To reflect the new technological ecosystem, from 1 November 2020, Kochański & Partners have consolidated their Technologies team by introducing a group of specialists: Szymon Ciach (Senior Associate), Piotr Kaniewski (Senior Associate), Piotr Gałka (Counsel), and Łukasz Węgrzyn (Partner).

2020 has been marked by dynamic developments in the new technology market. The pandemic has accelerated digitalisation of economic activity with employers investing in remote working systems and implementing state-of-the-art procedures. Companies are migrating to the cloud and seeking applications for artificial intelligence in management and sales development. However, the law is not always able to keep up with these changes, there are no adequate regulations and businesses often fail to understand the related requirements and mechanisms. It is thus becoming increasingly essential for company legal counsels to be integrated into teams that understand the needs of business and new technologies.

Kochański & Partners has been experiencing this trend for many years and perfectly understand the needs of today’s market. As an employer in the advisory services market, the Firm has based its development strategy on the digitalisation of legal services, by using digital technologies and processing data both in providing services to its clients and managing its own organisation.

The Firm’s experts contribute to the creation of cloud regulations in close cooperation with the Polish Bank Association and global business leaders – Microsoft, Google and Accenture.

To reflect the new technological ecosystem, from 1 November 2020, Kochański & Partners have consolidated their Technologies team by introducing a group of specialists: Szymon Ciach (Senior Associate), Piotr Kaniewski (Senior Associate), Piotr Gałka (Counsel), and Łukasz Węgrzyn (Partner).

This consolidation reflects the continuous development of the expertise of the Technologies team, blending business legal advisors and sector consultants, enabling them to predict and  respond to current market needs.

“Cloud solutions and artificial intelligence became the basis of our development strategy a few years ago. Today, it is clear that we have become part of modern market trends in the second decade of Industry 4.0. A natural consequence of the development of our law firm is the joining of Łukasz Węgrzyn as a Partner. Our Technologies team has been strengthened. We are delighted that Kochański & Partners has been joined by the foremost Polish specialists in the new technologies sector”, says Piotr Kochański, Founder and Senior Managing Partner at Kochański & Partners.

Among the leading law firms in Poland, it is the Technologies practice at Kochański & Partners that will probably be the largest team specialising in the modern technologies and digitalisation sector. The Firm’s team now includes lawyers with expert knowledge in various areas of new technologies, including cloud computing, blockchain or legal aspects of artificial intelligence.

“We have built a team able to provide comprehensive legal services covering all aspects of the  Technology, Media and Telecommunications (TMT) sector. Today, clients expect up-to-date solutions to optimise and automate their business processes. We meet their needs by offering our knowledge, experience and tools tailored to the specific nature of their business on the market”, Piotr Kochański added.

“From our perspective, this is an opportunity to build and operate a team based on the three pillars of today’s IT legal advice, namely: data, compliance & regulatory and relations with IT suppliers. In addition, Kochański & Partners’ expertise in the financial sector, demonstrated, among others, by co-authoring the “Polish Cloud” standard, gives us the opportunity to further strengthen our position in the area of financial technologies, which is one of the key sectors within new technology”, says Łukasz Węgrzyn, Partner and Head of Technologies.

Łukasz Węgrzyn, heading up the Technologies Practice, has extensive experience in advising organisations on digital transformation processes, in particular the creation of a legal ecosystem allowing for effective cooperation with IT service providers. He specialises in the legal aspects of cloud services and IT service outsourcing. Łukasz is a lawyer recognised in the prestigious Chambers FinTech, Chambers Europe and Legal 500 EMEA rankings as one of Poland’s best financial technology and TMT experts. He is a member of the New Technologies and Personal Data Protection Law Institute at Lazarski University, and a member of the New Technologies Law Association. Łukasz also holds the ITIL Foundation, PSMI (Professional Scrum Master), AgilePM Foundation, and Professional Agile Leadership I certifications.

Piotr Gałka specialises in new technologies law and transformation processes. He advises on investments including blockchain financing, and supports clients in building strategies and business models for innovative projects. Prior to joining Kochański & Partners, Piotr worked in the TMT Department of SSW Pragmatic Solutions, as an in-house lawyer in the Inovo VC fund and mBank’s investment house, and for DZP and Maruta Wachta law firms.

Piotr Kaniewski is an expert in technology-related transactions. He specialises in designing and negotiating IT contracts, in particular those involving Agile and DevOps. He advises on building agile contract and purchasing models and implementing IT solutions based on cloud computing, AI and robotic process automation (RPA).

Szymon Ciach advises on the implementation of IT projects and innovative digital solutions, in addition to preparing and negotiating IT contracts relating to e.g. implementation projects, cloud services, software licenses, as well as IT system maintenance and development contracts. He also supports financial institutions in the field of outsourcing regulations, in particular in connection with the use of cloud services. Szymon specialises in blockchain technology, advising financial entities on the implementation of blockchain solutions. He has co-authored numerous publications on the business and legal aspects of blockchain technology.