Wed, Mar 25
|The Honourable Society of Lincoln's Inn
The Crisis in the Justice System in Poland
The Slynn Foundation is delighted to bring two distinguished speakers to the Lincoln’s Inn to discuss the impact of recent changes to the legal system in Poland. The session will be introduced and chaired by Lady Rose of Colmworth, President of the Slynn Foundation.
Time & Location
Mar 25, 2026, 5:30 PM – 7:00 PM GMT
The Honourable Society of Lincoln's Inn , The Ashworth Lecture Theatre, Lincoln's Inn, London WC2A 3TL, UK
About The Event
The Chair
Dame Vivien Rose, Lady Rose of Colmworth is President of the Slynn Foundation. She became a Justice of the Supreme Court on 19 April 2021.In 1995 she joined the Government Legal Service serving as a legal adviser on financial services at HM Treasury until 2001. In 2002 she was appointed to the Senior Civil Service and moved to the Ministry of Defence as Director of Operational and International Humanitarian Law. From 2005 to 2008 she advised in the Office of Counsel to the Speaker of the House of Commons. https://www.slynn-foundation.org/about-1
Speakers
Professor Adam Bodnar
Adam Bodnar is a Professor of Law at SWPS University in Warsaw. He is also a Senator of the Republic of Poland, elected in October 2023, and a member of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe. He previously served as Minister of Justice (December 2023–July 2025) and as Ombudsman of Poland (2015–2021). He is a graduate of the University of Warsaw and the Central European University in Budapest, where he earned an LL.M. in Comparative Constitutional Law. He is the author of numerous publications on EU citizenship, anti-discrimination law, the rule of law, surveillance powers, international human rights protection, and the enforcement of judgments of international tribunals.
Mikołaj Pietrzak
Mikołaj Pietrzak is a Polish advocate and a graduate of the University of Warsaw Faculty of Law and Administration and a holder of the Cambridge University Certificate in English and European Law. Between 2010 and 2016 he was the Chairman of the Human Rights Council of the Polish Bar Council. He was the Dean of the Warsaw Bar Association between 2016 and 2025. Between 2016 and 2020 he was one of the five members of the Board of Trustees of the UN Voluntary Fund for Victims of Torture, and the Chairperson of the Board of Trustees between May 2018 and October 2019. He was a member of the experts committee of the National Preventive Mechanism in Poland between 2016 and 2021. He is a former social advisor to the Prosecutor General of Poland. He is the honorary consul of the Principality of Monaco to Poland.
He specializes in criminal law, constitutional law and protection of human rights. His experience includes legal representation in criminal cases and defence in cases regarding terrorism, espionage, murder, business crimes, corruption and fiscal crimes. He has litigated numerous cases before the ECHR. He regularly appears before the Supreme Court of Poland and has been admitted to the List of Counsel of the International Criminal Court in the Hague of the Special Tribunal for Lebanon.
This event is presented by The Slynn Foundation in conjunction with the British Law Centre.
It is free to attend in person only. Registration is required on our website. There is no online option for this event however for those unable to attend a recording will be placed on our website later this year.
