35 years of PNP Law – when history meets business

On 9 November 1989, the Berlin wall came down. A few weeks later, a young lawyer from Kolding in Denmark, Peter Tærø Nielsen, bought a plane ticket to Warsaw. He did not yet know that this decision would mark the beginning of the story of the first foreign law firm in Poland and that for the next 35 years, PNP Law will have assisted Scandinavian companies in building their position on one of the fastest changing markets in Europe.

PNP Law was launched when Poland was just learning about the market economy and foreign law firms were not yet present. Since day one, we have acted as an interpreter of the Polish legal reality to foreign investors. At the beginning, these were primarily Danish companies, later joined by other Scandinavian ones, that have played a crucial role in transforming of the Polish economy.

As early as 1991, PNP Law tool part in one of the first privatisations in Poland, that is in introducing Śląska Fabryka Kabli to the Warsaw Stock Exchange. This was a symbolic moment – our law office became a part of the process of re-opening of the Warsaw Stock Exchange after 40 years of closure and one of the participants of constructing a modern capital market in Poland.

In subsequent years, we have supported Scandinavian investors in a growing number of industries: trade, food industry, banking, real estate, and eventually also in renewable energy, new technologies, and innovative projects. We have always had a long-term perspective – based on stability, ethics, and reinvestment of gains in Poland.

One of the most exceptional chapters of the law office history consists of the assistant role to the civil back office of stationing of the NATO Multinational Corps Northeast in Szczecin. When Poland was preparing to become a member to NATO, PNP Law assisted in drawing up agreements, establishing infrastructure and organising the presence of the allied forces.

Today, taking into account the events of 2022, the meaning of those decisions and projects is more visible than ever. Being “on the spot” in key moments of history has become one of the foundations of our identity.

For the past 35 years, we have acted based on the Scandinavian model of cooperation: trust, equality, responsibility and resilience. These values have helped us to build a law office that at its core has Polish partners and experts and whose relations with clients last decades.

As a co-founder of the Danish-Polish Chamber of Commerce, and later the Scandinavian-Polish Chamber of Commerce, we have co-created a platform for dialogue and cooperation of the Nordic business in Poland from the very onset. We are proud to observe that nowadays Scandinavian companies belong to the group of most important foreign investors in Poland and that they are keen to reinvest their capital here.

The way the world around us has changed is best seen in the structure of our clients. PNP Law’s beginnings were closely linked to Danish and Scandinavian companies. At present, we cooperate with investors from 25 countries, both from Europe (with a particularly strong representation of Scandinavian and Polish companies) and from Asia and the United States. Our clients act in almost all key economy sectors – from traditional industries to the most innovative projects, from trade and food industry, through finance and real estate, to wind and PV farms, biogas plants and new technologies. This variety shows not only how PNP Law has evolved but also the pace and direction of the global economy.

Nowadays, Poland is the 20^th world economy and one of the biggest EU markets. It has a big growth potential, informed consumers and a growing role in Europe and in the world. PNP Law, owing to its experience, team of experts and market trust, is ready to further years of joint route with Scandinavian and Polish companies, and with all those companies that are yet to decide to invest in Poland.