A&O Shearman supports businesses and financial institutions with the entire range of restructuring, bankruptcy and insolvency mandates, including legal, litigious and transactional matters. Specifically, cross-border debt restructuring transactions are a key area of activity, and the department often acts for creditors and foreign investors concerning distressed M&A. The practice is also notable in both out-of-court and in-court restructuring and insolvency proceedings. Practice head Bartosz Merczyński boasts notable expertise in contentious restructuring mandates, while managing partner Arkadiusz Pędzich is skilled in distressed financing work.

Miłosz Gołąb, as a member of the firm’s global financial markets group, and Bartosz Krużewski, a part of the firm’s litigation and arbitration team, jointly sit at the helm of the esteemed restructuring and insolvency group at Clifford Chance, Janicka, Kruzewski, Stosio i wspólnicy spólka komandytowa. Gołąb focuses predominantly on debt restructurings, while Krużewski boasts knowledge in bankruptcy proceedings. The department’s client bases consists of Polish and international banks, bondholders and trustees, insurance companies, companies undergoing restructurings and investors of distressed assets.

Dentons is lauded as ‘meticulous and highly skilled in the bankruptcy and restructuring industry’. This offering includes assistance with insolvency-related disputes, and its client base encompasses financial institutions as well as companies from the infrastructure, automotive and transportation, manufacturing and energy, retail, FMCG, agriculture and TMT industries. With an international client base, the team is very well placed to advise clients on their cross-border mandates. Department leader and co-managing partner Anna Pukszto also heads up the litigation and arbitration team, and she is experienced in distressed asset acquisitions. Tomasz Trocki is another key name as lead of the firm’s consensual restructuring practice. In team news, Stanisław Sołtysik was promoted to the partnership in April 2024.

Praised for her ‘vast knowledge’, licensed restructuring advisor Magdalena Pyzik-Walag leads the ‘outstanding’ team at Rymarz Zdort Maruta. Domestic and cross-border restructuring and insolvency proceedings are areas of expertise for the team, which composes lawyers with knowledge of M&A, private equity, capital markets, tax, corporate, litigation and banking and finance law. Specifically, the group is notably adept at handling restructuring matters that involve a large numbers of creditors, restructuring capital groups and credit extensions. Other areas of activity include in and out-of-court restructuring proceedings, liquidation bankruptcy matters, and distressed M&A transactions, as well as financial institution restructurings. In team news, Mateusz Palian joined the firm from Tatara & Partners Restructuring & Insolvency Law Firm in February 2024.

Tatara & Partners Restructuring & Insolvency Law Firm ‘is highly regarded in the market’ as ‘a boutique law firm, specialising in restructuring and insolvency law’. Areas of expertise for the group include pre-pack transactions and quick and simplified restructurings, and the practice has particular strength in arrangement approval proceedings. Founding and ‘stand-out partner’ Karol Tatara is a key name to note, as are Maciej Knopek and Tadeusz Grzesiak, all of whom are restructuring advisors. For Anna Czarnota, directors and officers liability issues are areas of expertise. Mateusz Palian joined Rymarz Zdort Maruta in February 2024.

Wardynski & Partners boasts a multi-disciplinary group of lawyers with strong capabilities in advising on large-scale in-court restructuring proceedings, insolvency mandates and bankruptcy-related matters on a domestic and cross-border scale, especially across the EU with the involvement of foreign insolvency office holders. In particular, the team is active in debt and corporate restructurings, as well as transactions involving distressed assets and debt. Its client roster encompasses both debtors and creditors, including banks and financial institutions across Poland. Konrad Grotowski spearheads the team, and he is notable for his expertise in complex disputes. Other key members of the practice include the ‘hands-on‘ Łukasz Szegda, who is skilled in out-of-court restructurings, and Mateusz Tusznio, for whom debt restructuring is a key area of activity.

Baker McKenzie Krzyzowski i Wspólnicy Sp.k. provides clients with a multi-disciplinary restructuring and insolvency offering which is composed of lawyers from the firm’s M&A, banking and finance, and dispute resolution teams. Areas of activity for the group include providing representation in out-of-court and in-court restructurings and bankruptcy proceedings, and advising on distressed asset transactions, debt recoveries, and commercial contract issues surrounding insolvencies. Restructuring advisor Karol Czepukojć heads up the practice with ‘outstanding skills and knowledge on restructuring and insolvency issues’ and the team boasts a diverse client roster that includes debtors and creditors, affected contractors and customers, and insolvency office holders.

DLA Piper Giziński Kycia sp.k.‘s team is compiled of both lawyers and tax advisors who are adept at handling matters involving corporate, insolvency, litigation, finance and tax elements. The group handles the entire remit of restructuring and insolvency mandates, encompassing representation in disputes, recovering claims from bankrupt debtors, and advising on distressed M&A. The group is also well positioned to advise both creditors and debtors throughout bankruptcy proceedings. Mariusz Hyla sits at the helm of the finance and restructuring group, while the litigation and regulatory department is chaired by co-managing partner Krzysztof Kycia. Magdalena Dec supports companies and their directors with compliance of bankruptcy and restructuring law.

Domanski Zakrzewski Palinka‘s client base is made up of beneficial owners, debtors, and creditors who seek out the practice for its expertise in restructuring, insolvency, and bankruptcy proceedings; it is particularly adept at supporting clients throughout their distress and resolution processes. The team is especially active in regulated industries, including the banking, financial services, consumer health, air travel, and renewable energy sectors. Practice head Michał Cecerko is a licensed restructuring advisor who has recently been notably active in prepackaged bankruptcy cases.

Filipiak Babicz Legal sp. k.'s restructuring and insolvency practice has a client base consisting of companies from a variety of sectors, including the retail, transport, energy, construction and textiles industries. It is highly adept at supporting creditors and debtors, trustees in bankruptcy and administrators across a plethora of mandates, including out-of-court debt restructurings, bankruptcy petitions and post-restructuring disputes. Licensed restructuring advisor Patryk Filipiak sits at the helm of the department, which also advises on legislative mandates.

The restructuring and insolvency team at Kochanski & Partners predominately supports creditors and investors, which mainly include financial institutions and private equity funds, as well as financially distressed entities. Its offering encompasses advice on out-of-court and in-court restructurings and bankruptcy proceedings, corporate and employment restructurings, and post-restructuring disputes, as well as insolvency proceedings. Corporate lawyer Rafał Rapala is notable for his expertise in restructuring projects of capital groups, and head of the litigation practice Mateusz Ostrowski is another notable name in the team.

RESIST Law Firm has a strong focus on restructuring and insolvency law, as well as litigation, and it is praised for its ‘extensive experience in all proceedings at the restructuring and insolvency court’. Oskar Sitek, Piotr Rezanko, Tomasz Romanowski and Piotr Kieloch are the key senior names to note in the team. The firm also boasts a notable debt collection department which serves to assist the group with the needs of its creditors, which include banks, financial institutions, official receivers and real estate companies.

Domestic and international clients, including both lenders and debtors, seek out the restructuring and insolvency expertise of SSW. The team possesses a wealth of knowledge surrounding bankruptcy proceedings, financial restructurings, standstills, out-of-court restructurings and distressed asset transactions. Piotr Grabarczyk joined the team from WKB Lawyers at the beginning of 2024 to jointly head up the department alongside Janusz Mazurek and Łukasz Grenda. Finance lawyer Mike Gorski is another addition to the team; he joined the firm from London-based Akin in April 2024.

Local and international clients, including lenders, financial institutions, debtors and prospective acquirers of distressed assets seek out the expertise of the restructuring and insolvency team at WKB Lawyers. Its experience is broad ranging, and encompasses representation in out-of-court restructurings, standstills and pre-bankruptcy arrangements. Distressed asset acquisitions are also a strength of the practice. The ‘extremely knowledgeable‘ Klaudia Frątczak-Kospin now solely leads the department since Piotr Grabarczyk departed for SSW at the end of 2023.

Zimmerman Sierakowski and Partners is lauded as ‘an expert in restructuring and insolvency’ with ‘a wealth of practice in the application’ of the law. As a boutique restructuring, bankruptcy and insolvency law firm, it represents both creditors and debtors, as well as official receivers in matters surrounding bankruptcy estate cases. Managing and founding partner Piotr Zimmerman is praised as as ‘excellent negotiator’, and he is a key name in the team alongside insolvency practitioners Bartosz Sierakowski and Norbert Frosztęga.

The restructuring and insolvency practice at EY Law advises clients on all sides, including companies that are facing financial difficulties, and creditors and investors, as well as state and supranational institutions. A key area of activity for the group is its reformation-focused work of the Polish insolvency and restructuring framework and judicial system, in addition to public aid mechanisms that are designed for entrepreneurs battling financial distress. Practice head and licensed restructuring advisor Magdalena Kasiarz is praised for her ‘excellent quality of work‘.

Greenberg Traurig Nowakowska-Zimoch Wysokinski Sp. k combines contentious and transactional expertise to provide clients with a comprehensive restructuring and insolvency offering. The multi-disciplinary practice is composed of lawyers with corporate, M&A, finance, and tax expertise, and it represents a wide range of lenders and borrowers in both in and out-of-court restructuring processes. Andrzej Wysokiński chairs the ‘experienced’ department.

The ‘exceptional restructuring and insolvency practice‘ at KKLW Legal Kurzynski Wierzbicki sp.k. is highly adept at handling bankruptcy and restructuring proceedings. Its client roster is broad ranging, and encompasses corporate clients, creditors, debtors, and investors, shareholders and stockholders, receivers, brokers, and banks and employees. Licensed restructuring advisor Przemysław Wierzbicki sits at the helm of the department, which also includes Marcelina Rzepkowska, Krzysztof Wanecki, and Marcin Orzechowski.

LSW Bieńkowski, Laskowski, Leśnodorski, Melzacki and Partners sp.k. boasts a variety of debtors and creditors among its client base, for whom it handles restructuring and insolvency proceedings; these mandates also often involve publicly listed companies. Władysław Bieńkowski leads the practice as its founder, and he is well equipped to handle the recovery of claims, debt collection and bankruptcy proceedings.

Soltysinski Kawecki & Szlezak's bankruptcy and restructuring group is a ‘go-to’ choice for businesses in crisis, creditors and investors, holding companies, and banks. The team adeptly handles the entire process of restructuring matters, from selection and development through to implementation. It is also well equipped to handle out-of-court restructurings. Jacek Siński jointly spearheads the practice alongside Lech Giliciński, who joined the firm from Wolf Theiss in October 2023.

The financial restructuring and insolvency team at White & Case M. Studniarek i Wspólnicy - Kancelaria Prawna sp.k. boasts ‘extensive experience and a proven track record in handling highly complex transactions’. Its extensive offering encompasses advice on corporate and financial restructuring transactions, support with multi-jurisdictional insolvency proceedings, representation in debtor and creditor-related disputes, and assistance with the restructuring of distressed businesses. Grzegorz Abram chairs the department with notable expertise in debt finance and restructuring mandates.