Since 2017, the Open Seminar series has been organised by the Chair of Commercial and Corporate Law at the Faculty of Law and Administration of the University of Warsaw. It features Polish and international speakers who address a wide range of issues in commercial and corporate law from theoretical and practical perspectives. The seminars are usually held in a hybrid format, are free of charge and do not require prior registration. This enables participants from various academic institutions, as well as legal practitioners, to actively participate in the seminars. Each Open Seminar consists of a lecture delivered by a visiting professor, lasting approximately one hour, followed by a discussion.
Recordings of Open Seminars held since the 2020/21 academic year are available on the YouTube channel of the Chair of Commercial and Corporate Law.
The following Open Seminars have been held to date:
1st Open Seminar of the Chair of Commercial and Corporate Law (27 November 2017)
Speaker: prof. dr hab. Andrzej Szajkowski
The Institute of Legal Sciences of the Polish Academy of Sciences, John Paul II Catholic University of Lublin
Lecture title: “O metodzie badania prawa handlowego”
2nd Open Seminar of the Chair of Commercial and Corporate Law (26 February 2018)
Speaker: Prof. Dr. Rainer Kulms, LL.M. (Michigan)
Max Planck Institute for Comparative and International Private Law, Hamburg, China University of Political Science and Law, Beijing
Lecture title: “Online Finance for Small and Medium-Sized Companies”
3rd Open Seminar of the Chair of Commercial and Corporate Law (05 April 2018)
Speaker: Prof. David Gilo
Tel Aviv University
Lecture title: “Minority Shareholdings among Competitors and their Effect on Competition”
4th Open Seminar of the Chair of Commercial and Corporate Law (14 May 2018)
Speaker: mec. Paweł Rymarz
Weil Gotshal & Manges
Lecture title: “Orzecznictwo Sądu Najwyższego a proces M&A – oczami skromnego praktyka”
5th Open Seminar of the Chair of Commercial and Corporate Law (22 October 2018)
Speaker: prof. dr hab. Józef Frąckowiak
Faculty of Law, Administration and Economics of the University of Wrocław
Lecture title: “Podstawowe pojęcia-narzędzia prawa prywatnego na przykładzie prawa handlowego”
6th Open Seminar of the Chair of Commercial and Corporate Law (09 November 2018)
Speaker: prof. dr hab. Piotr Machnikowski
Faculty of Law, Administration and Economics of the University of Wrocław, Dentons Europe Dąbrowski i Wspólnicy sp.k.
Lecture title: “Private enforcement”
7th Open Seminar of the Chair of Commercial and Corporate Law (25 March 2019)
Speaker: SSN Krzysztof Strzelczyk
Civil Chamber of the Supreme Court of Poland
Lecture title: “Wyłączenie wspólnika ze spółki z o.o.”
8th Open Seminar of the Chair of Commercial and Corporate Law (02 December 2019)
Speaker: Prof. David C. Donald
Faculty of Law, The Chinese University of Hong Kong
Lecture title: “Disentangling Corporate Governance from Securities Market Imperatives through Data-Driven Finance”
9th Open Seminar of the Chair of Commercial and Corporate Law (02 December 2019)
Speaker: prof. dr hab. dr h. c. Stanisław Sołtysiński
Adam Mickiewicz University in Poznań
Lecture title: “Kontrowersje wokół wykreślenia spółki z rejestru”
10th Open Seminar of the Chair of Commercial and Corporate Law (28 September 2020)
Speaker: mec. Leszek Koziorowski
radca prawny (attorney-at-law), Partner at Gessel, Koziorowski sp.k.
Lecture title: “Przewodniczący walnego zgromadzenia – między prawem a praktyką”
11th Open Seminar of the Chair of Commercial and Corporate Law (26 October 2020)
Speaker: prof. dr hab. Andrzej Kidyba
Chair of Economic and Commercial Law at Maria Curie-Skłodowska University
Lecture title: “Stosunki między fundacją a fundatorem. Czy to część prawa handlowego, czy »ciało obce«?”
12th Open Seminar of the Chair of Commercial and Corporate Law (07 December 2020)
Speaker: Prof. Hans Tjio
National University of Singapore
Lecture title: “Share Buybacks”
13th Open Seminar of the Chair of Commercial and Corporate Law (29 March 2021)
Speaker: dr hab. Jerzy P. Naworski, prof. UMK
Lecture title: “Wybrane aspekty wykonywania przez wspólnika spółki z o.o. indywidualnego prawa kontroli i jego ochrona w procedurze wewnątrzspółkowej i sądowej”
14th Open Seminar of the Chair of Commercial and Corporate Law (25 October 2021)
Speaker: prof. dr hab. Wojciech J. Katner
Head of the Chair of Economic and Commercial Law at the Faculty of Law and Administration of the University of Łódź, retired Supreme Court of Poland Justice
Lecture title: “Kapitał zagraniczny w Polsce – chciany, czy może niechciany? Co wynika z regulacji prawnych od ustawy z grudnia 1988 r. do tzw. lex anty-TVN?”
15th Open Seminar of the Chair of Commercial and Corporate Law (13 December 2021)
Speaker: prof. dr. dr. dr. h.c. mult. Klaus J. Hopt MCJ (NYU)
Former Director of the Max Planck Institute for Comparative and International Private Law, Hamburg
Lecture title: “Internal investigations, whistleblowing and external monitoring”
16th Open Seminar of the Chair of Commercial and Corporate Law (04 April 2022)
Speaker: mec. Marek Furtek
President of the Court of Arbitration at the Polish Chamber of Commerce in Warsaw
Lecture title: “Arbitraż. Rola stałego sądu polubownego w obrocie handlowym”
17th Open Seminar of the Chair of Commercial and Corporate Law (18 October 2022)
Speaker: prof. zw. dr hab. Wojciech Popiołek
Head of the Research Team on European and Polish Private Law at the Institute of Law of the Faculty of Law and Administration of the University of Silesia in Katowice
Lecture title: “Spółka prawa obcego jako dominująca w grupie spółek”
18th Open Seminar of the Chair of Commercial and Corporate Law (05 December 2022)
Speaker: prof. dr. Andreas Cahn, LLM
Director at the Institute for Law and Finance, Goethe University Frankfurt
Lecture title: “The Decline of Managing Directors’ Predominance in the Management of Public Companies”
19th Open Seminar of the Chair of Commercial and Corporate Law (27 March 2023)
Speaker: dr Cezary Wiśniewski
Partner at Linklaters
Lecture title: “Wpływ prawa obcego na stosowanie i wykładnię wybranych instytucji polskiego prawa handlowego”
20th Open Seminar of the Chair of Commercial and Corporate Law (23 October 2023)
Speaker: prof. dr hab. Jacek Napierała
Chair of Civil, Commercial and Insurance Law at the Faculty of Law and Administration of Adam Mickiewicz University in Poznań
Lecture title: “Refleksje o wykładni europejskiego prawa spółek”
21st Open Seminar of the Chair of Commercial and Corporate Law (20 February 2024)
Speaker: dr. Anne Sanders, M.Jur. (Oxford)
Head of the Chair for Civil law, Company law, the law of Family Businesses and Judicial Studies, Faculty of Law, Bielefeld University
Lecture title: “European Foundation Law in Comparative Perspective”
22nd Open Seminar of the Chair of Commercial and Corporate Law (11 March 2024)
Speaker: dr hab. Andrzej Kubas, prof. emerit. (Jagiellonian University)
Lecture title: “O cywilnoprawnych sankcjach wadliwości czynności prawnych zdań kilka”
23rd Open Seminar of the Chair of Commercial and Corporate Law (16 October 2024)
Speaker: prof. Lutz-Christian Wolff
Wei Lun Professor of Law, The Chinese University of Hong Kong
Lecture title: “Elastic Commercial Law – Available and Needed in Times of Crisis?”
24th Open Seminar of the Chair of Commercial and Corporate Law (21 October 2024)
Speaker: prof. dr hab. Mirosław Stec
Chair of Private Economic Law at Jagiellonian University; Chair of Local Government Law at Jagiellonian University
Lecture title: “O przyszłości prawa przewozowego w 60 lecie KC i 40 lecie Prawa przewozowego”
25th Open Seminar of the Chair of Commercial and Corporate Law (06 November 2024)
Speaker: prof. Dan W. Puchniak
Director of the Centre for Commercial Law in Asia, Professor at the Yong Pung How School of Law (YPHSL), Singapore Management University, Research Member, European Corporate Governance Institute (ECGI)
Lecture title: “Corporate Purpose. Some Comparative Remarks”
26th Open Seminar of the Chair of Commercial and Corporate Law (14 November 2024)
Speaker: Prof. Dr. iur. Damiano Canapa
Professor, Centre of Private Law (droit privé), Director of CEDIDAC, University of Lausanne (UNIL)
Lecture title: “From Brussels to Bern: How the CSRD is Reshaping Swiss Sustainability Law”
27th Open Seminar of the Chair of Commercial and Corporate Law (15 March 2025)
Speaker: Prof. Dr. Wolf-Georg Ringe, M.Jur. (Oxon)
Director of the Institute of Law & Economics at the University of Hamburg, Research Member with the European Corporate Governance Institute
Lecture title: “The Dark Side of AI in Capital Markets”
28th Open Seminar of the Chair of Commercial and Corporate Law (25 March 2025)
Speaker: dr hab. Jacek Jastrzębski, LLM (Berkeley), prof. UW
Chair of the Board of Polish Financial Supervision Authority, Chair of Civil Law at the Faculty of Law and Administration of the University of Warsaw
Lecture title: “Czy kryptoaktywa są elementem rynku finansowego”
29th Open Seminar of the Chair of Commercial and Corporate Law (29 September 2025)
Speaker: prof. Lutz-Christian Wolff
Wei Lun Professor of Law, The Chinese University of Hong Kong
Lecture title: “Legal Creativity in Commercial Law”
30th Open Seminar of the Chair of Commercial and Corporate Law (20 October 2025)
Speaker: dr hab. Andrzej Herbet, prof. KUL
Head of the Chair of Commercial Law, Faculty of Law, Canon Law and Administration, The John Paul II Catholic University of Lublin
Lecture title: “Pełnomocnictwo – przedstawicielstwo – reprezentacja: w kierunku wspólnych reguł wykonywania kompetencji do dokonywania czynności prawnych w cudzym imieniu”
31st Open Seminar of the Chair of Commercial and Corporate Law (17 November 2025)
Speaker: Prof. Fabrizio Sudiero
Assistant Professor (RTDb), Department of Law, University of Turin
Lecture title: “The Intersection of Insolvency Law and Shareholders’ Rights”
32nd Open Seminar of the Chair of Commercial and Corporate Law (09 March 2026)
Speaker: r.pr. Michał Bobrzyński, LLM (Harvard)
Partner at Greenberg Traurig Nowakowska-Zimoch Wysokiński sp.k.
Lecture title: “(Nie)konkurencyjność polskiego prawa spółek. Krytyczne spojrzenie na wybrane instytucje Kodeksu spółek handlowych z perspektywy transakcyjnej”
33rd Open Seminar of the Chair of Commercial and Corporate Law (29 April 2026)
Speaker: Prof. Dr. iur. Damiano Canapa, LL.M.
Professor, Centre of Private Law (droit privé), Director of CEDIDAC, University of Lausanne (UNIL)
Lecture title: “Personalist Elements and Asymmetric Dividends in Swiss Company Law (Company Limited by Shares and Limited Liability Company)”