The date of 15 February reminds us of a special event that took place exactly 17 years ago, namely the establishment of the Court of Arbitration at the Lewiatan Confederation, of which we were co-founders.
Thanks to the Lewiatan Court of Arbitration, resolving business disputes has become faster, easier and less costly. As many as seven lawyers from our Firm have had the title of arbitrator of this Court, namely: Marcin Boruc, Sylwester Pieckowski, Włodzimierz Radzikowski, Dorota Szubielska, Gabriel Wujek, Tomasz Zbiegień and Adam Zwierzyński.
On the occasion of the anniversary, Sylwester Pieckowski, who was the Court’s First Vice-President in the year of its establishment, shared with us his reflections on the beginnings of this unique institution.
Enjoy the reading.
In 2005, I sent to Ms Henryka Bochniarz an analytical paper on the potential for the development of arbitration in Poland. I stressed that it would be very advisable to create a new permanent court of arbitration at the Polish Confederation of Private Employers Lewiatan, which would resolve business disputes arising between domestic and international entities. The initiative was accepted and so it entered the Confederation’s action plan.
By resolution of the Confederation’s Board, a team of twenty experts was formed under my leadership. Those who participated in the team’s work were, among others, prof. Andrzej Szumański, dr hab. Tadeusz Szurski, dr Andrzej Tynel, dr Maciej Tomaszewski and dr Andrzej W. Wiśniewski.
We worked on the design of the organisation and its structure. The main challenge was the rules of the new institution, which we based on the best international standards resulting from the 1985 Uncitral Model Law and the rules of leading arbitration courts, above all the ICC (International Chamber of Commerce) in Paris. Other lawyers from our Firm, namely Tomasz Zbiegień and Marcin Boruc, also played an active role in creating the rules.
The work was completed successfully and by resolution of the Extraordinary General Meeting of the Confederation of 15 February 2005 the Court of Arbitration was established. The Court was given its rules and its governing bodies were appointed. Prof. Andrzej Szumański was appointed the President of the Court, and advocate Sylwester Pieckowski was appointed the First Vice-President.
At present, the Lewiatan Court of Arbitration is, alongside the Court of Arbitration at the Polish Chamber of Commerce, the leading arbitration institution in Poland and in the region. It enjoys a well-deserved reputation among business people, arbitration experts and members of the international arbitration community.
Currently, the following persons from the Firm are arbitrators at the Court: Marcin Boruc, Sylwester Pieckowski, Włodzimierz Radzikowski, Dorota Szubielska, Gabriel Wujek, Tomasz Zbiegień and Adam Zwierzyński.
