Zdeněk Kučera named Lawyer of the Year for IT Law in the Czech Republic
January 2018 - The Czech Republic’s most prestigious law competition has awarded Zdeněk Kučera Lawyer of the Year 2017 for IT Law in the annual contest organised by the Czech Bar Association and EPRAVO.CZ publishing house.
“I am delighted to have won the Lawyer of the Year award, and I consider it recognition for all the years I have been working in IT law. It is also a great motivation for my further work,” said Kučera. “This year, Kinstellar is opening major mandates in communications and cyber security, and we are also focusing on new technologies, such as blockchain and smart contracts,” said Kučera, regarding what the firm is currently working on. “In addition to privacy protection, where new legislation is going to come into effect, I expect the other hot topics in IT law for 2018 will be database protection, liability of platforms, IoT and smart cities. IT law is an extremely fascinating field, and I look forward to the cases we will take on in this area.”
Kučera graduated from the Faculty of Economics and Administration of Masaryk University in Brno and from the Faculty of Law of Charles University in Prague, where he also completed his doctoral studies in private international and international business law. He gained further experience in IT law at the Faculty of Law at the University of Zurich in Switzerland. He has worked in the public sphere, and since 2008 he has been working as an attorney. Currently a managing associate at the Prague office of Kinstellar, Kučera leads the ICT Law and Litigation Team. As an expert in IT law, he also advised on contracts for implementation of the information system for the Office of the Government of the Czech Republic. His main areas of specialisation are IT contracts, online liability, telecommunications, data protection, procurements and disputes, in particular those concerning technology.
At Czech Technical University’s Faculty of Information Technology, Kučera designed their courses in IT law, acting as the guarantor and as a lecturer. In addition, he lectures on IT law at the Faculty of Law of Charles University in Prague as well as at other universities. In the past he led the International Commercial Transactions course at the Law School of Shangdong University in China. In addition, he educates the general public in relation to software contracts, legal aspects of online marketing, personal data protection and the legal regulation of new technologies among other topics. He is the founder of the annual LAW FIT conference, which brings together a wide range of specialists to address emerging issues in law and technology. He regularly writes on these topics and is a court-appointed expert in literary arts, specialising in the creation, distribution and use of copyright.
More information about the Lawyer of the Year competition and the results list can be found here.