#DefendingTheDefenders – Episode 1: Poland

We Need to Talk About the Rule of Law is back for a second season that focuses on the impact of rule of law erosions on attorneys. In the first episode, we talk to MIKOŁAJ PIETRZAK. He is an attorney and the Dean of the Warsaw Bar Association, which is the oldest professional legal association in Poland and the administrative association of attorneys in Warsaw. That places him right in the middle of the rule of law crackdown that has been going on in Poland under the ruling PiS party since 2015. In our conversation, he shows us how a such a crackdown looks like in a country of the European Union – including some surprising insights into the immense range of consequences it had throughout the legal profession. Mr Pietrzak’s analysis of the dire challenges attorneys face in Poland – exemplified by disciplinary proceedings against them as well as the horrifying situation on the border to Belarus – leads him to a message to European citizens: We need to protect the rule of law every day, through participation in civic society as well as democratic choices in elections.