Eligiusz Krześniak is the managing partner of our Warsaw office and professor and chair of the Commercial Law Faculty at the Lazarski University in Warsaw, where he teaches business law and arbitration. His practice focuses mainly on arbitration and regulated sectors, including some of the largest projects in those areas in the recent years in Poland.

Recommended in 2025 Chambers Global and 2025 Chambers Europe in the Arbitrators category, as well as in Legal 500 EMEA 2024 and 2024 Lexology (formerly Who’s Who Legal) in the Dispute Resolution, Energy & Natural Resources, Technology, Media & Telecommunications and Sports & Gaming categories. Client feedback confirms he is a “top-notch expert and leader.” He is also praised for being “dedicated to each task’, ‘commercially orientated, versatile and always available.”

Eligiusz has been elected, twice, to the position of the president of the Polish Arbitration Association by its peers – leading arbitration practitioners in Poland – and has been leading the association for the past seven years.

He has resolved over 50 international arbitration cases, with more than half of them as president of the Panel. He is listed among recommended arbitrators by the leading Polish and international arbitration institutions and has represented numerous clients in national and international arbitration proceedings.

In the past he served as the deputy chairman of the seven-person Supervisory Board of PKO BP, the largest Polish state-controlled bank with over 25,000 employees, and as a member of the nine-person supervisory board of PZU S.A., the largest Polish state-controlled insurance group with close to 40,000 employees. He was also the chairman of the Supervisory Board of Alior Bank, another leading Polish bank, listed on the Warsaw stock exchange.

He is the author of over ten books and over 100 articles, published in leading peer-reviewed journals on legal topics.

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Dispute Resolution and Arbitration

  • Lead counsel for several international investors, including such global leaders as Acciona S.A. from Spain and Invenergy Inc. from the US, in over 20 successful disputes before various Polish courts with the largest Polish state-owned energy companies over unlawful, premature termination of long-term contracts.
  • Lead counsel for Hargreaves Raw Material Services GmbH in an 2024 LCIA arbitration seated in London, securing an award for over 90% of a US$10 million claim related to the delivery and quality of ROM coal from South America, and subsequently obtaining recognition and enforcement of the award in Poland.
  • Lead counsel for China National Electric Engineering Co. Ltd., a major Chinese energy construction firm, in public procurement proceedings and in disputes over the construction of two power stations of the capacity of 1,000MW and 910MW, worth US$1.7 billion and US$1.3 billion, respectively.
  • Lead counsel for a major Polish renewable energy developer in court proceedings with the claim value exceeding €75 million over the construction and grid connection of one of the largest Polish wind farms.
  • Lead counsel for an insurer of one of the largest European food and beverages manufacturers in a multijurisdictional damages case that combines insurance and bankruptcy legal issues.
  • Lead counsel in Polish History Museum v. Le Moyne College in the successful settlement talks over the repatriation of priceless artworks located in the US since Word War II.
  • Representing the client in an international arbitration against the Polish State Treasury with respect to the performance of an offset contract related to a defense contract.
  • Lead counsel for a major Polish renewable energy developer in court proceedings related to the EU funding of several biogas projects throughout Poland. The engagement included representation at all stages of administrative and court proceedings, including before the Supreme Administrative Court, and resulted in obtaining high-level rulings of key significance to the practice of distribution of EU funds for similar projects.

Technology, Media and Telecom (TMT)

  • Advising a world leader in global mobile satellite communications on a pioneering project related to the launch of the world’s first integrated satellite and air to ground connectivity network.
  • Advising one of the world’s recognized telecommunications companies on all aspects of the telecommunications market in Poland, in particular, on regulatory matters in connection with the rollout of the 5G network in Poland.
  • Lead counsel for a major Polish software company, in multimillion-dollar settlement talks with a market leader over an alleged breach of its intellectual property (IP) rights.
  • Assisting a blockchain technology company, focused on compliance as a service, with a legal analysis of a process crucial to the operation of its most important product, i.e., the anti-money laundering (AML) Platform.
  • Lead counsel for T-Mobile Polska S.A. on a strategic partnership with one of the Polish banks to offer multichannel access to a wide range of banking products and services to over 15 million of the operator’s customers in Poland.
  • Lead counsel for T-Mobile Polska S.A. in all-embracing negotiations to set up a joint venture “Everything Everywhere” with its competitor Orange Polska S.A. The negotiations resulted in setting up the Networks! Sp. z o.o. responsible for constructing telecommunications infrastructure shared by both operators and in a series of radio access network (RAN) agreements by Orange and T-Mobile; the transaction is an example of one of the few Radio Access Network Sharing projects in the world.
  • Lead counsel for several Poland-based operators in numerous transactions and projects concerning mobile virtual network operators (MVNOs) and mobile television in digital video broadcasting – handheld (DVB-H) standards.
  • Lead counsel for Telewizja Polska S.A., the Polish national television broadcaster in arbitration proceedings in Poland and in judicial proceedings in the US, with the claim value exceeding US$50 million, in a dispute with a licensee.

Energy

  • Lead counsel for numerous international and domestic investors operating in the energy sector on corporate, regulatory and construction matters at various stages of development.
  • Advising a group of Invenergy LLC subsidiaries and major Polish renewable energy developers in relation to one of the largest financing packages on the Polish market.
  • Advising a group of Invenergy LLC subsidiaries and major Polish renewable energy developers in relation to obtaining the interconnection to the national electricity grid of a 250MW group of wind farms to be located in northern Poland.

Education

  • University of Wroclaw, Dr. Hab., 2017
  • University of Wroclaw, Ph.D., 2002
  • University of Wroclaw, LL.M., 1998
  • Rheinische Friedrich-Wilhelms-Universität Bonn , 1997
  • State University of North Carolina, 1996
  • Philips Universität Marburg, 1994

Admissions

  • Warsaw Bar Association, 2002

Languages

  • English
  • German
  • Polish
  • Recognized in Chambers Global 2025 for Arbitration
  • Recognized in Chambers Europe 2025 for Arbitrators
  • Recommended in Legal 500 EMEA 2024 for Dispute Resolution
  • Recommended in Legal 500 EMEA 2015-2024 for Technology, Media & Telecommunications
  • Recommended in Legal 500 EMEA 2015-2024 for Energy & Natural Resources
  • Recognized by Chambers Europe 2013-2019 for Technology, Media & Telecommunications
  • Recognized by Lexology (formerly Who’s Who Legal) in Technology, Media & Telecommunications and Sports & Gaming
  • Won best Polish lawyer in Technology, Media & Telecommunications according to Rzeczpospolita daily in 2013 and 2014
  • Recommended for best Polish lawyer in Technology, Media & Telecommunications according to Rzeczpospolita daily in 2023

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