Kaja Gadowska. “Poland: Opening the Legal Profession.” In Lawyers in 21st Century Societies. Volume 1: National Reports. Edited by Richard L. Abel, Ole Hammersley, Hilary Sonnerlad, and Ulrike Scholtz. New York: Hart Publishing, 2020.
This chapter describes the rules governing qualified lawyers during the period 1989-2017, focusing on how changes in the recruitment of new members of self-government councils of lawyers affected the availability of legal services for commercial and non-commercial operations and entry to the profession by law graduates. The ‘opening of legal professions’ refers to the approximately 15-year process of social negotiations and statutory changes that increased access to the profession and to legal services.