DLA Piper appoints five partners in Warsaw office

Five lawyers have been appointed as partners in the DLA Piper Warsaw office: Agnieszka Lehwark of the real estate team and Bartłomiej Palusiak, who works on financial markets, infrastructure projects and restructuring, will become equity partners, while project team head Adriana Mierzwa-Bronikowska, energy practice leader Łukasz Jankowski and Rafał Kluziak of the M&A team will join as local partners.

“These new partnerships reflect how much we value the outstanding achievements of the lawyers on our team, their deep understanding of business issues and the trust they’ve built with our clients,” said Krzysztof Kycia, co-managing partner of the Warsaw office.

DLA Piper has been among the leading law offices in Poland for the past 15 years. The new appointments bring the number of partners to 18.

“Our recipe for success is creating opportunities for our lawyers and tax advisers to grow and develop,” said co-managing partner Jacek Giziński. “The majority of our partners have been promoted internally.”

Agnieszka Lehwark has been advising clients on all stages of real estate projects for more than 10 years, specialising in working with developers – from structuring, through due diligence and property acquisitions and construction agreements, to leasing and sales. Using her rich knowledge of the industry, she supports international developers of warehouse and manufacturing space, as well as advising investors acquiring real estate at all stages of the transaction.

Bartłomiej Palusiak specialises in banking and transaction finance, particularly on the real estate market. He advises borrowers, lenders, bond issuers, funds and providers of bridge financing, and has deep experience in cross-border projects. He has worked on the largest transactions on the Polish property finance market in recent years.

Adriana Mierzwa-Bronikowska specialises in complex infrastructure projects, including project finance and public-private partnerships (PPP). For more than 20 years she has advised public and private entities and providers of financing on projects in energy, transport, healthcare, and infrastructure for sports, recreation, water and sewage, supporting clients at all stages of the project – from structuring, through preparing and negotiating agreements including with subcontractors, to arranging financing and during the execution stages. She is the co-author of the four-volume PPP guidelines published by the Ministry of Development Funds and Regional Policy, and is a member of the board of the International Project Finance Association.

Łukasz Jankowski specialises in energy law, particularly power markets and renewable resources. He has worked on a range of projects for energy trading companies and distribution system operators, including infrastructure projects and regulatory proceedings before the Competition and Consumer Protection Court. He has worked on regulatory cases at all levels, from administrative proceedings before the energy and competition regulators, to representing energy companies before the Supreme Court. He supports clients in renewables transactions and advises on projects in this area.

Rafał Kluziak has deep experience in local and international M&A advisory work and capital-markets law, working for Polish and international sector and financial investors, including leading private equity and venture capital investors. He works on acquisitions of private and public companies, joint ventures, tenders and creation of investment vehicles, as well as providing advice on regulations on trade in financial instruments and funds. At the start of his career he worked for the Financial Supervision Authority, overseeing investment companies. He is a graduate of the Capital Market Leaders Academy.