May 8, 2026, a judgment was handed down by the District Court in Legnica in the wide-ranging case against the management of a well-known Legnica law firm. The main defendant – lawyer Zbigniew K. – was sentenced to a cumulative four years in prison and also received a 10-year ban on practising as a lawyer or legal adviser.

What did investigators establish?

As reported by the District Prosecutor’s Office in Legnica, between 2009 and 2013 the law firm operated a mechanism for misappropriating money owed to clients. Funds obtained from insurance companies and bailiffs, instead of going to people injured in accidents, were used for the company’s ongoing needs, such as salaries and taxes. – Although the contracts provided for settlement within 14 days, clients waited months for their money, received only part of it or did not receive it at all – prosecutor Liliana Łukasiewicz explains.

She lists the following:

The judgment covers a number of offences, including:

  • misappropriation of property of considerable value – the court found Zbigniew K. guilty of misappropriating amounts owed to several dozen injured parties;
  • judicial and procedural fraud – the defendants used fictitious debt-assignment agreements, dividing them into smaller amounts (approximately PLN 1,500) in order to repeatedly seek reimbursement of legal representation costs, misleading the courts as to the legitimacy of the claims;
  • document forgery – in the course of the operation, signatures were forged on procedural documents and applications to the National Court Register;
  • fraud against a German insurer – Zbigniew K. was found guilty of causing a German company to dispose of its property to its detriment by using a forged loan agreement.

In addition to the prison sentence and professional ban, the court fined K. PLN 15,000.

The second defendant

Elżbieta W., who served as director of administration and finance, was found guilty of a number of offences, including:

  • continuous misappropriation of property of considerable value (together with Zbigniew K.), consisting of failing to pay clients the compensation owed to them;
  • forging documents in order to obtain an untruthful entry concerning the law firm’s management in the National Court Register;
  • attempted judicial fraud by pursuing nonexistent claims arising from sham loan agreements;
  • fraud and attempted fraud connected with the mass and unjustified pursuit of legal representation costs by dividing claims into smaller amounts;
  • repeatedly forging the signatures of a legal adviser from the law firm and Ryszard K. on procedural documents and debt-assignment agreements.

The spokesperson emphasizes:

At the same time, the defendant was acquitted of the charge of misappropriating commissions owed to agents cooperating with the law firm.

Elżbieta was sentenced to two years and six months in prison and fined. In addition to the prison sentence, the defendant was ordered to pay a total fine of PLN 7,500.

They must repair the damage

The court ordered the defendants to jointly repair the damage suffered by nearly 60 individuals and businesses, in an amount exceeding PLN 650,000. The amounts payable to individual injured parties range from several hundred złoty to more than PLN 113,000.

What about the accountant?

The law firm’s accountant, Dorota Ś., was acquitted of the charges against her.

The judgment is not final. Liliana Łukasiewicz:

The prosecutor considered the judgment unjust, including with regard to the acquittal of accountant Elżbieta W. on some of the charges and the discontinuation of proceedings concerning some of them. The acquittal of accountant Dorota Ś. was also considered questionable, primarily because of her procedural role and the official duties she performed within the law firm’s structure.

Investigators have announced that they will appeal.