We are delighted to announce that in line with our New Year’s tradition, the team of partners and counsels at WKB has expanded.

Klaudia Frątczak-Kospin and Piotr Grabarczyk, who were counsels in the Restructuring and Insolvency team have now been nominated to the position of partners.

Promotions to counsels were granted to Paulina Maślak-Stępnikowska and Aleksandra Bączykowska from the Intellectual Property & TMT  team, Aleksandra Dziurkowska from the Competition and Consumer Law team, Jarosław Kola PhD from the Public Procurement Law and Infrastructure Projects team, and Natalia Kabacińska, Piotr Gajek and Wiktor Iwański PhD from the Dispute Resolution team.

– We are a law firm with which lawyers who combine expert knowledge with an imagination that enables them to think creatively and take on even the most difficult challenges fit in particularly well. We are proud and happy that the nominees have associated their careers with WKB and we appreciate their commitment – Aleksander Stawicki, the firm’s co-managing partner, emphasised.

Another tradition we are proud to continue, is the significant share of women among those promoted, which in this respect also makes us a unique law firm on the Polish market. This is something we are very proud of!

– We are promoting five excellent female lawyers who successfully lead important projects for WKB, one of whom joins the ranks of the firm’s partners. We consistently support the careers of women, who represent more than half of the entire WKB team and an increasing part of partners and counsels – added Agnieszka Wiercińska-Krużewska, the co-managing partner.

 

NEW PARTNERS:

Klaudia Frątczak-Kospin – attorney-at-law, restructuring advisor, co-head of Restructuring & Insolvency team, member of Mergers & Acquisitions team

Her legal career has always been related to mergers & acquisitions but with a parallel interest in restructuring which with time become her major practice area. Since 2021, she has been a licensed restructuring advisor.

She specialises in restructuring and insolvency proceedings and out-of-court restructuring, acting for both creditors and debtors at all stages of the process. Her work highlights include the Toys “R” Us, a USA-based retail giant that has been operating around 1,600 stores worldwide, as well as its Polish subsidiaries.

Klaudia is recognised as a knowledgeable, hands on, and solution-oriented lawyer.

Klaudia is regularly recommended by The Legal 500 EMEA.

 

Piotr Grabarczyk – attorney-at-law, co-head of Restructuring & Insolvency team, member of Banking & Finance team

He started the legal career as banking and finance lawyer. He was involved in financing transactions for more than 13 years, but his professional focus was gradually shifting to debt restructuring and insolvency proceedings. Some of the most interesting projects on which he has worked recently include advising a consortium of more than 20 international banks and other financial institutions in a financial restructuring process, advising a leading bank in a court-assisted corporate restructuring process, and advising a group of trade creditors in a pioneering transaction involving arrangement modification.

Piotr is regularly recommended by The Legal 500 EMEA and IFLR 1000.

 

NEW COUNSELS:

Paulina Maślak-Stępnikowska – attorney-at-law, member of Intellectual Property & TMT team

Specialises in the regulation of the media industry, digital market, and regulated entertainment sectors. She provides legal support in managing media crises. She conducts litigation in cases involving defamation, personal rights and media-related IP rights. She represents clients before the General Court – Court of Justice of the European Union in Luxembourg, before the National Broadcasting Council, the Office of Competition and Consumer Protection, the Polish Patent Office, the EUIPO, and the WIPO.

Paulina works for some of the biggest players in the media and entertainment sector in Poland, including TV broadcasters, radio broadcasters, and VOD providers, respected independent audio-visual producers and production houses, video game publishers and producers, as well as the largest marketplace platforms in the region.

As part of her pro bono work, she supports filmmakers and local government cultural institutions, among others.

She was recommended by The Legal 500 EMEA in 2022.

 

Aleksandra Bączykowska – advocate, member of Life Sciences, Intellectual Property & TMT teams

She has created and has been leading the life science team where she advises, among others in matters involving clinical trials, medical devices, and medicinal products, and advertising. She has many years of experience in advising clients from different sectors on industrial property matters (trademarks, patents, and designs) and on unfair competition matters.

She represents clients before the General Court – Court of Justice of the European Union in Luxembourg, before the National Broadcasting Council, the Office of Competition and Consumer Protection, the Polish Patent Office, the EUIPO, and the WIPO. Aleksandra works for the biggest pharmaceutical companies, clinical trials companies, and medical insurers.

As part of her pro bono work, she supports individuals in cases relating to medical errors.

In 2021 and 2022 she was recognised as IP Rising Star. She was also recommended by The Legal 500 EMEA in 2022.

 

Aleksandra Dziurkowska – attorney-at-law, member of Competition & Consumer Law team

For almost 10 years she has advised clients on matters related to Polish and EU competition law, including, inter alia, anti-competition agreements, information exchange between entrepreneurs, abuse of dominating position, concentration of businesses and distribution systems and their compliance with competition law.

She represents clients in major antitrust proceedings in the automotive industry, the pharmaceutical sector and professional sport cases. She is involved in the development and implementation of dedicated compliance programmes (including serving as compliance officer for industry associations operating in sensitive markets). She has experience in advising on the Act on Unfair Exploitation of Contractual Advantage in the food industry and cooperates with major retail chains. She represents clients before the President of the Office of Competition and Consumer Protection and the courts in so-called “congestion cases”.

Aleksandra is regularly recommended by The Legal 500 EMEA.

 

Jarosław Kola PhD  – member of Public Procurement and Infrastructure Projects team as well as Municipal Sector, State Aid & EU Funds and ESG groups

He specialises in public procurement law, electromobility and EU funding. He advises both contracting parties as well as contractors – among others – in the field of energy and transport, such as, construction of offshore wind farms, the expansion of the LNG terminal in Świnoujście, Baltic Pipe or the Central Communication Port. He supports Clients at all stages of the procurement process, including disputes before the National Appeal Chamber. He also has extensive experience in disputes concerning the disbursement of EU funds.

He combines his professional practice with academic activity – he is an assistant professor at the Faculty of Law and Administration of the Adam Mickiewicz University in Poznań, where he obtained his doctoral degree in 2020 for the dissertation entitled “The interest of the contracting party in Polish public procurement law”. He conducted his research at leading foreign research centres in Paris, Oxford, Nottingham, Cape Town, and at the Max-Planck-Institut für ausländisches öffentliches Rechtund Völkerrecht in Heidelberg

He is the author of academic and general interest publications on public procurement law, administrative law and management. Jarosław is also experienced in providing training and education.

He was recommended by  The Legal 500 EMEA in 2022 and he was also a finalist in the Rising Stars competition.

 

Natalia Kabacińska – attorney-at-law, member of the dispute resolution team

She designs litigation strategies for the most complex proceedings, often having multiple international threads or precedential nature and provoking public interest. She represents Clients in complex commercial cases, including those in the banking, energy, construction, railway, aviation, insurance, and automotive industries.

In WKB she regularly works with major international law firms representing Clients in cross-border disputes. She has experience in international arbitration proceedings (ICC, SCC, SAKIG, Lewiatan) and investment arbitration. She represents Clients in the largest precedent-setting private enforcement proceedings (damages for breach of competition law).

In 2019 Natalia was a laureate of the Rising Stars Lawyers – Leaders of Tomorrow – contest organised by Wolters Kluwer and Dziennik Gazeta Prawna. She is regularly recommended by The Legal 500 EMEA.

 

Piotr Gajek – advocate, member of the dispute resolution and state aid & EU funds teams

He has over 15 years of experience in public aid and EU funds. He prepares analyses and opinions for entrepreneurs and public entities on public aid opportunities and related risks, including due diligence analyses on the structuring of projects and transactions to ensure compliance with the rules of public aid and EU funds. He assesses applications for state aid in projects receiving funding from EU funds and advises on complaints concerning state aid submitted to the European Commission. He also has substantial experience in the notification of aid measures and public aid complaints.

He represents Clients in complex commercial cases, including those in the construction, railway, and automotive industries.

 

Wiktor Iwański PhDadvocate, member of the Dispute Resolution and Restructuring & Insolvency teams

He advises Clients in most complex civil and commercial disputes. He is praised by the Clients for his diligence, out-of-the-box thinking and drive to find solutions even in hopeless cases. He is recognised by his work in corporate disputes, post-M&A disputes, cases involving municipalities and insolvency-based litigations. He represents Clients in proceedings concerning violation of the Polish Constitution, including for damage caused by a normative act.

He obtained his doctoral degree in 2020.

He was recommended by The Legal 500 EMEA in 2022.