Barristers from England and Wales are meeting Polish advocates in Warsaw today (15 May) to exchange experiences in conducting cross-border criminal and family cases at an English-Polish Law Day. 

The conference will consider issues including the pursuit of criminal and family claims, the use of the European Arrest Warrant, the division of marital assets, and the divorce-related circumstances of children. The conference is being organised by the Warsaw Bar Association, the Polish Bar Foundation and the Bar Council of England and Wales. 

Advocate Mikołaj Pietrzak, Dean of the Warsaw Bar Association, explained: "We find meetings with our advocate colleagues from other jurisdictions to be very important and valuable. Many advocates of our Bar Association represent clients in cross-border cases. Effective international cooperation between lawyers is indispensable in these types of cases. Joint events such as this between representatives of both bars allow significant contacts to be established and experiences to be exchanged. We intend to organise meetings like this regularly and hope that the legal community will find them worthwhile."  

Andrew Langdon QC, Chair of the Bar of England and Wales, said: "Co-operation between our Bars is crucial given the strong economic and personal links between our two countries, which generates a significant amount of cross-border legal work. It would be difficult to conduct these often complex cases in a professional manner, without significant cooperation between advocates from both jurisdictions. Such cooperation is stimulating and of itself rewarding because it involves looking at a mutual problems from differing legal perspectives which may open up a range of potential solutions. Barristers of England and Wales, as self-employed consultants in English law and dispute resolution are uniquely well placed to cooperate with Polish law firms in these matters. We are pleased to be able to meet our counterparts in Warsaw this year and we hope to be  able to meet again in London next year." 

During the conference, panellists will discuss current frameworks for mutual co-operation in criminal and family cases and possible solutions for cooperation after the United Kingdom's exit from the EU. 

Advocate Łukasz Lasek, member of the Organisation Committee, said: "Although judicial cooperation in family matters is largely based on uniform European instruments, significant practical differences still remain between jurisdictions. Brexit and the United Kingdom's planned withdrawal from EU systems of cooperation might also bring many changes. Various scenarios are possible and this might have a fundamental impact on the effectiveness of mutual co-operation." 

Further details about the conference are available here

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Further information is available from the Bar Council Press Office on 020 7222 2525 and [email protected]

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The General Council of the Bar is the Approved Regulator of the Bar of England and Wales. It discharges its regulatory functions through the independent Bar Standards Board