Paweł Knut
‘Although the introduction of appropriate legislation and its subsequent proper application will not solve the problem of homophobia and transphobia in its entirety, these actions constitute an indispensable foundation on which to build effective strategies to respond to these phenomena. This means that lawyers of all genders also have an important role to play in this process. LGBT discrimination is so deeply rooted in the Polish society and its legal system that to counteract it effectively requires consistent, and, above all, team work on the part of all lawyers and lawyers. Taking part in the LGBT+lawyers initiative is an important and necessary step for me in increasing the involvement of the legal community in protecting the LGBT rights in Poland.’
Paweł Knut is an attorney, member of the Bar Association in Warsaw and the Human Rights Section of the District Bar Council in Warsaw.
Since 2011 he has been a lawyer – member of the Campaign Against Homophobia Association team, and since 2018, a partner in Knut Mazurczak Adwokaci – the first Polish law firm specialising in providing legal assistance in LGBT cases.
He acted, among others, as an attorney in the so-called “The Printer from Łódź” case, which ended with a precedent of the Supreme Court decision, in which the prohibition of discrimination based on sexual orientation in access to services was confirmed for the first time. He is also the coordinator of the Coalition for Domestic Partnerships and Marriage Equality, which is a programme of precedent proceedings in which five same-sex couples apply for the possibility to formalise their relationship in Poland (at present, all cases covered by this programme are pending before the European Court of Human Rights).
In addition to his legal practice, he is also a doctoral student and a lecturer at the Faculty of “Artes Liberales” of the University of Warsaw, where he is preparing his doctoral thesis on hate speech prevention.