Rafał is an advocate registered with the District Bar Association in Warsaw and a US-qualified attorney admitted in the state of New York. He holds an LL.M. degree from Harvard Law School and a Ph.D. in Law from the Faculty of Law and Administration at the University of Warsaw. He was also a Fulbright Commission and Polish Science Foundation Visiting Scholar at Stanford Law School. Rafał is one of the founding partners of B2RLaw. He has over twenty years of experience in the practice of law.

Prior to establishing B2R legacy firm JS Legal, for several years he was a partner at the Warsaw office of a leading international law firm where he set up and managed the capital markets practice and was one of the leaders of the private equity practice. Rafał has held positions on various Supervisory Boards (including Vice Chairman of PFRVentures, the largest Polish fund of funds (2016-2018)), and is a founding and board member of the Harvard Club of Poland.

Corporate & M&A | Private Equity | Corporate Advisory

Rafał is regarded as one of the leading M&A and private equity lawyers on the Polish market and is regularly highly ranked by local and international rankings.

Rafał has represented buyers, sellers, and target companies including major Polish, CEE and international private equity houses, investment funds, entrepreneurs, management and financial advisors and institutional investors. Transactions on which he has advised include M&A, joint-ventures, leveraged buyouts, management buyouts/buy-ins and privatizations, as well as the international expansion of Polish and other EU businesses into non-EU jurisdictions.

Rafał has been repeatedly listed in the major international legal ranking, “Chambers Europe”, as one of the leading and most efficient private equity lawyers in Poland.

Venture Capital

The Polish and wider CEE markets have seen a growth in venture capital transactions, and Rafał is one of few Polish lawyers that has been a catalyst of this growth. He is a pioneer in venture capital in Poland and the wider CEE, and is, in part, responsible for what is now a blossoming market. He acts as a director at the US-Polish Trade Council (USPTC), a California-based non-profit organisation that deals with strengthening trade and scientific relations between Poland and Silicon Valley.

Equity & Debt Capital Markets | Capital Markets

Rafał set up and managed the capital markets practice at one of the leading international law firms. His experience covers public and private offerings of financial instruments, and acquisitions of qualifying holdings in public companies.

• Advising Resource Partners, a major CEE Private Equity fund on its investment in Artgeist, a major e-commerce platform offering various art forms through online platforms and its own e-stores, run in 11 language versions.
• Advising PKO BP (PKO VC – FIZAN) on a joint PLN 17 million follow-on financing round in Autenti Sp. z o.o., involving three banks.
• Advising Aasa Global AS, a leading Scandinavian/Baltic on-line consumer loan provider, in connection with a EUR 30 million equity investment by Novator Partners and Olympia Group (involving a cross-border restructuring and creation of a capital group involving Poland, Luxembourg, Czech Republic, Sweden, Finland, Estonia and Slovakia).
• Advising Marpol, a major Polish producer of plastic packaging in the foods sector on its sale to Lerg SA.
• Advising Polish and Romanian online travel agency Interactive Travel Holdings Sp. z o.o. in connection with a EUR 5 million investment from 3TS Capital Partners.
• Advising the managers of Velvet Care, a leading manufacturer of paper-based personal care products on the sale of a majority stake in Velvet Care by Avallon to Abris Capital .
• Acting as lead Polish counsel to US Private Equity fund Compass Partners on a cross-border refinancing and capital injection into CTL Logistics Group.
• Advising Enterprise Investors, a major Central European private equity fund on its investment into a pallet rental business.
• Advising Audioteka, Poland’s major audiobook producer on the investment by Giza Ventures.
• Advising Audioteka on the exit of K2. Internet, a public-listed on-line marketing agency.
• Advising a major Polish media group listed on the Warsaw Stock Exchange on the acquisition of Poland’s leading web portal.
• Advising an international private equity fund on the privatization of a petrochemical sector company.
• Advising one of the largest Polish groups on the privatization of an energy company listed on the Warsaw Stock Exchange.
• Advising a Czech company on its initial public offering on the Warsaw Stock Exchange.
• Advising on the division of Impel S.A. with the simultaneous introduction of secreted companies listed on the Warsaw Stock Exchange (one of the first such transactions in Poland)
• Advising on the initial public offering of Ferro S.A.
• Advising a public company in the consumer goods sector on the acquisition of a foreign private company.
• Advising an international financial institution in the first process of the privatization of the Warsaw Stock Exchange
• Advising PKO BP, a major Polish bank and public company on the acquisition of Zencard, a FinTech company offering loyalty/promotional IT solutions to consumers.
• Acting for MARS FIZ, a major Polish closed-end infrastructure fund on the merger of two Polish shipyards (its portfolio companies).
• Advising on a groundbreaking university merger project for the US-Polish Trade Council (USPTC).
• Advising founders Paweł Malon and Marek Jakubów on the formation of Warsaw based Search Fund, Stability Capital.
• Advising FinTech company SMEO on a transaction involving capital injection into the company from international VC fund Finch Capital and Polish investment fund Precapital. The value of the round was in excess of PLN 21 million.