Filip Balcerzak

Education

• Ph.D. in Law (Adam Mickiewicz University in Poznań), LL.M. (University of Ottawa)

Professional career

• 2018 – currently, Adam Mickiewicz University in Poznań, Faculty of Law and Administration, Associate Professor, Director and Main Researcher of an academic grant financed by the Polish National Science Centre – “International investment law and the renewable energy sector’s challenges”;
• 2013 – currently, SSW Pragmatic Solutions (Spaczyński, Szczepaniak i Wspólnicy), Partner, Litigation and Arbitration (Associate 2013-2016, Senior Associate 2016-2019, Counsel 2019-2021);
• 2020, Lauterpacht Centre for International Law, University of Cambridge, Visiting Fellow;
• 2010 – 2016, doctoral studies, Ph.D. degree in Public International Law granted by the Adam Mickiewicz University in Poznań, Poland (doctoral dissertation in English on “Investor – state arbitration and human rights”);
• 2015, called to the bar in Poland (Warsaw Bar Association);
• 2013 – 2015, Adam Mickiewicz University in Poznań, Faculty of Law and Administration, Director and Main Researcher of an academic grant financed by the Polish National Science Centre – “Arbitration based on international investment treaties and human rights”;
• 2011 – 2012, DZP (Domański Zakrzewski Palinka), Junior Associate, Spanish Desk;
• 2011, called to the bar in Spain (Madrid Bar Association);
• 2010 – 2011, postgraduate studies, Master of Laws (LL.M.), University of Ottawa (Canada);
• 2010 – 2011, postgraduate studies, diploma DEJE – Spanish Law for Foreign Lawyers, University of Alcalá (Spain);
• 2011, University of Ottawa, Research Assistant on use of alternative dispute resolution methods in investor – state arbitrations;
• 2008 – 2009, MMMM (Monereo Meyer Marinel-lo Abogados, Barcelona), intern, Litigation and Arbitration, Polish Desk.

Arbitration experience

• Representing respondents in ad hoc arbitral proceedings pursuant to the UNCITRAL Arbitration Rules, administered by ICDR/AAA in New York (International Centre for Dispute Resolution/American Arbitration Association) in cases concerning claims for payment and termination of franchise agreements;
• Consulting for an international team of lawyers representing a claimant in the arbitration proceedings based on the bilateral investment treaty;
• Consulting for a city company in arbitration before Court of Arbitration at the Polish Chamber of Commerce in a dispute based on the FIDIC agreement connected with non-timely completion of an investment and a number of claims against the contractor;
• Consulting for a respondent in the post-arbitration proceedings concerning enforcement of an arbitral award issued abroad;
• designing and implementing a corporate restructuring to achieve the optimum level of protection afforded by international investment law (and arbitration).

Membership in organizations

• Club Español del Arbitraje;
• Society of International Economic Law; 
• Polish Group of International Law Association.

Publications

1. Commentary to selected provisions of the Code of Civil Procedure – Arbitral tribunal (in Polish), in: P. Rylski (ed.), Commentary – Code of Civil Procedure (C.H. Beck / Legalis 2021);
2. Responsibility in Online Arbitration (in Spanish, co-author: B. Ziemblicki), in: D. Bello Janeiro (ed.), El Derecho de Daños en la Era Digital (Grupo Editorial Ibáñez 2021), pp. 257-269;
3. Choice of institution administering arbitration and appointing authority in international arbitration (in Polish), in: M. Dumkiewicz, K. Kopaczyńska-Pieczniak, J. Szczotka (ed.), Księga jubileuszowa dedykowana Profesorowi Andrzejowi Kidybie. Sto lat polskiego prawa handlowego (Wolters Kluwer Polska 2020), ISBN 978-83-8187-795-4, pp. 698-711;
4. Functioning of arbitral tribunals in legal systems of selected European states (in Polish), in: R. Morek (ed.), Funkcjonowanie sądów polubownych w systemach prawnych wybranych państw europejskich (Instytut Wymiaru Sprawiedliwości, 2018), pp. 45-58;
5. Investor – state arbitration and human rights (Brill / Martinus Nijhoff 2017), ISBN 9789004338999, https://brill.com/view/title/34356, monography, pp. 1-324;
6. International investment law in the context of multiculturalism (in Polish), in: A.J. Szwarc (ed.), Panorama prawnych aspektów wielokulturowości społeczeństwa (Wydawnictwo WSB 2017), ISBN 9788372053541, pp. 9-24;
7. Extent of human rights protection in investor – state arbitration based on international investment treaties: perspective of investors, Czech Yearbook of International Law (2016), vol. VII, ISSN 21572976, ISBN 9789082460315, pp. 29-63;
8. Publication of Investment Treaty Awards: The Qualified Potential of Domestic Access to Information Laws (co-author: J. Hepburn), Groningen Journal of International Law (2015), vol. 3, issue 1, ISSN 23522674, pp. 147-170 (https://ugp.rug.nl/GROJIL/article/view/31117);
9. Jurisdiction of Tribunals in Investor – State Arbitration and the Issue of Human Rights, ICSID Review – Foreign Investment Law Journal (2014), vol. 29, issue 1, ISSN 02583690, pp. 216-230 (https://academic.oup.com/icsidreview/article-abstract/29/1/216/2356645);
10. Determination of compensation in investor – state arbitrations: is there a place for human rights arguments?, in: F. Beatens, J. Caiado (ed.), Frontiers of International Economic Law – Tools to Confront Economic and Social Challenges (Brill / Martinus Nijhoff, 2014), ISBN 9789004270176, pp. 134-150 (https://brill.com/view/book/edcoll/9789004270190/B9789004270190_008.xml);
11. Jurisdiction of Arbitral Tribunals in Investment Disputes and the Issue of the Applicability of the Most Favoured Nation Treatment to the Host States’ Consent to Arbitrate (in Polish, co-author: S. Sołtysik), Problemy Prawa Prywatnego Międzynarodowego (2013), vol. XII, ISSN 18967604, pp. 133-164.

In print:

1. Manchester Securities v Poland: Denial of Justice in the European Union, ICSID Review – Foreign Investment Law Journal (co-author: J. Hepburn);
2. Commentary to selected provisions of the 1958 New York Convention (in Polish), in: P. Rylski (ed.), Commentary – 1958 New York Convention (C.H. Beck / Legalis);
3. Human rights and international investment law (in Spanish), w: J.M. Alvarez Zárate, M. Zenkiewicz (red.), Derecho Internacional de Inversiones (Publicaciones Universidad Externado).