Ladies and Gentlemen,

Welcome to a platform dedicated to the international affairs of our Bar. In 2012, we marked twenty years of our activity in the area of foreign relations, while on 1 May 2014, we witnessed ten years since obtaining the full membership in the Council of Bars and Law Societies of Europe (CCBE). During this time our activity has been constantly increasing.

At the beginning we have aimed at establishing contacts with our foreign counterparts, that is foreign Bar Councils and law associations as well as international lawyers’ organisations, while at the same time also preparing for our membership in the EU.

The second step was to support international activities of our Regional Bar Associations, in particular by opening the way for their membership in the European Bars Federation (FBE) and for an active cooperation with the European Association of Lawyers (AEA-EAL) through organisation of conferences on European law in Szczecin, Warsaw, Olsztyn, Gdańsk, Kraków and Białystok as well as other events with foreign lawyers.

The third step is now to disseminate the results of our work among the widest possible range of lawyers, our colleagues, while encouraging them to join in the implementation of various international projects run by the National Council and by Regional Bar Associations.

While acting on the international arena we undertake efforts to work for a constant improvement of justice and an effective access to it for all citizens. We continue to participate dynamically in the activities of international lawyers’ organisations, thus implementing in practice the principle of “nothing about us without us”. We try to ensure that the work carried out within these organisations is used to the maximum extent for the benefit of our own legal community.

I would like to invite all of our web-visitors to familiarise themselves with the presentation of our foreign activities, while calling for more contacts and active cooperation.

Michał Korwek
Vice-President of the Bar