French judges, prosecutors and lawyers benefit from the experience of Judge Paweł Juszczyszyn and Professor Michał Romanowski on how to fight for the rule of law

The French National School of Judges and Prosecutors invited Michal Romanowski to participate in a training course for French judges, prosecutors and lawyers held in Paris on 3 and 4 July 2023.
French lawyers wanted to delve deeper into the methods an authoritarian power uses to control the judiciary, prosecution and legal profession, and what actions it uses to try to undermine the rule of law, which independent judges, prosecutors and courageous lawyers uphold together.

The training was led by, among others:

• Claire BAZY MALAURIE, President of the Venice Commission bringing together Europe's most eminent constitutional law specialists;
• Laurent PECH, Professor of European Law, Middlesex University London, Jean Monnet Chair of Public Law, one of the professors most engaged in Europe on violations of the rule of law and human rights in Poland since 2015;
• Paweł JUSZCZYSZYN, with the participation of Hania GOUTIERRE, a French-Polish lawyer specialised in international business and very committed to defending the rule of law in Poland.
• Michał ROMANOWSKI, professor of private law at the University of Warsaw and an attorney at our law firm, attorney for Polish judges repressed by those in power.

Michał Romanowski participated in a panel with Judge Paweł Juszczyn, and independently gave a lecture entitled "Everyday life of a lawyer in the context of the limited rule of law: what is lost, what is possible, what must be faced?".

The aim of Michal Romanowski's lecture was to convey to leading French judges, prosecutors and lawyers through concrete examples that:
it is impossible to build a lawless state without lawyers obedient to authority;
the rule of law is not a matter of politics, but a guarantee of freedom from the fear of the governed against the governed;
an independent judge needs a free lawyer to defend the independence of the judiciary, and a free lawyer needs an independent judge to defend the freedom of the lawyer fighting for the independence of the judiciary. We all need free judges to defend our freedom against those in power;
yesterday there was Hungary, today there is Poland, and tomorrow there will be France and other countries of the European Union. It is enough to have knowledge of European history, to "read" the present and to have an imagination of what authoritarianism can lead to;
a judge, a barrister, a solicitor and a prosecutor cannot just be, but have to want to be and to be. These professions are united by an oath to uphold the law, i.e. to fight for the rule of law in defiance of those in power, whom it is the law that 'restrains' from subjugating the governed;
autocratic power always seeks to subjugate business according to the principle of 'divide and rule', i.e. to create oligarchic relations in business.

Michał Romanowski has already been invited to further training courses for French lawyers.