Final Word from Monday, November 25, 2019

Lawyer Radek Pokorný, who is suing us in two legal cases for damaging his good name, said through his lawyer in court on Nov. 8, 2018, that our article of Oct. 26, 2017, might have caused his firm to drop out of the Law Firm of the Year rankings. Prior to the publication of our article, Pokorný & Wagner had appeared repeatedly as a Highly Recommended Firm and in the Public Contracts category, according to Pokorný's lawyer, Jozef Mikloško, but not after the article was printed. This seemed to us to be a trifle at the time, but Lidové noviny now reports that the Czech Chamber of Commerce is trying to force Pokorný off the board of the Arbitration Court. This would be far from a trifle. Six prominent members of the board sent an open letter to the Court's arbitrators. Being a vice president of the Arbitration Court and also representing companies that come before it, such as Škoda Transportation in its Kč 1.2bn victory over Czech Railways, must be particularly lucrative for Pokorný. In these increasingly difficult times, we would truly hate for our articles to cause anyone to start feeling the economic pinch. [ Czech Republic Josef Vladimír Dlouhý Kapsch Petr Rafaj highway toll tender ]