to Superior Industries International as part of the company’s tender for a 100% sharehold of Uniwheels AG.

From the 16th-17th May 2017 Bydgoszcz will host the two-day Envicon Water Congress. SMM Legal is an official partner of the event.

We are thrilled and proud to announce that for another year in a row SMM Legal  has been recognized as one of the top law firms in Poland in the most prestigious Polish law firm ranking, compiled by Rzeczpospolita.

2 billion zloty to support investments in technologies – SMM Legal provided comprehensive legal advisory in the launch of two Funds of Funds – NCBR CVC and NCBR VC by the Polish National Centre for Research and Development (NCBR).

For another year in a row, SMM LEGAL has confirmed its strong presence in the periodic LEGAL 500 ranking of law firms. As in previous years, we were distinguished in as many as three categories.

Yesterday in Wrocław Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Science Mr. Jarosław Gowin, the Mayor of Wrocław Mr. Rafał Dutkiewicz and the rectors of Wrocław’s universities signed an agreement by which the State Treasury acquired shares in the Wrocław EIT+ Research Centre.

On 23-24 March 2017, Mr. Rafał Sikorski, a distinguished legal scholar and partner at SMM Legal, participated in a seminar on patent claims.

This year, for another year running, SMM Legal was listed in the 2017 Regulatory Law Firms Ranking prepared by Polityka Insight specialists. Our firm moved up from last year’s position in Group 3 in the Telecommunications category, to become the leader of Group 2.

An article written by experts from the SMM Legal Intellectual Property Team, Ms. Magdalena Michalska and Ms. Joanna Matczuk, entitled W jaki sposób można skutecznie obronić autorski pomysł (How to Effectively Protect an Original Idea) was recently published in the leading Polish daily newspaper, Rzeczpospolita (Rzeczpospolita of 03/03/2017, p. D4).

SMM Legal is pleased to welcome a new Partner – in mid-February an outstanding public procurement and business law specialist, Ms. Monika Adamczyk, joined our Firm.

Dear Readers,

In the first days of the New Year, as a Managing Partner at SMM Legal, one of the leading Polish law firms, I would like to take the opportunity to recap 2016 from the perspective of our legal practice. Last year at SMM Legal will be remembered as very intense and abounding with professional and personal achievements.

An article by Ms. Joanna Matczuk and Ms. Magdalena Michalska of SMM Legal, entitled Legalne linkowanie? (Legal link posting?) focuses on the legal aspects of link posting in the context of the latest CJEU judgement. It was published in the 11/01/2017 print issued of Rzeczpospolita, a major Polish daily.

EUR 450 million for the commercialisation of innovative research – SMM Legal has provided comprehensive legal services instrumental to the successful signing of a contract between the Polish National Research and Development Centre and PFR Ventures to establish an Investment Fund within the BRIdge VC programme.

Ms. Monika Adamczak of SMM Legal has provided comprehensive legal advisory to the largest Polish transfer operator, in the process of assembling tender documentation for the first Polish innovative partnership procedure.

Patrycja Starczewska, an attorney from SMM Legal representing one of the major transfer operators, has won a case before the Supreme Court.

Last week the Supreme Court issued a prejudicial ruling answering the following question of law: Is a person whose property, that has become encumbered by an easement corresponding to a transfer easement as a result of usucaption, entitled to a claim for the fee for use of the property with respect to the easement for the period preceding the usucaption?

We are pleased to announce that Joanna Łabudzka, legal advisor and partner at SMM Legal, managing our Firm’s Telecommunications Practice, a Board Advisor on Regulatory Matters to Netia S.A., has become a member of the Board of the ECTA (European Competitive Telecommunications Association), a leading organisation supporting competition in the telecommunications sector. Her two-year term on the ECTA Board will commence on 1 January 2017.

We are pleased to announce that Ms. Agnieszka Goliszewska, legal advisor at SMM Legal, has now been licensed to practice as an attorney in New York State, USA

A few days ago, Prawo Instrumentów Finansowych (Financial Instruments Law), the fourth volume of the well-regarded Commercial Law System series edited by Prof. M. Stec, arrived in bookshops.

From 27 to 28 October, the Head of our Firm’s Intellectual Property Department, Rafał Sikorski, PhD, ran one of the training panels at the INPRECOMP (International Patent Remedies for Complex Products) project meeting at King’s College in London.

A few days ago a new publication edited by Prof. Maciej Mataczyński, Managing Partner at SMM Legal, appeared in print. The book, entitled Ustawa o kontroli niektórych inwestycji. Komentarz (‘The Act on the Control of Certain Investments. Commentary’),  is the first commentary to this law available on the market.

The publication was prepared by a team of distinguished experts with vast practical and academic expertise in this area and offers a detailed and reliable analysis of the field. The Act introduced certain new and extensive limitations with respect to the acquisition of companies and restructuring of capital group. The authors of the new book emphasize the international context in which the law operates, focusing on the consequences of Poland’s membership in the EU and bilateral agreements on the protection of investments.

A new book by Prof. Tomasz Sójka, Managing Partner at SMM Legal, recently appeared on shelves in legal bookshops. The monograph, entitled Cywilnoprawna ochrona inwestorów korzystających z usług maklerskich na rynku kapitałowym (‘Civil Law Protection of Investors Using Brokerage Services on the Capital Market’) is mostly targeted at investment firms and investors themselves.

Today’s legal insert to Rzeczpospolita [Rzeczpospolita of 22/09/2016, No. 222 (10555)] published an opinion by Prof. Marcin Orlicki, Partner at SMM Legal, commenting on the Supreme Court judgement on so-called underinsurance; that is, the reduction of compensation paid out by insurance companies based on the underestimated value of the insured item, despite the fact that the insurance sum is sufficient and no compensation cut is required.

We are proud to announce that since September 1st 2016, the head of our Business Insurance Department, Prof. Marcin Orlicki, has become a partner at SMM Legal. 
 

We are pleased to announce that two Managing Partners at SMM Legal, Prof. Maciej Mataczyński and Prof. Tomasz Sójka, have been appointed to the Simple Joint-Stock Company (PSA) Team at the Ministry of Development.

We are pleased to announce that in July 2016 a new partner, Ms. Joanna Matczuk, will join our team. Together with Rafał Sikorski, PhD, Ms. Matczuk will manage our Intellectual Property Rights Practice.

Prof. Maciej Mataczyński, Managing Partner at SMM Legal, has been appointed by the Minister of Treasury to act as an arbitrator of the Arbitration Tribunal at the Central Securities Depository of Poland (Krajowy Depozyt Papierów Wartościowych S.A.).

From 9-10 June 2016, Warsaw Stock Exchange hosted the 6th CECL Conference on Company Law Reform in Central and Eastern Europe organised by the Allerhand Institute and the Centre for European Company Law (CECL). Prof. Tomasz Sójka, Managing Partner at SMM Legal, was among the conference speakers.

A new publication by C.H.Beck, a major specialist legal publishing house, has just arrived in bookshops. The commentary on Articles 450-1088 of the Polish Civil Code (Kodeks cywilny. Tom II. Komentarz do art. 450-1088) edited by Prof. Maciej Gutowski and co-authored by SMM Legal lawyers, makes part of a series of extensive commentaries on Polish law.

On 2-3 June 2016, Mykolas Romaris University in Vilnus hosted an international young scholars’ conference entitled ‘SOCIAL TRANSFORMATIONS IN CONTEMPORARY SOCIETY 2016 (STICS 2016)’.

On 02-03 June 2016, the Collegium Iuridicum Novum of Adam Mickiewicz University in Poznań hosted an international seminar on omission-based claims in patent law entitled ‘Injunctions in Patent Law’. .

Just a couple of days ago, C.H. Beck published a two-volume commentary on the Polish Constitution, edited by Prof. Marek Safjan and Prof. Leszek Bosek. Maciej Dybowski, PhD, a specialist from SMM Legal, is one of the authors of the study.

On the 10^th  and 11^th of May 2016, the city of Bydgoszcz hosted the first International ENVICON Water Congress on water and sewage management. This prestigious event provided an opportunity to discuss solutions and strategies for the water and sewage management industry in Poland, also in the context of expectations from the European Union.

Held in Warsaw for the first time, the prestigious GGI EUROPEAN REGIONAL CONFERENCE took place from the 21st to 24th of April this year, at the InterContinental Hotel. The event was organised by the Geneva Group International (GGI) – one of the leading global associations of independent law, accounting, tax, auditing and consulting firms.

The International Scientific Conference on Renewable Energy Sources Law in Poland and Germany, hosted by the Faculty of Law and Administration of Adam Mickiewicz University in Poznań, began today. Our Firm is the Key Partner of this event.

The GGI EUROPEAN REGIONAL CONFERENCE opens in Warsaw today. The event is organised by GGI – Geneva Group International – a prestigious, leading global association of independent law, auditing, accounting, tax and consulting firms. SMM Legal, as a GGI member, is one of the hosts of the conference.

We are proud to announce that, once again, SMM Legal  was recognized as one of the top firms in the country by the most prestigious ranking of Polish law firms, compiled by Rzeczpospolita.

SMM LEGAL continues to be a recommended law firm by THE LEGAL 500. This year, we were distinguished in as many as three categories.

We are proud to announce that on the 16th of March, the Faculty of Law and Administration of the Silesian University in Katowice awarded a PhD degree in legal sciences to Mr. Jarosław Bełdowski, a Partner at our Firm.

On 14-15 March, a Conference on the difficulties concerning utility transmission easement was held on in Warsaw.  Expert speakers at the conference included Mr. Marcin Czarnecki, advocate and partner at SMM Legal, who gave a lecture on utility service strips (what they are, how should they be interpreted; the relationship between the owner and the utility company in the context of a claims for non-contractual use of real property).

Ogromnie nam miło poinformować Państwa o ostatnich sukcesach naszych aplikantów.

Z dumą ogłaszamy, że praca magisterska naszej aplikantki radcowskiej Patrycji Jaworskiej - Piszkiewicz pt. Zakaz publikacji jako sposób zabezpieczenia roszczeń  w sprawach o ochronę dóbr osobistych, napisana pod kierunkiem prof. UAM dr hab. Pawła Grzegorczyka, została wyróżniona Pierwszą Nagrodą w II Konkursie Towarzystwa Naukowego Procesualistów Cywilnych o nagrodę "Polskiego Procesu Cywilnego" za najlepszą pracę magisterską z dziedziny postępowania cywilnego.

Pani Patrycji serdecznie gratulujemy!

We are proud to announce that SMM Legal is among the few top firms distinguished in the 1st Ranking of Regulatory Firms 2016 organised by the experts from the Polityka Insight Centre for Policy Analysis.
This is the first qualitative ranking of law firms active on the Polish market. SMM Legal was recognised in the category of firms offering advisory in the legal field of telecommunications.

From the 15th to the 17th of December 2015, Mr. Rafał Sikorski, doctor habilitatus and a partner at our Firm, will be participating in an academic conference entitled ‘Fourth Global Congress on IP and the Public Interest’ in Delhi, India.

On 04 November, the TVN24 news channel aired a report on a case (which it also posted on its website) which outraged the public in Poznań and elsewhere in Poland: a mother who regularly abused alcohol while pregnant gave birth to a drunk baby. Mr. Przemysław Maciak, partner at SMM Legal, provided his expert commentary on the impunity of such behaviour.

Prof. Maciej Mataczyński wygłosił podczas odbywającego się w dn. 23-24 października 2014 r., w Katowicach, na Wydziale Prawa i Administracji Uniwersytetu Śląskiego zjazdu Katedr Prawa Prywatnego Międzynarodowego referat pt. Przepisy wymuszające swoje zastosowanie w prawie prywatnym międzynarodowym.

Since October, SMM Legal's team has gained a new expert lawyer – Ms. Alicja Ostanek, legal advisor. Ms. Ostanek’s main area of expertise is advisory to rail transport companies, with a special focus on rail transport market regulation and the obligations imposed by rail transport law. What is more, she has advised  clients on commercial, civil law and public procurement law and has represented railway administrators and rail carriers before the Office for Rail Transport, as well as in litigation.

The first ONECARGO European Logistics Congress was held in Katowice on 5th and 6th of September 2015. The congress – the biggest international event in the TSL sector in Central and Eastern Europe – was filled with debates, meetings and related events attended by nearly one thousand guests from Poland and Europe, including major figures from the TSL sector, business world, politics and science.

From the 24th to 25th of September, academics researching commercial law met at the 10th Jubilee Commercial Chairs Convention in Rzeszów, dedicated to reformatory trends in commercial law.

From the 17th to the 19th of September, the European Association of Law and Economics (EALE) held its 32^nd Annual Conference in Vienna. The event was attended by Mr. Jarosław Bełdowski, partner at SMM Legal, who chaired one of the sessions and presented two papers, on ‘Economic Enforcement of International Law’ and ‘Fiscal and institutional determinants of long-term government bond yield spreads in the EU countries’.

From the 10th-11th of September 2015, the Wirtschaft Universität and the ‘European Company and Financial Law Review’ held a conference in Vienna. Prof. Maciej Mataczyński, managing partner at SMM Legal, presented his paper entitled General Meetings in European Model Company Act from the perspective of Polish law.

At the beginning of August 2015, SMM Legal boosted its Telecommunications Law Team by hiring yet another expert. The new member of the Team, managed by Ms. Joanna Łabudzka, is Ms. Ilona Bartuzi-Bielak, legal advisor.

Specialists from SMM Legal provided advisory to Netia S.A. on the acquisition of shares in TK Telekom sp. z o.o. from PKP S.A. and the related process of transaction financing. The work of the Firm’s M&A team on this high-profile deal was managed by Prof. Tomasz Sójka and Prof. Maciej Mataczyński, SMM Legal Managing Partners, while the Banking & Finance Team in charge of the share acquisition financing process was run by another two renowned attorneys, Ms. Maria Bysiewicz and Mr. Jakub Krzemień.

Prof. Maciej Mataczyński, partner at SMM Legal, advised the Minister of State Treasury in the legislative process concerning the Act on the Control of Certain Investments aimed at the protection of strategic Polish companies (from the gas, energy, chemical, petrochemical and military sectors) against hostile takeovers.

Internetowy Kwartalnik Antymonopolowy i Regulacyjny (IKAR, The Online Antimonopoly and Regulatory Quarterly) has just published a new article on the approach of Bundeskartellamt, German antimonopoly authority, to the issue of the so-called exterritorial concentration. Its author is Wojciech Łyszczarz – a member of the Firm’s German Desk.

Mr. Rafał Sikorski, holder of a post-doctoral degree and partner at SMM Legal, was the only expert from Poland to participate in the international academic conference “Patent Pledges Symposium 2015” hosted on 12 June 2015 by the American University, Washington School of Law in Washington.

In a couple of days, and only a few days apart, two high-profile international academic events dedicated to intellectual property law issues will take place. Both will be attended by Mr. Rafał Sikorski, doctorus habilitatus and partner at SMM Legal.

Jędrzej Bujny, PhD, joined SMM Legal as a partner in May.

Mr. Jędrzej Bujny holds a doctoral degree in legal sciences and works as an associate professor at the Chair of Administrative Law and Administration Science of the Faculty of Law and Administration at Adam Mickiewicz University in Poznań. He is legal advisor with a strong background in advisory to public administration entities, and has an extensive experience  in managing teams advising clients from the public utilities sector, such as water supply, waste management and renewable energy firms.

From May, Maria Bysiewicz, expert on M&A transactions and investments, will be joining SMM Legal as a partner.

Ms. Bysiewicz has advised on a number of major transactions, including the acquisition of a majority stake in one of the leading Polish insurance companies, take-over of an open pension fund, sale of a group of companies within the automotive industry, investments by one of the leading global food industry corporations and various transactions involving the transfer and conversion of enterprises.

From 22 to 24 April 2015, the Lugano-based Università della Svizzera Italiana hosted a conference entitled ‘The Nature and Governance of the Corporation’, organized by the World Interdisciplinary Network for Institutional Research (WINIR). During the conference, Prof. Maciej Mataczyński presented his paper on ‘‘National Champions’ between Corporate and Political Governance’.

The conference was attended by representatives of law and economics from around the globe, including faculty members from the top universities worldwide. Keynote lectures were presented by professors from Cambridge, Princeton and Oxford.

On 15.04.2015 Mr. Rafał Sikorski, a holder of a post-doctoral degree and a partner at our Firm, spoke at the 1^st Polish Competition Law Congress hosted by the Centre for Antimonopoly and Regulatory Studies at the Conference Centre of the Office of Competition and Consumer Protection in Warsaw. His paper entitled “Prescription of claims for compensation within private law execution of competition law in view of the new EU directive, member state regulations and Polish law” was delivered as part of the panel on combating unfair competition.

On Friday afternoon of 10 April 2015 Mr. Rafał Sikorski, a holder of a post-doctoral degree and a partner at our Firm,  delivered a lecture on “Disputes on permitted personal use” as a part of the weekly open “Friday” academic meetings organized by the Chair of Intellectual Property Law of the Jagiellonian University.

Once again, our Firm has been placed in THE LEGAL 500 ranking. This prestigious, annually updated list of the leading law firms is developed on the basis of recommendations made by Clients of law firms, legal professionals and by thorough research of the market.

On the 27th of March 2015, Mr. Jacek Dybiński, PhD, presented a paper on the reform of the Polish corporate governance rules and participated in a discussion panel during the national academic conference “Company law and corporate governance in view of contemporary business challenges”, held at the University of Warsaw.

From the 20th to 21st of March 2015, the Faculty of Law, Administration and Economics of  the University of Wrocław hosted a national academic conference entitled “Contemporary challenges to intellectual property law”.