In the 16th edition of the Ranking of Law Firms organized by the daily newspaper “Rzeczpospolita”, the law firm Sołtysiński Kawecki & Szlęzak once again received the title the joint leader in the ranking in the category of the number of qualified employees, and also made it into the top four largest Polish law firms (in terms of the total number of employees). SK&S received awards in two new categories in the ranking: for innovative solutions and for exceptional professional skill. In keeping with tradition, SK&S and our experts also received a range of recommendations in individual categories.
The “Rzeczpospolita” committee gave an award to SK&S for the VAT Carousel Detector – the most innovative solution of 2017 – the award was accepted by counselor Jarosław Bieroński on behalf of the team.
“The committee has decided to also single out the VAT Carousel Detector developed by lawyers from the tax team of the Warsaw law firm Sołtysiński Kawecki & Szlęzak. Making use of their experience, they developed an algorithm of risk of a client being exposed by its business partners to tax fraud, and on the basis of this algorithm a computer calculator was created which can verify VAT credibility. By verifying the features of the cooperation, including the criteria employed by the Ministry of Finance and the tax authorities, as well as by applying various criteria for identifying the risks of individual aspects of cooperation (the criteria system is based on SK&S experience in tax proceedings involving businesses from many different sectors), the calculator makes it possible to identify, with a large degree of probability, a group of business partners who are ‘risky’ from the point of view of continuing co-operation in the context of ‘anti-carousel’ proceedings conducted by the tax authorities” (excerpt from the ranking rationale).
For the first time awards were also given to law firms which displayed exceptional professional skill when handling transactions. The first prize went to SK&S for transferring the seat of the holding AmRest from Poland to Spain, which company manages a brand network of restaurants. For the first time a European company listed on the Polish stock exchange moved its seat to another EU country –the award was accepted by Dr Marcin Olechowski on behalf of the team.
It was the first case in the history of the Polish stock exchange that a European company listed on it transferred its seat to another EU State. It was precisely this pioneer move that was valued by the committee. On the other hand, counselor Marcin Olechowski, who headed the team, noted that a particular challenge was dealing with the link-up of Polish law and EU law.
“While it is true that the functioning of a European company is regulated at the EU level, it was necessary to deal with Polish regulations such as the issue of buy-out of minority shareholders”, the attorney points out. He adds that the obligation to consult the Financial Supervision Authority and the National Securities Deposit followed from the fact that AmRest Holdings was listed on the stock exchange.
He sums up: “As is usually the case in novel undertakings, success would not have been possible without the hard work of a team of first-class lawyers who are open to new challenges and who are able to think outside the box.”
Individual recommendations were received by:
– Profesor Stanisław Sołtysiński for company law and commercial law,
– counselor Agata Szeliga for organization and financing of investment undertakings,
– counselor Tomasz Konopka for criminal law for business.
SK&S received the title of joint leader in the practice of company law and commercial law, as well as court litigation (civil, criminal, business, administrative and arbitration).
We also obtained the title of recommended law firm in six categories:
– labor law and social security,
– organization and financing of investment undertakings,
– intellectual and industrial property law, and copyright,
– competition and antimonopoly law,
– tax law,
– criminal law for business.
