JDP Drapala & Partners

Since its establishment in 2005 JDP Drapała & Partners has been providing effective legal solutions to domestic and international clients – in particular companies operating in sectors such as: construction, infrastructure, real estate, new technologies, production, transport, services, but also banks and investment funds.

With 8 partners and 80 other lawyers, JDP advises in complex commercial transactions and in the day-to-day operations of medium-sized and large enterprises. A significant part of services is representation in court and arbitration proceedings, as well as tax consultancy and advice in the field of labour law.

Having one of the largest litigation and arbitration practice teams, and infrastructure department on the Polish market (larger than the departments of international law firms), JDP is a Polish leading law firm specialising in legal advice and legal representation regarding large construction and infrastructure projects, including in particular projects in the area of railways, roads, bridges, power facilities, transmission networks and public and industrial facilities.

In the above mentioned areas JDP has won many precedent-setting and ground-breaking judgments influencing the entire industry, paving the way for introducing system solutions that can improve the market situation and facilitate cooperation between employers and contractors.

JDP is highly recognised on the market for its well-established German Desk, offering advice in German in all areas of economic law for the largest international concerns, especially in the area of DACH (Germany, Austria, Switzerland). JDP also offers advice in Italian and French. As a result, JDP is also often chosen as a go-to adviser for a large number of top-tier foreign law firms that do not have their own offices in Poland.

For several years, JDP’s clients’ recognition has been reflected in high positions in international rankings, such as Chambers and Partners, The Legal 500.

JDP regularly wins accolades in: Construction; Dispute Resolution; Arbitration; Public Procurement; Real Estate; Commercial, Corporate & M&A.

Practice areas
Litigation and arbitration: JDP has a strong reputation in representing Polish and foreign entities in proceedings before common courts as well as in both domestic and international arbitration (the Polish Chamber of Commerce, Lewiatan, ICC, VIAC, DIS, UNCITRAL). Clients value especially JDP’s vast experience and efficiency in litigating or arbitrating complex cases concerning construction and infrastructure investment projects. In this area, JDP has handled about a dozen precedent-setting cases (including before the Supreme Court), often contributing to the formation of the Polish case law.

Infrastructure and construction industry: JDP is one of the leading law firms on the Polish legal market in providing legal advice to general contractors, subcontractors, investors and design companies implementing complex construction and infrastructure investment projects (roads, engineering, large-scale projects, power engineering, public utility facilities, sports facilities, industrial facilities). For over 17 years JDP has been advising its clients on the largest infrastructure and construction investment projects in Poland and representing parties in related court and arbitration proceedings. In terms of Construction/Construction disputes category, JDP and Prof. Przemysław Drapała have been placed in Top Tier in The Legal 500 EMEA since 2018.

Public procurement: JDP is highly experienced in providing legal advice to Polish and foreign entities at all stages of public procurement procedure (both regular and sectoral), in particular with regard to infrastructure, energy and services sectors, and represents its clients in proceedings before the National Appeals Chamber. In several cases complaints filed by JDP with common courts against judgments issued by the National Appeals Chamber have led to precedent-setting rulings.

Transactions M&A and corporate law: JDP provides comprehensive support in commercial transactions, including advice on cross-border aspects of commercial law, in particular acquiring (M&A) and restructuring capital companies, as well as ongoing support to commercial companies. JDP’s transaction and contract counselling team is best known for its ability to provide legal and tax support in short time and in business-oriented way, at the same time ensuring comfort of legal and tax security, even in the most complex legal cases. Due to JDP’s in-depth knowledge and extensive experience gathered for plenty of years, the team is in position to provide legal and tax advice to the biggest corporate groups and conglomerates operating within different sectors of business, including in particular global automotive, transport & logistics, real estate, construction and FMCG markets.

Real estate: JDP provides legal advice on all types of projects relating to trading in and financing real estate transactions at a national and cross-border scale. The real estate team has significant experience in advising top international brands from all over the world in their ever-increasing number of real estate deals in Poland, in particular industrial giants who invest in expanding their production facilities in Poland. The clients include: building owners and managers, property developers and construction companies.

Contracts (commercial): JDP combines expertise with business expectations while providing legal security to clients, particularly with regard to situations that no one expected at the time of concluding the contract. That is why JDP specialises in preparing complex “tailor-made” contracts and supports clients taking into account their individual situation. Working closely with foreign law firm partners, JDP carries out projects extending beyond the Polish jurisdiction, providing clients with comprehensive services for their cross-border ventures.

Employment practice: JDP supports its clients with respect to individual and collective labour law matters, both from a domestic and cross-border perspective. JDP provides ongoing legal services to HR departments and managerial staff, advises clients on selecting the right form of cooperation with employees, drafts necessary employment-related documents, draws up rules and regulations and internal policies, develops effective salary and incentive schemes. Thanks to close cooperation between lawyers from various fields, in particular personal data protection, and tax advisers, JDP offers optimised solutions, taking into account all aspects of contractual parties’ interests.

Personal data protection: JDP supports clients in the implementation of data protection projects and of the GDPR. This applies in particular to mobile applications, websites, software and other personal data processing technologies used in business. JDP advises clients on services and marketing activities using new technologies and other projects that require the collection of information about users, clients, employees (e.g. in connected cars or monitoring systems), also when international transfers are involved. JDP supports clients in regulating data processing within groups of companies. The team has experience in auditing already implemented projects and entire companies for compliance with data protection regulations, also in terms of industry requirements.

Taxes: JDP’s tax law team is a group of tax advisers with over twenty years of experience in their specialisation. The team provides tax advisory services to domestic and foreign entrepreneurs with respect to tax settlements related to current business activities, as well as transactions and restructuring processes, taking into account international tax law. JDP experts also represent taxpayers before tax authorities and tax inspection authorities at all stages of the proceedings and in court and administrative proceedings. Clients receive tax support regarding investments, including those related to real estate, capital concentration processes, divisions and transformations of companies, as well as transfer prices.

Compliance: We advise businesses that already have a compliance system in place and those that want to implement such system or its elements in their companies. We assist our clients in all stages of devising a compliance system, including risk management, procedures development, training sessions and information campaigns, internal investigations and public authorities inspections. Our services also include auditing compliance systems as part of a review and improvement process. Our teams are aware of how important compliance is and how it should be developed and adjusted to a given company to be effective. Therefore, depending on what the client needs, we also focus on selected areas, using the expertise of our lawyers and advisers across various fields.

Corporate and commercial disputes: Our experienced team represents domestic and international clients in all types of corporate and commercial disputes. The team comprises both litigators and lawyers with extensive experience in handling corporate matters, M&A and international projects. Our expertise includes, but is not limited to, registration procedures, proceedings regarding corporate bodies’ resolutions and shareholder rights. We also provide advice in matters concerning the liability of corporate-body members. Our services in the area of commercial disputes concern in particular transactional and post-transactional (post-M&A) disputes, in which we successfully represent our clients.

IP/IT/advertising and media law: The primary focus of our IP/IT/Advertising and Media Law Practice is to legally secure intellectual property which, in the changing reality, is inherent to each business. We create legal frameworks for the online presence, including drafting legal documentation for electronic services such as apps, online portals and other new technology products. Our experts support entities from the IT and new technologies sectors by:

• choosing an appropriate legal model for their businesses,
• reviewing contracts, including contracts on software implementation,
• drafting service agreements and agreements on IT infrastructure support.

We have extensive expertise in providing legal advice to the marketing and advertising industries, regarding in particular:

• protecting creative concepts,
• design agreements,
• agreements with subcontractors,
• securing IP rights arising during advertising campaigns.

White-collar crime: We provide comprehensive legal advice on criminal matters, tax offences and white-collar crimes. We act for our clients as a defence counsel, counsel to an aggrieved party and auxiliary prosecutor. Our services span legal support in internal investigations through to devising internal regulations to limit the risk of violations. We provide day-to-day legal assistance to entities subject to the regulations on combating money laundering and terrorism financing; we carry out legal audits, design procedures and assess risk in light of domestic and EU legislation. The results that we deliver to our clients come from the combination of legal inputs from all our teams.

Energy and renewables: We advise Polish and foreign clients on energy issues with a particular focus on renewables. We provide legal services for investments in the energy infrastructure, including among others: conventional and renewable energy sources, transmission and distribution grids, energy storage. Our team conduct legal and tax due diligence checks for purposes of acquiring, or financing the acquisition of, and performing RES projects in Poland. We assist energy companies with fulfilling their regulatory obligations (concessions, permits, registrations, disputes over grid connections, tariffs).

Competition and consumer protection: We have extensive experience in advising Polish and foreign entities on all aspects of Polish and EU provisions regarding competition and consumer protection. We have a strategic approach and deliver practical and unconventional solutions that help our clients achieve their business goals in compliance with law. With the support of reputable foreign law firms, we are in a position to provide our clients with full-service legal advice on competition law and consumer protection all over the world.