Former Havel & Partners Senior Associate Rene Cienciala has joined Urban & Hejduk as the firm's new Head of International Arbitration.
Cienciala specializes in complex dispute resolution, including international commercial, investor-state, and sports arbitration. According to Urban & Hejduk, he “provides comprehensive legal advice to Czech and foreign clients in all stages of court proceedings as well as in domestic and international commercial arbitration (ICC, LCIA, or UNCITRAL). He has equally acted as counsel in numerous cases before the Czech Arbitration Court [and has assisted] clients in preparing structured arbitration clauses, setting aside domestic arbitral awards, or recognizing and enforcing foreign judgments and foreign arbitral awards in the Czech Republic." In addition, the firm reports, he "has extensive experience in sports law as an arbitrator before the Czech Football Association and as counsel in international sports arbitration or international disciplinary proceedings. Furthermore, he specializes in the protection of foreign direct investments and has acted as local counsel in investor-state arbitration.”
According to Cincala, "[Urban & Hejduk] has a growing number of international clients as well as interesting international mandates and was accordingly looking for someone experienced to expand this practice." According to him, “we are currently commencing several complex multimillion court and arbitral proceedings on behalf of a prominent Swiss claimant and strengthening our sports law practice. I have, thus, decided accepting a stirring opportunity as the new Head of International Arbitration at Urban & Hejduk while dealing with challenging international cases from the day one.”
Cincala has a Master’s degree and a Ph.D. from Charles University in Prague as well as an LL.M. from the Geneva Center for International Dispute Settlement. Prior to joining Urban & Hejduk, he spent almost ten years with Havel & Partners.
“Rene’s arrival is an important step in developing our international practice,” commented Urban & Hejduk Co-Founding Partner Marek Hejduk. “He joins our team as a very talented professional having a locally unique experience in the representation of clients in legally or technically demanding disputes with a foreign element. We already have many significant mandates in this area that we want to expand further, including through our exclusive presence in the swiftly growing Grimaldi Alliance.”
