The 4th Polish Young Attorneys Forum
The 4th National Forum of Young Lawyers – representatives from all over the Poland is now behind us. Just like a year ago, I had an enormous amount of pleasure in participating this event.
The Idea of Young Attorneys Forum is to be a platform for the exchange of experiences of licensed lawyers from various cities in Poland. It is accompanied by integration and exploring specification of rendering legal services in different places and for different clients.
This year event was organized in Wrocław by District Attorneys Chamber (Okręgowa Izba Radców Prawnych we Wrocławiu).
Unfair legal practices and competition
Very important part of the event was discussion about the business entities which render legal services in Poland without entrance into Polish Bar Association. Differences between professional lawyers and “fake” law firms are crucial for clients. You have to be aware that only licensed attorneys activity is secured by insurance policy. What is even more important, only licensed lawyer in Poland is obliged to keep in secret all information about the client and his matters or obtained in any other way in connection with the performance of any professional activities by him, regardless of the source of this information and the form and manner of its recording (professional secrecy). We have to also conduct in accordance with Polish Attorneys Ethic and bear disciplinary liability.
Foreign clients have far more difficulty in recognizing licensed law firm from “legal offices”. Lot of my foreign clients came to my after they were scammed by fake law firms. Very vulnerable to scam are these legal services in Poland which are connected with company formation in Poland and immigration to Poland.
That’s why I am personally of the opinion that names of “law firm” and “law office” should be restricted in Poland only for entities conducted by licensed attorneys.
You can check if Polish lawyer is entered into Bar Association here https://rejestrradcow.pl/
