This document discusses the Warsaw legal market and factors for law firms considering entering it. It notes that while some large international firms have recently opened Warsaw offices to use it as a base for the Central and Eastern Europe region, other incumbent firms see the market as overcrowded. New entrants will face strong competition from established Polish firms. The document analyzes factors driving some firms to enter Warsaw, such as Poland's growing economy and active capital markets. However, it also notes the market is mature and saturated, and that new entrants will need to differentiate themselves and not expect to quickly take market share from incumbents. Success will depend on strategic positioning and relationship-building rather than relying solely on a global brand.
From PWC, Investing in Poland contains information on macroeconomic conditions and outlook for Poland, as well as key data, analysis and contact details for all 16 of Poland's voivodships and all of its major cities.
Globalization and the competitiveness of enterprises and economies in Baltic ...Gints Turlajs
On Baltic Sea Region Competitiveness and new definitions and approaches to national competitiveness. Some revolutionary innovations are presented in this presentation.
Please check out the second edition of Creating Value, an IMAP magazine dedicated to creating value in the M&A mid-market. In this issue:
Automotive parts manufacturing
Medtech outsourcing
Nordic high-tech revolution
Indian IT transformation
Brexit. Implications for Europe and M&A
Who’s afraid of Private Equity?
and more!
IMAP in CEE:
A thriving region
Poland’s new tech hub
Lech Wałęsa keynote speaker
INSIGHTS
Cybersecurity - not just an issue for banks
European food & beverage deep dive
Global energy market evolution
US pet industry hits a premium
DEBT CRISIS
Is Redde Rationem about to come knocking?
From PWC, Investing in Poland contains information on macroeconomic conditions and outlook for Poland, as well as key data, analysis and contact details for all 16 of Poland's voivodships and all of its major cities.
Globalization and the competitiveness of enterprises and economies in Baltic ...Gints Turlajs
On Baltic Sea Region Competitiveness and new definitions and approaches to national competitiveness. Some revolutionary innovations are presented in this presentation.
Please check out the second edition of Creating Value, an IMAP magazine dedicated to creating value in the M&A mid-market. In this issue:
Automotive parts manufacturing
Medtech outsourcing
Nordic high-tech revolution
Indian IT transformation
Brexit. Implications for Europe and M&A
Who’s afraid of Private Equity?
and more!
IMAP in CEE:
A thriving region
Poland’s new tech hub
Lech Wałęsa keynote speaker
INSIGHTS
Cybersecurity - not just an issue for banks
European food & beverage deep dive
Global energy market evolution
US pet industry hits a premium
DEBT CRISIS
Is Redde Rationem about to come knocking?
CLAIRFIELD REVIEW H1 2015 - CLAIRFIELD BRAZIL ADDS OFFICE IN CURITIBARodrigo Pasin
Clairfield International in Brazil has forged a strategic alliance with the corporate finance firm Redirection, thus expanding its operations in the south of the country, a key region for industries such as agribusiness and automotive manufacturing.
Redirection, headquartered in Curitiba, is a major presence in the financial sector of southern Brazil, assisting in diverse domestic and international transactions with important companies in the region...
Excellent survey I wanted to share on the Hungarian SSC and GBS market. I conducted the survey together with our partners (EY, HIPA, SSC Heroes) and we used a 360 degree approach (Both companies and employees). Most of the text was written by myself or the SSC heroes team, so I hope I am able to share some good and helpful content with you all.
Next Station: Europe: How Europe´s tech startup ecosystems are evolvingAxon Partners Group
“Next Station: Europe” reflects our view about the current state of the European tech ecosystem as well as the great potential we still foresee for the upcoming years. Our optimism is supported by the data and analysis presented throughout the report along with the insights provided by key players of the tech European industry regarding different relevant topics covered in this document.
Lodzkie Region - in the center of Poland, in the center of EuropePromuje Łódzkie
We would like to present one of the fastest developing regions in the country - the Lodzkie Region. It is a region located in the centre of Poland, in the centre of Europe, with excellent transport connections at the intersection of the trans-European transport corridors running north - south: Scandinavia - Adriatic, and east-west: Moscow - Berlin.
There is little previous comparative research on how new EU member state immigrants (NMS12) and their labour market performance differ across the old member states. This paper extends the earlier literature by investigating NMS12 immigrants’ composition and labour market performance in Finland, Germany, the Netherlands, and the United Kingdom, which are characterized by considerable differences in their labour market institutions. These institutional structures might also influence the labour market outcomes of NMS12 immigrants and these countries’ abilities to absorb immigrants. As measures of labour market performance we use labour force participation, employment, type of employment, and occupational attainment. We use pooled cross-sectional data from the European Union Labour Force Survey from the years 2004-2009 in the analyses.
We find that NMS12 immigrants have, on average, a lower probability of employment than similar natives in all other countries except for the UK. As expected with the time spent in the host country, the employment gap between NMS12 immigrants and natives narrows in Finland, Germany and the Netherlands. NMS12 immigrants seem not only to suffer from lower employment (except in the UK), but the disadvantage NMS12 immigrants have in the labour market also shows itself in the type of employment and occupations they hold. NMS12 immigrants work more often as self-employed (except in Finland) and in temporary jobs which are often combined with poorer job quality than regular jobs. In addition, NMS12 immigrants’ likelihood of working in elementary occupations is higher in all four countries. Nonetheless, we also detect interesting differences among the countries in how much the NMS12 immigrants’ labour market position deviates from that of similar natives with regard to the type of employment and occupational attainment which can partly be explained by institutional differences among these countries.
Dragon News is a member magazine, published by the Editorial Committees of the Swedish Chamber of Commerce in Hong Kong and the Swedish Chamber of Commerce in China. The magazine is printed in 3,000 copies four times a year.
Arterial’s annual review of global healthcare is considered by many family offices, research analysts and wealth management groups to be the leading, authoritative report on the economic and political drivers and activity within the life science sector.
Arterial provide readers with an in-depth analysis of the past years’ investment trends within biotech, medtech and pharmaceuticals. The report analyses deal flow between private and institutional investors, identifies trends by sub sector, product and geographical / regional placement and concludes with our predictions for the year and decades ahead.
LifeHackDay 2016 - Odessa: Александр Борняков, WannaBizSergey Dovgopolyy
Александр Борняков, усправляющий партнер венчурного фонда WannaBiz, основатель и СЕО в VertaMedia провел анализ основных ошибок стартаперов, которым поделился с участниками LifeHackDay 2016 - Odessa
User-Rating Based QoS Aware Approach for Selection of Updated Web Services to...IDES Editor
The concept of dynamic composition of Web services
has been given major importance in the recent years. While
there are many systems available to select the services with
the highest QoS score, very little thought has been given to
the fact of constructing a model which takes in the user’s
rating of a service as a major input for selection. A robust
system for fetching the most updated version of the selected
services and selection of the services based on users’ ratings
of the QoS values rather than on the actual QoS values has
been presented in our paper.
CLAIRFIELD REVIEW H1 2015 - CLAIRFIELD BRAZIL ADDS OFFICE IN CURITIBARodrigo Pasin
Clairfield International in Brazil has forged a strategic alliance with the corporate finance firm Redirection, thus expanding its operations in the south of the country, a key region for industries such as agribusiness and automotive manufacturing.
Redirection, headquartered in Curitiba, is a major presence in the financial sector of southern Brazil, assisting in diverse domestic and international transactions with important companies in the region...
Excellent survey I wanted to share on the Hungarian SSC and GBS market. I conducted the survey together with our partners (EY, HIPA, SSC Heroes) and we used a 360 degree approach (Both companies and employees). Most of the text was written by myself or the SSC heroes team, so I hope I am able to share some good and helpful content with you all.
Next Station: Europe: How Europe´s tech startup ecosystems are evolvingAxon Partners Group
“Next Station: Europe” reflects our view about the current state of the European tech ecosystem as well as the great potential we still foresee for the upcoming years. Our optimism is supported by the data and analysis presented throughout the report along with the insights provided by key players of the tech European industry regarding different relevant topics covered in this document.
Lodzkie Region - in the center of Poland, in the center of EuropePromuje Łódzkie
We would like to present one of the fastest developing regions in the country - the Lodzkie Region. It is a region located in the centre of Poland, in the centre of Europe, with excellent transport connections at the intersection of the trans-European transport corridors running north - south: Scandinavia - Adriatic, and east-west: Moscow - Berlin.
There is little previous comparative research on how new EU member state immigrants (NMS12) and their labour market performance differ across the old member states. This paper extends the earlier literature by investigating NMS12 immigrants’ composition and labour market performance in Finland, Germany, the Netherlands, and the United Kingdom, which are characterized by considerable differences in their labour market institutions. These institutional structures might also influence the labour market outcomes of NMS12 immigrants and these countries’ abilities to absorb immigrants. As measures of labour market performance we use labour force participation, employment, type of employment, and occupational attainment. We use pooled cross-sectional data from the European Union Labour Force Survey from the years 2004-2009 in the analyses.
We find that NMS12 immigrants have, on average, a lower probability of employment than similar natives in all other countries except for the UK. As expected with the time spent in the host country, the employment gap between NMS12 immigrants and natives narrows in Finland, Germany and the Netherlands. NMS12 immigrants seem not only to suffer from lower employment (except in the UK), but the disadvantage NMS12 immigrants have in the labour market also shows itself in the type of employment and occupations they hold. NMS12 immigrants work more often as self-employed (except in Finland) and in temporary jobs which are often combined with poorer job quality than regular jobs. In addition, NMS12 immigrants’ likelihood of working in elementary occupations is higher in all four countries. Nonetheless, we also detect interesting differences among the countries in how much the NMS12 immigrants’ labour market position deviates from that of similar natives with regard to the type of employment and occupational attainment which can partly be explained by institutional differences among these countries.
Dragon News is a member magazine, published by the Editorial Committees of the Swedish Chamber of Commerce in Hong Kong and the Swedish Chamber of Commerce in China. The magazine is printed in 3,000 copies four times a year.
Arterial’s annual review of global healthcare is considered by many family offices, research analysts and wealth management groups to be the leading, authoritative report on the economic and political drivers and activity within the life science sector.
Arterial provide readers with an in-depth analysis of the past years’ investment trends within biotech, medtech and pharmaceuticals. The report analyses deal flow between private and institutional investors, identifies trends by sub sector, product and geographical / regional placement and concludes with our predictions for the year and decades ahead.
LifeHackDay 2016 - Odessa: Александр Борняков, WannaBizSergey Dovgopolyy
Александр Борняков, усправляющий партнер венчурного фонда WannaBiz, основатель и СЕО в VertaMedia провел анализ основных ошибок стартаперов, которым поделился с участниками LifeHackDay 2016 - Odessa
User-Rating Based QoS Aware Approach for Selection of Updated Web Services to...IDES Editor
The concept of dynamic composition of Web services
has been given major importance in the recent years. While
there are many systems available to select the services with
the highest QoS score, very little thought has been given to
the fact of constructing a model which takes in the user’s
rating of a service as a major input for selection. A robust
system for fetching the most updated version of the selected
services and selection of the services based on users’ ratings
of the QoS values rather than on the actual QoS values has
been presented in our paper.
Катерина Дегтяр, директор инкубационной программы 1991 open data incubator, поделилась с участниками LifeHackDay 2016 - Odessa размышлениями об эффективности акселерации и историями успеха резидентов 1991
WebCamp 2016: PM. Роман Кравченко: Разработка требований и управление рисками...WebCamp
Доклад посвящен вопросам разработки требований в проектах Business process automation и Research and development. На примере реальных кейсов будут рассмотрены инструменты и практики, позволяющие повысить эффективность процесса разработки требований, и снизить проектные риски
Ética Profesional para Ingenieros Civiles, en el Marco del I C Construye 2016, realizado en la UNAH-VS de SPS, el día Lunes 19 de Septiembre 2016, para los estudiantes de la Carrera de Ingeniería Civil de la UNAH-VS.
Over the last few years, we have become increasingly focused on the burgeoning ecosystem developing in Central and Eastern Europe, and as an affirmation for our support for this region, we are very happy to share our latest report covering one of its key hubs, Poland. Our report unpacks the current progress and outlook for Poland, using our ecosystem model to highlight Poland’s unique positioning in an increasingly global playing field for startups as well as interviews from Wojciech Sadowski, co-founder and CEO of Packhelp and Piotr Pisarz, co-founder and CEO of Uncapped, showcasing their views on the future of the ecosystem.
Volvemos para presentar la edición 2017 de Conexus, la publicación anual que analiza el estado actual de los últimos desarrollos en Industrial Connectivity.
Over the last few years, we have become increasingly focused on the burgeoning ecosystem developing in Central and Eastern Europe, and as an affirmation for our support for this region, we are very happy to share our latest report covering one of its key hubs, Poland. Our report unpacks the current progress and outlook for Poland, using our ecosystem model to highlight Poland’s unique positioning in an increasingly global playing field for startups as well as interviews from Wojciech Sadowski, co-founder and CEO of Packhelp and Piotr Pisarz, co-founder and CEO of Uncapped, showcasing their views on the future of the ecosystem.
Report M&A Index Poland - Mergers and acquisitions in Poland, Q3 2022FORDATA VDR
In the third quarter of 2022, we noticed a significant decrease in the volume of M&A transactions compared to the second quarter - by approx. 16 pp. However, the second quarter was a record period. 74 transactions recorded in Q3 are therefore still a high result, which in the yoy perspective is approx. 8% higher. The uncertainty caused by the rise in inflation, interest rates and energy commodity prices, as well as the war in Ukraine, did not put the mergers and acquisitions on hold, as was the case at the peak of the pandemic. What was the transaction structure in the analyzed period?
Export To Poland Presentation 2nd June 2009Michael Clay
This presentation was made by Michael Clay on the 2nd June at the Polish Embassy in London as a member of the Board of the British Polish Chamber of Commerce
Investment in Poland and support programsJames Deiotte
Presentation for investors considering a move to Poland. Provided overview of macroeconomic environment and incentive programs from the EU and Polish government
The Catalyst bond market opened by Warsaw Stock Exchange has become an important element of the Polish securities market structure.
We hereby present the 2nd Edition of the Report, summarizing the 4 years of operations of the WSE Catalyst bond market, with special con-sideration of municipal bonds, cooperative bonds and corporate bonds.
Outsourcing Destination Guide Poland 2014 by Deutscher Outsourcing VerbandErnest Orlowski
Independent information guide about Nearshoring to Poland by German Outsourcing Association in co-operation with ProPregressio Foundation.
About Solid Shore Sp. z o.o. - page no 60.
The Outsourcing Guide Poland presents the capabilities and actors of the Polish ITO and BPO Industry.
Unique solutions and cases invented by Polish service industry experts are presented in the form of case studies and project reports.
As a result the document helps decision makers to better understand the advantages and conditions in working with Polish ITO and BPO service providers.
Ponieważ jesteśmy w okresie kampanii wyborczej podrzucam wszystkim dokument, który może służyć do oceny jakości programów wyborczych wszystkich aspirujących do swojej roli wybrańców narodu :)
Summary of 2019 on the Polish M&A market - ReportFORDATA VDR
In 2019 (as of December 12), 179 mergers and acquisitions took place. It is 20 less than in the same period last year. The decline is clear, although not surprising in the context of the global economic slowdown. Half of all sellers were made up of private entities (50%), with the largest interest in industrial companies (25 transactions) and the IT/Media/Telcom sector, which maintained its first position in relation to 2018 and still consolidates the most.
Poland's Real Estate: Prime Investment with Growth, Stability, and AffordabilityDanon Real Estate
If you’ve been thinking about investing in real estate, then Poland might just be the perfect place for you. With its growing economy, stable political environment, and attractive property prices, Poland presents a promising opportunity for real estate investors.
The M&A Index Poland report is a position
that has become a permanent fixture in the
calendar of the industry summaries in Poland.
The reports are prepared quarterly by a consulting
firm Navigator Capital and FORDATA,
a leader in the field of IT solutions which
support M&A transactions.
IMAP closed 112 deals worth more than $14.7 billion during the first half of 2021. The strong rebound in market
activity that began in Q4 of 2020 carried over well into Q1 of this year and although the rate of deal making
returned to more normal pre-COVID levels in Q2, IMAP partners around the world have full pipelines and many
are expecting to have a record year. IMAP partners in North America and several European countries in particular
are experiencing the strongest market environment and most new deal flow in over a decade. In the first half
deals were closed across 14 different sectors, with Technology, Business Services, Healthcare, Industrials, and
Consumer Retail the most represented. Twenty-nine percent of IMAP deals were cross-border.
Similar to The Warsaw Conundrum - Ellen Hayes (20)
IMAP closed 112 deals worth more than $14.7bn in H1 2021
The Warsaw Conundrum - Ellen Hayes
1. Survey
50 TopLegal International - September/October 2011
T
he global financial crisis
has only enhanced War-
saw’s status as the gate-
way to the legal markets of Cen-
tral and Eastern Europe (CEE).
The appeal of Warsaw as a strong
base for law firms looking to gain
access to CEE was highlighted
just prior to the recession when
Spanish firms Uría Menéndez
and Garrigues kicked off expan-
sion drives in the region with the
launch of their respective War-
saw offices in 2008 and 2007, and
Bird & Bird started its CEE ex-
pansion by opening its Warsaw
office in 2008. More recently, in
April 2010, K&L Gates elected to
enter the region by taking over
a 40 lawyer Warsaw-based team
from Hogan & Hartson. Taylor
Wessing is rumored to be con-
sidering a merger with its alli-
ance partner BSJP. Wolf Theiss
has been evaluating the market
with a view to entry and antici-
pates being in the market soon.
But while these firms have tak-
en or about to take the plunge,
some of the incumbents are in-
credulous that new firms might
want to enter what they see as a
cut-throat market. Other firms
who have studied the market
carefully have so far held off
opening an office in Warsaw.
What is it about the
Warsaw market that generates
such different views and ap-
proaches? What are the factors
Poland | New Entrants
THE WARSAW
CONUNDRUMPoland, with its burgeoning economy, is fast
becoming a gateway for business in Central
and Eastern Europe and a destination for
international law firms. But, with a mature
and increasingly crowded legal market, those
seeking to launch in Warsaw face quite a test
By Ellen Hayes*
in deciding whether or not to
open an office? What practice
areas should new entrants focus
on?
The Warsaw Stock
Exchange, with
79 initial public
offerings in the
first half of 2011,
had more than 10%
of IPOs worldwide
2. Survey
51TopLegal International - September/October 2011
For Warsaw
New entrants are mesmerized
by Poland’s domestic market,
and the potential to use Warsaw
as a base to cover other markets
in the region. Garrigues closed
its office in Romania last year
as a move to centralize its CEE
practice in Poland. “The firm’s
current strategy in CEE is to
centralize all its functions and
services through the Warsaw of-
fice – we see this as an efficient
gateway to all our clients’ needs
in this region,” said Alejandro
Miquel, managing partner at
Garrigues in Warsaw.
Poland’s domestic market is a
jewel to behold, its economy hav-
ing markedly differentiated itself
from other CEE countries in the
last three years. It is by far the
biggest economy in central Eu-
rope (making up 40% of the GDP
of the EU’s ten new ex-commu-
nist members). But it is not only
the size of the economy which
is remarkable –Poland was the
only economy in the European
Union that kept growing all of
the way through the crisis. The
IMF predicts Poland’s GDP will
grow by 4% in 2011 and again in
2012.
As a result, Poland’s consum-
ers are confident. Its 38 million
people have a relatively low level
of household debt. The June ICD
Research report, entitled “The
future of retailing in Poland to
2015” predicts that the luxury,
apparel and accessory goods
market will be the fastest grow-
ing retail market in the country,
with a compound annual growth
rate of over 7% through 2015.
3. Survey
52 TopLegal International - September/October 2011
Polish companies are flexing
their muscles. As the website of
K&L Gates’ Warsaw office brags:
“Over 170 of the 500 largest com-
panies in the CEE region are lo-
cated in Poland. There are more
than 300 R&D institutions in Po-
land and Warsaw is recognized
as one of the 20 best locations
for business in Europe.” And al-
though some of the larger Polish
companies have substantial in-
house departments, these same
companies are beginning to ex-
pand in the region and need ex-
ternal help. For example, in the
energy sector alone, PKN Orlen,
the Polish refining company,
has acquired the largest refin-
ers in the Czech Republic and
Lithuania. PGNiG, the state oil
and gas company, has invested
in gas fields in Norway. Poland’s
number two refiner Lotos Group
expects its revenue to rise by at
least 20% this year and operates
in Lithuania and Norway.
Capital markets lawyers are
also finding work in the fertile
IPO market in Poland. The War-
saw Stock Exchange, with 79 ini-
tial public offerings in the first
half of 2011, had more than 10%
of IPOs worldwide. Polish com-
panies grow fast and are open
to capital markets. Transaction
such as recent successful IPO of
JSW put Poland on the map of
places where you can do serious
business and it has been noticed
by the investment community.
Moreover, the IPO work also
comes to Poland from foreign
issuers for which the Warsaw
Stock Exchange is an attractive
alternative to the AIM, Frank-
furt and Vienna listings. “We ex-
pect this trend to continue,” said
Marcin Studniarek, partner,
White & Case.
Lejb Fogelman, senior part-
ner at Dewey & LeBoeuf, com-
ments: “Some of the largest IPOs
and secondary offerings in Eu-
rope were completed within the
last two years. Those in which
we played an active role included
last year’s multibillion Zloty of-
fering of the largest insurer in
CEE [PZU], and Kulczyk Oil Ven-
tures which was the first IPO of
a Canadian company in Poland.
Worth mentioning this year is
JSW, one of the largest coal com-
panies in Europe and one of the
largest offerings in Europe year
to date, as well as the acceler-
ated book building sale of PZU’s
shares.
“We are also working on the
secondary offering of PKO BP
shares, a sizeable offering by one
of the largest banks in CEE and
on several smaller but still size-
able IPO’s of various polish and
foreign companies.”
Other practice areas poised
for growth are life sciences,
with Poland’s big generic drug
industry, energy & natural re-
sources, and PPP. “PPP will in-
evitably take off in Poland. EU
money is largely tapped out with
no chance of replenishment due
to the sovereign debt crisis and
most municipalities and govern-
mental authorities are at their
debt limit. If people want mod-
ern waste treatment, water treat-
ment and the like, it will largely
get done on the back of PPP-type
schemes,” said David Dixon,
partner at Norton Rose.
Global investment banks such
as Goldman Sachs and Credit
Suisse, and Western European
private equity firms such as EQT,
Montagu and Bridgepoint, have
established their sole Central
European office in Warsaw. The
professionals resident in these
offices typically cover at least
the surrounding countries (such
as the Baltics and Ukraine), if not
the entire CEE region. Lawyers
also find Warsaw a useful base
for covering the region; Daniel
Cousens of Linklaters advises
clients in Ukraine and Russia
from Warsaw, and White & Case
handles work in Ukraine and
Belarus. “Warsaw is a great base
of operations for CEE – it is now
seen as an integral part of Eu-
rope due to its performance dur-
ing the financial crisis. It is the
dominant CEE country econom-
ically and it now assumes the EU
presidency,” says Mr Dixon.
For the new entrants, enter-
ing the Warsaw market was a
no-brainer. Maciej Gawronski,
managing partner of Bird & Bird
“Warsaw is an
important place to
be, simply because it
is such an important
place for the firm”
Maciej Jamka, K&L Gates
Alejandro Miquel
4. Survey
53TopLegal International - September/October 2011
in Warsaw, says: “Establishing
on the ground in Poland and
in other CEE jurisdictions was
logical to ensure we were serv-
ing our clients”. “For a global
law firm like K&L Gates, War-
saw is an important place to
be, simply because it is such an
important place for the firm’s
global clients,” according to Ma-
ciej Jamka, administrative part-
ner of the firm’s Warsaw office.
Janis Nordstrom, chief strategy
officer at Wolf Theiss says: “Hav-
ing a Polish office will complete
our extensive footprint through-
out the CEE/SEE region, thus
offering our clients a full range
of services anywhere they need
to go. We view Poland as being
a key factor to our firm’s future
strategic growth initiatives and
plan on “hitting the ground run-
ning” once we arrive.”
Against Warsaw
CEE is littered with law firms
who have entered mature mar-
kets late and have had trouble
competing with the entrenched
players. Linklaters pulled out of
Prague, Budapest and Bucha-
rest, and Freshfields Bruckhaus
Deringer and Clifford Chance
pulled out of Budapest. Through
the years, firms which were not
100% committed to building a
Polish practice, such as Vincent
& Elkins and Dickinson Wright,
have picked up and left.
Firms that have
remained maintain
that the Polish le-
gal market as been
saturated for over a
decade. Law firms in
Warsaw are having
to accept a perma-
nent shake up in how
they are retained and
compensated, with
a view to further
changes in billing
methods. New en-
trants will face fierce
competition in terms
of quality and pric-
ing. “There is
strong competition
at every level and
stage of the market.
The “know how” and quality is
already in the hands of Polish
firms, and there are many of
them, so what’s on offer to entice
clients to go to a new firm unless
they are positioning themselves
as a niche player?” asks Dominik
Galkowski co-managing part-
ner of KKG, which have offices
in Warsaw and Krakow.
Piotr Spaczynski, managing
partner at Polish law firm Spac-
zynski, Szczepaniak i Wspoln-
icy (SSW) says: “The market is
saturated with international law
firms. For clients, the brand can
be irrelevant, it is instead about
the trusted advisor relationship
and the quality of the lawyers”.
Even the leading international
firms stress the importance for
new entrants to try to find the
right angle. “The Warsaw le-
gal market looks over-lawyered.
New entrants will have to find a
clear way to differentiate them-
selves from incumbents. Other-
wise, only being very price-com-
petitive may give them a market
share. This raises the question
whether this is where they would
like to be,” emphasizes Grze-
gorz Namiotkiewicz of Clifford
Chance.
“The distinction between “for-
eign” and “local” law firms is ob-
solete really. The firms that rely
heavily on their own network
and referrals, without a solid
base in the local market do not
grow,” says Pawel Debowski a
partner in Salans’ Warsaw of-
fice and head of its CE real es-
tate group. “Entering the market
without a unique selling point
and trying to build a full service
law firm by organic growth will
be extremely difficult.” TLi
*The author is the managing di-
rector of Hudson Legal’s Emerg-
ing Europe and Latin America
operations, specializing in firm
mergers, team moves, and part-
ner level hires.
“Newentrantswillhave
tofindaclearwayto
differentiatethemselves.”
Grzegorz Namiotkiewicz, Clifford Chance
Pawel Debowski