CMS increases its English law capacity in Poland

CMS has further strengthened its Finance practice in Poland, led by Partner Michał Mężykowski, which now consists of 53 experienced lawyers. Among the team that form the Finance practice is the English law finance team in Poland, led by Partner Rafal Zakrzewski, which in January welcomed Of Counsel Adrian Horne and Counsel Katarzyna Lesińska, both qualified English solicitors, to focus on English law matters.

Michał Mężykowski, Partner and Head of the Finance practice at CMS Poland, commented ‘Our Banking and Finance practice continues to expand, driven by the increasing complexity and scale of the transactions we handle. Many of these transactions are governed by English law, and in response to growing demand for high-quality legal advice on cross-border financings, we made the development of our English law capacity a strategic priority. With the recent additions to our team, we now offer an even stronger combination of deep local and international expertise, reinforcing our position as a key legal partner for financial institutions and investors navigating complex cross-border deals.’

Rafal Zakrzewski, Partner and Head of the English law finance team in Poland, added, ‘It is wonderful that Adrian and Kasia have joined us to further increase our capacity to run more and ever-larger English law projects without jeopardising our commitment to quality and responsiveness. This strengthening of our team is a significant milestone for our practice.’

With these new hires, our Warsaw-based team advising on English law governed finance transactions, now comprises eight lawyers. The team advises on cross-border banking and finance matters such as project, acquisition, real estate, trade, corporate finance, directed lending and financial restructuring. It is a part of our wider CEE team advising on English law governed transactions and projects across emerging and developing markets.

Erika Papp, Partner and Head of the CEE Finance Practice, further commented, ‘I am pleased to see our Finance practice expand with several new hires with English law qualification. We have a longstanding history of advising on English law finance transactions out of CEE and are committed to providing expert legal advice to clients in this area across all our offices in the region.’

Among the CMS experts at the English law finance team in Poland are:

• Rafal Zakrzewski | Partner, who brings 25 years’ experience in financing, specialising in all aspects of commercial lending, in particular in the development, energy, industrial, and real estate sectors. He originally qualified in Australia but has practised as an English solicitor for the vast majority of his career.  He regularly advises on international transactions in Europe, Central Asia, and Africa. As a frequently published expert in LMA financing and commercial law, his work is regularly cited by courts. He holds a doctorate in law from Oxford University and has been a full time lecturer of contract and finance law at both Oxford and Cambridge Universities. He has worked in-house at EBRD and as a legislative draftsman at the United Kingdom Parliament.
• Adrian Horne | Of Counsel, an English solicitor with more than 20 years’ experience advising on financing transactions, for financial institutions and investors, with a particular focus on project finance. He has been based in Warsaw for many years and has handled numerous transactions across Poland, the CEE region, Central Asia and Africa.
• Katarzyna Lesińska | Counsel, an English solicitor with over 15 years’ experience in international financing, specialising in corporate and project finance. She has worked at the European Investment Bank in Luxembourg, advising on Polish and Baltic transactions, and at Allens in Sydney, focusing on financing across Australia and Oceania.
• Anna Hergottova | Counsel, who has more than 15 years’ experience advising financial institutions and investors on cross-border real estate and project finance transactions. She is admitted to practice in the Czech Republic, Slovakia and Poland, and is currently training to become an English-qualified lawyer. 
• Nadiya Shylienkova | Counsel, who has more than15 years’ experience. She specialises in cross-border finance, debt restructurings, distressed assets, and debt capital markets. With expertise in LMA documents, NPL sales, and distressed trades, she has also completed a secondment at EBRD in London.
• Evgeniy Vazhynskiy | Senior Associate, who has over 12 years’ experience in banking and finance law. Before joining CMS, he worked with Redcliffe Partners (Clifford Chance’s former Kyiv office) and UniCredit Bank, specialising in syndicated loans, corporate finance and project finance.
• Artem Lukyanov | Senior Associate, who has over 10 years’ experience working at international law firms in Kyiv and Warsaw. He was also seconded to the inhouse legal departments of ING Bank N.V. (London Branch) and UBS AG in Zurich, where he worked on fund finance and commercial real estate finance deals. He specialises in cross-border finance, debt restructurings and secondary debt trading.
• Katarzyna Latek | Lawyer, who specialises in banking, civil and regulatory law for financial institutions and capital markets. She participates in cross-border financing, real estate, and project financing under English law, providing regulatory advice to financial institutions on Polish and EU capital markets.

Over the past three years, the team led by Rafal has served primarily international financial institutions and development banks, and has successfully completed over 350 projects worldwide. The team’s strength lies in providing high-quality advice on international projects, coupled with a cost-effective approach. With an in-depth understanding of the needs and policies of our clients, we provide practical, commercially focused solutions underpinned by exceptional expertise in English commercial contract law.