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Wladek Rzycki
Partner

Władek Rzycki

Head of Aerospace and Defence Practice, CEE and Poland, Co-Head of the CMS Aerospace & Defence International Focus Group

Languages
  • Polish
  • English
Social media

Władek Rzycki is a partner and Head of Aerospace and Defence for CEE and Poland at CMS, based in Warsaw, advising clients across Central and Eastern Europe. He has extensive experience in the defence, industrial, aerospace, and infrastructure sectors, focusing on large-scale defence and infrastructure procurement projects, offset and industrialization programs, regulatory, policy, and export control matters, as well as strategic M&A and PPP projects.

Wladek has worked in both Poland and the USA, leading large multi-jurisdictional legal teams and solving complex regulatory, policy, and compliance challenges. His practice centres on guiding industrial, aerospace, and defence clients, including offset, procurement, export control, and policy advice, along with M&A, regulatory, and compliance issues. He has significant experience advising on M&A projects for aerospace, industrial, healthcare, real estate, and infrastructure clients.

IFLR1000 ranks Władek as Highly Regarded in M&A and Private Equity. He is a frequent speaker at the Global Industrial Cooperation Association, a forum for exchanging information on offset requirements and techniques used in various countries.

Relevant experience

  • Foreign clients in negotiations and contracting with the different branches of the Polish government, including large scale public procurement projects, privatisations, PPP and M&A projects, joint ventures with government-owned entities, regulatory matters, EU grants, and offset agreements.
  • Leading transactions and projects ranging in value up to $5 billion.
  • A large multinational industrial and defence company on all legal aspects of doing business, including M&A, joint ventures, general corporate work, antimonopoly advice, compliance and regulatory issues, labour law, regulatory work, public procurement and offset law. Leading projects which created 5,000 jobs.
  • Policy advice to defence industry clients.  
  • U.S. client on privatisation of a leading Polish aerospace producer and the relevant regulatory matters. Successful negotiations with the European Commission to achieve a no state aid decision.
  • Polish air missile defence program advice.
  • On negotiations of and management of 8 offset and industrialisation programs.  Managing technology transfers and industrialisation programs.
  • A privatisation agreement negotiated with the Polish government, negotiations with the labour force of a social package and advice on all necessary areas of law.

Memberships & Roles

  • Admitted to the Illinois bar
  • Admitted to the New York bar

Education

  • J.D., Columbia Law School, New York.
  • LL.M. Cornell Law School, Ithaca, New York.
  • LL.M. Jagiellonian University, Cracow, Poland.

Insights by Władek

Deals, Doubts & Divergences: CMS European M&A Outlook 2026

12 Sep 2025 2 min read

Poland to expedite defence investments with landmark Special Act

12 Aug 2025 3 min read

European Defence Readiness 2030 regulatory shifts and the call for joint action

08 Apr 2025 4 min read

CMS advises The Boeing Company on historic offset deal for Poland's acquisition of Apache helicopters

25 Oct 2024 1 min read
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