Warsaw, Poland. (Shutterstock.com)

Labor and employment firm Littler Mendelson has made Poland the next stop in its steady  expansion with a move deeper into Central Europe.

The addition to Littler's global platform of 20-lawyer Paruch Chruściel Schiffter, which has offices in Warsaw and four other Polish cities, comes three months after Littler moved into Austria. 

Co-managing partner Jeremy Roth noted that Poland has the sixth-largest economy in Europe and that CEO magazine recently named the country the third-best destination for investment after the COVID-19 pandemic recedes.

But he and Stephan Swinkels, the Littler shareholder who helps lead the development and integration of the firm's global practice, also said that Littler's long-standing ties to the leaders of Paruch Chruściel Schiffter was equally important in bringing it into Poland. PSC was recently founded following a partner split at a larger firm, one which partnered with Littler when they were both members of the international labor law network Ius Laboris.

"Sławomir [Paruch] is not a stranger to us," Swinkels said. "His previous firm was the hands-down market leader in Poland. Then they decided to split. This was an obvious opportunity for us."

Paruch founded PSC with partners Łukasz Chruściel, Karolina Schiffter and Robert Stępień. In addition to Warsaw, it has offices in Katowice, Kraków, Poznań and Wrocław. The firm has 21 lawyers and 21 paralegals.

"The Littler name is synonymous with quality client service and unmatched experience in labor and employment law," Paruch said in a statement. "The firm has an excellent reputation in Europe for bringing significant value to companies on local and international employment law matters."

Even though they had worked together for 10 years, the leaders of both firms recognized that it was critical to get on the same page with regard to strategy and goals. Multiple in-person meetings helped achieve that end.

"It was good fortune that Tom Bender, my co-managing partner, and I were able to meet with these four partners before COVID-19 locked everything down," Roth said.

With those communications established, the rest of the integration process went unexpectedly smoothly, owing to the Polish firm's level of organization.

"We do very thorough due diligence," Swinkels said. "On insurance, legal matters, IT, data security, and everything else, they were able to deliver very fast."

The firm anticipates that the move into Poland will lead to a larger presence in Central and Eastern Europe, with Swinkels naming the Czech Republic, Hungary, and Romania as possibilities. 

"I do think this will provide opportunities. We saw it when we opened in Germany, and we were almost instantly introduced to the practitioners in Austria," he said.

But such Latin American destinations as Argentina and Chile remain at the foreground of the firm's attention.

"If you look at our map, you can see some big economies where we're not. Those would be higher up the priorities list," Swinkels said. "We're not playing a board game, adding as many countries as possible. We look at what we need."

And demand for Littler's international services has surged as a consequence of the COVID-19 crisis, particularly with U.S.-headquartered businesses forced to communicate differently and eyeing a unified source of international advice on restructurings and back-to-work issues.

In the U.S., court closures have placed a damper on the firm's robust litigation practice, but Roth sees the tide turning. He said that in his home city of San Diego, after two months of closures, the city's courts reopened Thursday and the docket included 23 employment cases, half of which were class actions.

"Now that courts are trying to find a way to move cases along in a virtual fashion, we'll see a lot more activity," he said. 

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