ParalegalLONDON
Jakub Mikulski is a paralegal with Zeiler Floyd Zadkovich, based in our London office.
Jakub studied law at the University of Nottingham. Alongside his degree, he was a research assistant at the University of Nottingham Commercial Law Centre and the University of Nottingham Human Rights Law Centre.
Jakub subsequently completed the Bar Training Course at the Inns of Court College of Advocacy, with multiple scholarships from the Honourable Society of Gray’s Inn. During this course, he began to undertake the associateship assessments of the Association of Average Adjusters, which he is due to complete later this year. He also regularly takes on pro bono work with the Free Representation Unit, with experience in the First-Tier and Upper Tribunals.
Jakub works in English (native) and spends his spare time honing his pizza making skills.
Professional experience
Education
When emails became popular in business in the 1990’s, to a large extent replacing faxes and letters by post, it was difficult to foresee how things could get any quicker. However, with the advent of social media into the fast-paced world of broking, and the arrival of WhatsApp, communication by email, it seemed, was just too slow.
WhatsApp messages are now regularly used for the negotiation of charterparties. However, the difficulties start when the charterparty falls apart. As many times as one party produces the messages as evidence of the contract, the other party argues that they are merely informal or unverifiable communications that should be given no value by a court or tribunal in considering contract formation.
Every now and then a commodities trade goes horribly wrong, the parties fall out and someone rings their lawyer to ask: ‘can we stop the letter of credit?’. Injunctions to stop letters of credit are rare as hens teeth in England or the US but more common in other jurisdictions, where civil law systems allow greater latitude.
The Commercial Court’s decision in Macquarie Bank Limited v Banque Cantonale Vaudoise [2024] EWHC 114 (Comm) sets out in crystal clear terms the English law view on attempts to do so and the enduring liability of the issuing bank.