Interview with attorney Andrzej Malicki – “Business Icons 2015”

Mr. Attorney, you founded the company in 1992, but you’ve previously worked in the profession.

Until 1983 I worked as an assistant at the University of Wrocław, where I taught law, population geography, demography and family law. At the beginning of 1980, I started to work as a lawyer. These were the times of lawyer teams. Interestingly, the Russians really wanted them to be state bar associations. But fortunately, there has always been an element of privacy in our profession. So there was an element of entrusting the case by the client.

Lawyers in the 1980s …

… they usually lived well. Some were very rich, but those who were moderately wealthy or with lower income lived on a good level. This also conditioned a certain level of ethics and a certain dignity of advocates. But also entrepreneurship – we have always lived on our own account. Well, the change in the system, the act on business, reminded the age-old question: who is an attorney – is he an entrepreneur or an attorney has a mission? It is definitely a profession of public trust according to art. 17 of the Constitution of the Republic of Poland. If the lawyer is to have a mission, it means that he has the right to act for free, that he has the right to act on official rates, whether he wants or does not want – he must. This is an element of missionaryity. But also at contractual rates, so that he can maintain the office so he can keep employees and himself.

In the end, you set up a company.

Now you can ask the question, why did I want the company? Four lawyers were sitting in the lawyer’s room in a small room. How could someone entrust delicate family matters, criminal, economic cases to lawyers, when the room was crowded and everyone heard everything? That’s why I really wanted to have my own room – to create decent conditions for the profession of public trust. In order for the client that he could sit down and know that no one eavesdrops on him. After all, the hallmark of the bar is mystery and intimacy. These are the characteristics of the profession.

Establishing a business was necessary for a better, more transparent profession.

Do you remember the first customer?

Perfectly. It was Maciej Kapelczak, the owner of Panda. Acquiring me through him was strange. At that time, I was active in the Sparta Wroclaw speedway club. As every sports club, no matter what, he did not have the money. I came to Mr. Kapelczak to ask for financial support. It was before the denomination. We needed two million zlotys to go to Krosno. Panda was a chain of stores with alcohol, kiosks, and bread sales. It all gave big money. At the meeting, the owner of “Panda” said “There is 10 million under this chair to take it” I took this money. In about 10 days Maciej Kapelczak called the club and asked: “Did Mr. Malicki pay something to the club”? She replied: “There are 10 million paid seven days ago.” Kapelczak demanded that I appear before him. I went and heard: “Because you have been honest and everyone is robbing me, you will be my advocate and adviser.”

My other great client was “Pafawag”. From 1994 to the present, the Malicki and Partners attorneys’ company has been providing legal services to a greater or lesser extent. Management boards change, names change, owners change, and my office is still there.

Did you want to deal with politics, like your former partner, Robert Rossa?

No … On the other hand, it happened that I was very close to politics. I helped just attorney Henryk Rossa in the election campaign. I am, for years, a speaker on Sparta Wroclaw speedway matches. I announce the race via microphone and give their cast. At the beginning of the 90s I asked the fans: “Do you believe me?” They answered loudly: “Yes.” I believe Henryk Rossa so you shall also trust him. ” At that time, there was no pre-election silence and he won the Senate election with 1500 votes.

Please describe the court case that you have remembered the most.

It’s so … My client was accused of driving a polish transport car “Żuk”- hit the passer-by and caused his death. The judge, who was judged seriously and judged most cases of road accidents in Wrocław, asked the accused at the very beginning of the trial whether he had a driving license. He said he has. And the judge said that he will not have it anymore. You can not anticipate the verdict, it practically should turn off the judge, because he revealed the position in the case. However, as a young lawyer, I preferred not to upset the court. My client did not plead guilty. He explained that he did not cause death, explained that the deceased was lying on the roadway, he did not see him, he did not have a reflective vest and therefore he rode over him … An expert was appointed, who said: “I do not rule out multiple rides by other vehicles”. Of course, every ride on corpses is inelegant and is an offense. But it has become obsolete. An acquittal was issued, it was my success.

I remember in one of the cases on which the film was made, which I co-authored with Wiesław Saniewski – “Immensity of Justice”, where the prosecutor demanded a penalty of 15 years imprisonment in the circumstances of the victim’s pregnancy, strangling, sinking, beating against the perpetrator of the accused director. … I was sitting next to this prosecutor. I said – I do not understand. If there are any doubts, ask the prosecutor for an acquittal. But if there is no doubt, then lifesentence should be demanded.

Your hobby?

Sailing. I am a sailing instructor and a yacht helmsman. I am also a licensed announcer of speedway competitions. A man says that I perform masses at the stadium. But he always liked the mass, I believe that most fans also.

I am also a lecturer. I teach sports law at the University of Lower Silesia and medical law at the Faculty of Law, Administration and Economics at the University of Wrocław as part of a postgraduate study. I conduct classes with advocate trainees. I try to publish a lot, I am a member of the Supreme Bar Council, I retain activity in the local bar association. I performed all the functions from a board member through a 12-year training manager, Vice-Dean and dean. I expanded the headquarters of our bar making it modern.