In a market as competitive as Poland’s, being a good law firm is not enough. The firms that win the best mandates, attract the strongest talent, and build lasting client relationships are the ones that have built something more than a practice — they have built a brand through organic growth.
Poland is the largest economy in Central and Eastern Europe, with GDP surpassing $1 trillion in 2025 and over 330 M&A deals closed in the same year. Foreign investors account for roughly half of all transactions. In a market this active, clients are not short of options — which mean reputation, positioning, and trust matter more than ever.
So which legal brands in top legal brands in Poland actually stand out? Here are three that have earned genuine recognition — not just through rankings, but through the kind of consistent market presence that makes them the first names clients think of.
Kondracki Celej — The Brand That Owns the VC Space
Every market has firms that try to be everything to everyone. Kondracki Celej took the opposite approach — and it worked.
Founded in 2016 by Marcin Kondracki and Rafał Celej, this Warsaw boutique made a deliberate bet on venture capital, tech M&A, and white-collar defence. Less than a decade later, the firm has become the most recognised legal brand in Poland’s startup and investment fund ecosystem. That is not an exaggeration — it is a five-time VC Legal Advisor of the Year (awarded by the Polish Private Equity and Venture Capital Association), a Forbes Best Law Firms Poland honouree, and a Chambers-ranked FinTech practice with over 45 tracked deals on PitchBook.
The brand is built on deal volume and visibility. Kondracki Celej advised ff Venture Capital on a $4 million pharma investment, guided Orbotix Industries through a €6.5 million European round, supported ReSpo.Vision on a PLN 18 million deep tech raise, and led seller-side advisory when Telemedi’s founders exited to Austrian healthcare group Mavie Next. When a major VC deal closes in Poland, this firm’s name is almost always in the announcement.
But the brand story goes deeper than transactions. Marcin Kondracki has built one of Poland’s top-ranked white-collar crime practices — recognised by Legal 500 as a leading individual — while Rafał Celej runs the M&A and corporate engine. That dual identity gives the firm a positioning no competitor has replicated: the place where dealmaking meets regulatory defence. For founders navigating both fundraising and compliance exposure, that brand promise is not just distinctive — it is essential.
In an era where AI-powered legal advice tools are reshaping how due diligence and contract review get done, boutique firms like Kondracki Celej also benefit from their agility. They can adopt new technologies faster, integrate them into lean workflows, and pass the efficiency gains directly to clients — without the overhead of a global bureaucracy.
For anyone in the VC and tech M&A space in Poland, Kondracki Celej is not just a firm on a list. It is the brand.
Greenberg Traurig — The Trusted International Name
Brand longevity counts for a lot in legal services, and few international firms have been present in Poland longer — or more visibly — than Greenberg Traurig. Operating in Warsaw for over 30 years, the firm has built a brand synonymous with large-scale, cross-border dealmaking.
Top-tier rankings across Chambers, Legal 500, and IFLR1000 in M&A, Capital Markets, Real Estate, Private Equity, Banking and Finance, and more have reinforced the firm’s positioning year after year. Awards like IFLR’s Law Firm of the Year in Poland and Chambers’ Law Firm of the Year are the kind of credentials that compound over time — turning a strong practice into an unmistakable brand.
The firm’s edge is its ability to combine genuine global reach with deep Polish market knowledge. For private equity funds and multinationals running complex, multi-jurisdictional M&A, Greenberg Traurig’s brand carries a clear message: we have done this before, at scale, and we will get it done again.
Clifford Chance — The Premium Benchmark
If Greenberg Traurig is the trusted international name, Clifford Chance is the prestige brand. The firm’s Warsaw office occupies the top position in Chambers’ Corporate and M&A rankings and is widely considered the first call for the most complex, highest-value transactions in the Polish market.
Clifford Chance’s brand power comes from its integrated pan-European network. organic growth Warsaw-based partners coordinate mandates across financial services, telecoms, energy, and IT — and the firm’s client roster reads like a list of Europe’s most prominent corporates. For acquirers entering Poland or executing cross-border M&A at the top of the market, the Clifford Chance name on an engagement letter signals a level of institutional credibility that no AI legal technology platform can replicate.
Poland’s legal market is crowded. Clients have more choices than ever, and AI-powered legal advice tools are lowering the barrier to entry-level legal work. In this environment, brand is the differentiator. It is the shorthand that tells a client whether a firm understands their world, has the track record to back up the pitch, and will still be a trusted partner when things get complicated. The top legal brands in Poland — whether specialist boutiques or global platforms — have earned their positions by doing the work consistently, visibly, and well.
To read more content like this, explore The Brand Hopper
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