Law Office

Marek Czernis & Co. Law Office has been continuously operating on the legal services market since 1995. From the very beginning, the firm has focused on providing highly specialised legal services to entities engaged in both domestic and international business activities. The foundations of our practice are deep professional expertise, an individual approach to each client, a thorough understanding of commercial realities and the ability to respond quickly and effectively to the changing needs of business.

The founder and Managing Partner of the Law Office is Marek Czernis, Attorney-at-Law, one of Poland’s most recognised practitioners in maritime law and international business transactions. Marek Czernis is a member of the Maritime Law Commission of the Polish Academy of Sciences (Gdańsk Branch), a long-standing member of successive Maritime Law Codification Commissions, a contributor to legislative reforms of modern Polish maritime law and one of the initiators of the reactivation of the Polish Maritime Law Association. Over the years, he has also cooperated with numerous national and international organisations involved in shipping, international trade and commercial law, including the International Maritime Organization (IMO), BIMCO, the Comité Maritime International (CMI), the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) and the United Nations Commission on International Trade Law (UNCITRAL).

Over more than three decades of continuous activity on both domestic and international markets, the Law Office has participated in numerous strategic commercial, infrastructure and investment projects carried out throughout Europe, North America, Asia, Africa and the Middle East. The aggregate value of transactions, investment projects and commercial disputes handled with the involvement of the Law Office amounts to several billions of US dollars. Experience gained through complex cross-border projects enables us to support our clients effectively at every stage of their undertakings – from project planning, contract negotiations and financing structures to project execution and dispute resolution.

Our team consists of attorneys-at-law, trainee attorneys and specialised consultants with extensive experience in advising businesses operating in domestic and international markets. The team’s capabilities are further strengthened by a well-established network of cooperating law firms, industry experts, tax advisers, financial consultants and technical specialists located in more than fifty jurisdictions worldwide. This international network allows us to organise and coordinate multi-jurisdictional legal projects and to provide clients with seamless legal support across virtually all major commercial centres around the world.

The Law Office provides comprehensive legal services to both domestic and international clients, offering specialist assistance in virtually all aspects of domestic and international business and commercial law. A particular area of expertise is maritime, shipping, transport and port law, including carriage of goods by sea and multimodal transport, charterparties, shipbuilding and ship sale transactions, vessel financing, carrier liability issues, general average, marine casualties, salvage, ship arrest proceedings and international claims recovery.

For many years, the Law Office has also been actively involved in advising on major infrastructure and energy projects in Poland and throughout Europe. Particular expertise has been developed in the offshore sector, offshore wind projects, port infrastructure developments, LNG terminals, gas and energy projects, as well as investments connected with energy transition and the enhancement of energy security within the Baltic Sea region.

An equally important area of practice is financial and banking law, including international project finance, syndicated lending, ship and infrastructure financing, debt restructuring, security arrangements, corporate transactions and international holding structures. The Law Office also possesses extensive experience in insurance and reinsurance law, with particular emphasis on the London insurance and reinsurance market, including Lloyd’s, and international insurance programmes used in the maritime, energy and industrial sectors.

An integral part of the Law Office’s activities is the representation of clients before state courts, administrative authorities and domestic and international arbitration tribunals. The firm has substantial experience in disputes governed by English, German, Scandinavian and United States law and has cooperated for many years with leading litigation and arbitration firms worldwide. We regularly represent clients in proceedings before maritime and commercial arbitration tribunals in London, Hamburg, Paris, Stockholm, New York and other internationally recognised arbitration centres.

More than thirty years of uninterrupted presence in the domestic and international legal services market, participation in major commercial projects and involvement in complex litigation and arbitration proceedings have enabled the Law Office to develop a level of experience and a network of professional relationships that is unique within the Polish legal market. Today, this constitutes the foundation of our ability to provide effective and commercially focused legal advice to businesses, financial institutions, shipowners, shipyards, port operators, infrastructure investors and energy-sector entities operating in an international environment.

Our objective is not merely to solve legal problems but to create secure and effective legal frameworks that enable our clients to achieve their commercial ambitions and strategic business goals. We believe that effective legal advice extends beyond the interpretation of legal rules and requires a thorough understanding of our clients’ commercial objectives, the industries in which they operate and the economic and geopolitical factors influencing their projects. This philosophy has remained the cornerstone of Marek Czernis & Co. Law Office for more than three decades.