Beata Gessel-Kalinowska vel Kalisz

Head of the firm’s Arbitration Practice, Gessel Attorneys at Law

Beata Gessel-Kalinowska vel Kalisz is head of the firm’s arbitration practice, a senior partner and an expert in commercial arbitration, M&A, private equity/venture capital and commercial law. She has been arbitrator, counsel or expert in more than 130 arbitration proceedings under the rules of the ICC, FCC, UNCITRAL, SCC, SCAI, IAA, Lewiatan, KIG, SIDiR and the National Securities Depository, in a broad range of subject areas, particularly mergers and acquisitions, construction and energy disputes.

She was a member of the ICC International Court of Arbitration (2015–2021), vice president of the ICC CEE Arbitration Group and honorary president of the Lewiatan Arbitration Court. She is also a member of the ICDR/AAA Rules Revision Task Force.

Beata Gessel is adjunct professor in M&A transactions and international commercial arbitration at the University of Cardinal Stefan Wyszynski. She has authored numerous publications. In 2019, Kluwer Law International published her habilitation thesis, titled ‘The Legal, Real and Converged Interest in Declaratory Relief’, which focuses on declaratory relief in litigation and arbitration.

For many years, Beata Gessel has been recommended in Chambers Europe and Chambers Global in the ‘Most In Demand Arbitrators’ category. In 2021, she was included in the ‘Most In Demand Arbitrators Europe’ category as the only arbitrator representing the CEE region. The Chambers Global 2017 commentary notes that Beata is often called ‘the first lady of arbitration in Poland’.