An example of a Mackrell Franco-Polish successful cooperation

From Paris

About a year ago, Mackrell International was faced with a gap to fill in Poland.
The previous member firm had decided to opt out and it became crucial to replace that firm in view of the importance of that particular growing European market.
Our firm has a considerable East European oriented client base, where reliable professional contacts are of the essence.
The urgent need for a Polish firm was also expressed from Sweden and Germany.
I therefore took it upon myself to actively start searching for the right candidate.
It wasn't an easy task, because many commercial law firms in Poland are currently either already extremely busy and not particularly looking to expand their business or already members of other networks.
As always, life is full of coincidences.
About 15 years ago, I had met a young Polish trainee who was visiting Paris and eager to find out about Western practices. This young man was Piotr Kochanski. After this initial contact,we lost touch for years.
In September 2006, Piotr called out of the blue, remembering that he had a legal contact in Paris where he needed urgent help on a personnal family matter.
We spent over an hour on the phone, only to find out how many common interests we had and what interesting practices we had developed.
A week later, an important French client of mine contacted us to carry out an urgent due diligence on a Polish firm in view of a partial acquisition.
I immediately thought of the Kochanski Budkowski firm and was put in touch with their top M&A partner, Beata Karas.
Beata and her team did a fantastic job in a time record, given the date of completion. The clients were delighted.
This first experience opened the way for a recommendation of the Polish firm to Mackrell, especially after my visit to their superb new offices in the heart of Warsaw.
It was my belief that this young and dynamic team with a truly professional approach was the ideal candidate for joining our organisation.
I have been regularly referring work to Kochanski, Brudkowski & Partners and visiting them on almost every trip to Poland.
We have been involved in company incorporations, various employment law issues, regular consultations on commercial and real estate matters as well as litigation.
In fact, I will even personally have the opportunity of appearing before the Warsaw civil court this October as a French lawyer seconding a partner of Kochanski & Brudkowski on French law as the case is to be judged under French law. A truly exciting experience...
Apart from a fruitful professional cooperation, our close contacts have - in the true Mackrell tradition - built into genuine friendship.
This is where Mackrell is priceless.

From Warsaw:
I met Hania Goutierre through my partner Piotr Kochanski at the end of 2006. She gave us an opportunity to work with one of her fantastic clients.
In the meantime Hania came to visit our offices and encouraged us to join Mackrell International presenting the network as a group of friends giving each other support abroad whenever necessary as well as referrals when they come up.
After a short discussion, she recommended us to Mackrell. We started working together on a day to day basis, servicing her clients and helping in private matters.
In the mid-winter we had the pleasure to meet Clive Mieville who visited our office in order to present the network. As we were really impressed by his presentation, we decided to attend the Mackrell conference in Berlin as observers.
It was more than a pleasure to take part in that conference and the welcome we received was stunning. We had a chance to present our firm and our country, meet other participants and their spouses and have fun in the evening.
I left Berlin with a lot of new friends all over the world. Just after the conference we joined Mackrell officially.
Now our firm is intensively cooperating with other Mackrell member firms. Hania and I have become friends.
I can say now, after those few months of intensive, mutually beneficial cooperation experience, Mackrell has definitely been our opportunity to expand our business, provide the clients with a top legal service and expertise and work with not only professional partners abroad but with our good friends.
We all in our law firm look forward to our future together with optimism and enthusiasm.

Author: Caroline Smurthwaite
Firm: Secretariat

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