New York State Bar Association Strengthens Ties With Three Polish Bar Organizations
3.29.2023
The New York State Bar Association entered into a memorandum of understanding with the Polish Bar Council and two bar associations in Warsaw during a ceremony in Poland today.
The agreement provides a framework for the three legal associations to promote discourse between attorneys in both countries. Topics to be addressed include international legal issues pertaining to trade, international business transactions, commercial disputes, human rights, and the transnational delivery of legal services.
“In the past year, our International Section and its Ukraine Task Force have worked closely with many members in this region to help those in both Ukraine and Poland during this war of Russian aggression,” said Sherry Levin Wallach, president of the New York State Bar Association. “Today we stand alongside you as we continue to fight for justice and the rule of law.”
Wojciech Bagiński, chairman of the Foreign Commission of the Polish Bar Council; Mikołaj Pietrzak, dean of the Warsaw Bar Association; Joanna Iwanicka, chair of the Warsaw Bar Association Izba Adwokacka w Warszawie and Monika Całkiewicz, dean of the Warsaw Bar Association Okręgowa Izba Radców Prawnych W Warszawie, attended the ceremony.
Pietrzak said the agreement held great meaning for his organization.
“The war [in Ukraine] perhaps brought to light how very common our shared values are. Regardless of the different procedural regimes we may experience, we all ultimately serve the same values, human dignity, rights, and freedoms. As work for lawyers becomes more and more international, we find more in common, then differences between our legal profession,” he said.
They were joined by NYSBA International Section Chair Azish Filabi and many NYSBA members from New York who are attending a Spring Conference in Warsaw this week.
“I have reached out to bar associations large and small, across the state of New York, across the country and the territories, and around the world to offer our friendship and to forge these important alliances. The goals are many, but the overarching theme of our affiliations is to protect and defend the rule of law, access to justice, and to ensure that the law is applied equally and fairly to all while fostering diversity, equity and inclusion in our profession,” added Levin Wallach.
The New York State Bar Association has signed more than a dozen memoranda with bar associations during Levin Wallach’s presidential tenure.
About the New York State Bar Association
The New York State Bar Association is the largest voluntary state bar association in the nation. Since 1876, NYSBA has helped shape the development of law, educated and informed the legal profession and the public, and championed the rights of New Yorkers through advocacy and guidance in our communities.
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