Dr Hab. Beata Gessel-Kalinowska vel Kalisz Bio

International arbitrator, expert in mergers and acquisitions, private equity / venture capital, and business law. Founder and senior partner of the GESSEL law firm. Member of The Hague Permanent Court of Arbitration (2024-), professor of the Institute of Law Studies of the Polish Academy of Sciences (2025-) and of its Academic Council (2023-), president of the ICC National Committee for Poland (2015-2021). President of the Lewiatan Court of Arbitration from 2011 through 2017, since then – its honorary president. A recognised international arbitrator, she has participated in more than 170 cases in domestic and international arbitration (conducted, inter alia, under ICC, SCC, VIAC, LCIA, UNCITRAL, FCC, IAA, SCAI, Lewiatan, KIG, KDPW, SIDiR rules) in the fields of M&A, construction law (inter alia, under FIDIC regulations), energy law and international commercial contracts. Member of advisory bodies and working groups of the world’s largest arbitration institutions: the Permanent Court of Arbitration of The Hague (PCA), the ICC Committee on Arbitration and ADR, the SCC Arbitrators’ Council of the Stockholm Arbitration Institute, the ICDR/AAA Arbitration Rules Revision Task Force and the IBA Task Force for the revision of the IBA Guidelines on Conflicts of Interest in International Arbitration (2024). Chair of the Audit Committee of the Polish Association of Capital Investors (PSIK), board member of the Polish Arbitration Association (PSSP). She combines her career as an arbitrator with her academic activities. In 2023 she was appointed to the Scientific Council of the Institute of Legal Sciences of the Polish Academy of Sciences (INP PAN), since 2025 as a professor at INP PAN, she has been heading the newly established Centre for Comparative Private Law. Vice-chair and trainer of the 2024 ICC Advanced Arbitration Academy for CEE programme educating future arbitrators. For many years she was an associate professor at Cardinal Stefan Wyszynski University, where she lectured on M&A transactions, international arbitration and commercial law. She has given guest lectures at, among others, Stockholm University, Humbolt University, University of Leicester, Queen Mary University London and Paris, as well as the CIArb Virtual Diploma in International Commercial Arbitration.