The recipient of the Ministry of Culture’s Award for Contribution to the Development of Czech Culture and the Presidential Merit Award believes that social responsibility cannot be limited to the carbon footprint of companies or pious proclamations. He is also a strong supporter of Israel fighting for our civilization.
The names Císař, Češka, Smutný are often known to people who have almost never needed a lawyer. What led you to change the brand to Portos?
This time last year, I was thinking we needed a change. They say that if you want to stay put, you have to move, and today that is doubly true. It’s true that we’ve been building our office for thirty years, but it’s not safe to fall in love with our own legacy.
Our goal is to build a strong company that will outlast us. We’ve invested decades of our lives in it, we don’t want it to succumb to decay. But perhaps more importantly, over the last 15 years we have met some remarkable young people. They came to us as newcomers. Twenty-year-old law students, for example. And we’ve found that we enjoy young people.
Did the doyens of Czech lawyering find themselves in mentoring?
Nevěříme tomu, že lidé jsou univerzální. Úspěch znamená tým. Tým, ve kterém je každý člen vynikající v tom, co dělá. My ho dnes máme. Aby se tým jmenoval po nás třech zakladatelích, to by působilo nabubřele. Myslím, že to byl Petr Michal, který nakonec přišel se jménem Portos.
How has advocacy changed in the thirty years since the revolution?
Everything today is decided by the quality of people, despite all the aids such as artificial intelligence. You have people who are culturally and contextually limited. They do their job and go home. You need those. But with leaders, you need their scope to be broader. That’s how you measure the quality of any team today, law firm or otherwise.
And how has it changed?
Today it’s not just about litigation and classic lawyering anymore, you have to be more aware of what’s going on around you. A typical example is ESG (environmental, social and governance factors – ed.). Either you take it like a moron and start weak-mindedly just purely measuring your carbon footprint. Or you try to work with someone, like a bank, to come up with your own approach that results in a working model of a responsible company. It’s not enough that you have energy saving light bulbs and your employees separate their waste.
But the obligations are increasing as well as the bureaucracy.
Yes. Especially towards the state and other control structures. Previously, the owner of the company or the CEO came in, had the documents ready and we worked with them. It was easier. Today we are consulted and we become more of a strategic advisor.
Does artificial intelligence, or rather machine learning, help you do that?
It helps. I’m convinced that in a few years, certain types of attorneys won’t be needed at all. The mechanical intellectual work is over.
But the world is also more complex and people are more engaged. The Green Deal, for example, is downright activist.
I’d keep going. It is a hysterical and strange agenda without any impact studies. I am not surprised that farmers, for example, are rebelling against it. When I saw Frans Timmermans (former 1st Vice-President of the European Commission – ed.) speak, I had to question his sanity. Or, worse still, his intentions. Only years later will it become clear whether this is a modernisation mechanism or part of a monstrous agenda to redistribute resources, money and wealth. It is a clash that will be the subject of the forthcoming European elections. On the one hand, you have interest groups that want more public money and, on the other, those who have often centuries of experience in their operation. In many countries, however, there are still green political parties with an almost extremist agenda that have 10% electoral gains.
Do you wonder?
It is clear that views will vary.For example, in Andalusia, where it hardly rains and farmers are going out of business, they logically look at the Green Deal differently.
The old continent is again at war after decades of peace. That is more dangerous than cows bloating, which should destroy the environment.
European diplomacy chief Josep Borrell may be right about this. Europe may indeed be divided on the issue of its relationship with Russia. This will be an issue mainly in the next European elections. The Portuguese are probably less concerned about it than the Slovaks or Hungarians. It is clear why, they are further away.
Let’s try something more positive: culture. You are a committed person, you have contributed a lot to the new organ in St.Vitus Cathedral. Is it coming?
They will! You are probably referring to the media pseudo-cause that has recently swept the public space. Most of it was fabrication. This is a 500-year project. This is a trans-political issue that does not count for years or generations, it is the heritage of a nation. During the whole time of the collection, I have not noticed anyone from the vicinity of Prague Castle behaving in any irresponsible or inappropriate way.
What are the plans of the Bohemia Heritage Fund, which you helped to establish?
Today, it is the largest patronage group in the country and dozens of people contribute to it. We are not replacing the Ministry of Culture or local authorities. We choose projects that we believe go beyond the normal type of repertoire and culture. So especially the live arts: music, opera, theatre, visual arts. Recently we have also embarked on a local memory project – we want people to remember their ancestors, how life used to be. We are also considering a train station project. The Railway Administration is gradually revitalising Czech railway stations in a great way. But what will happen to them? Will they remain railway stations, or can they also serve as buildings for occasional events?
And what is most important for you?
The most important thing for us is Janáček’s Brno.This is a festival that brings more and more significant opera productions. It involves really big names, such as the conductor Jakub Hrůša, a recognised Czech genius. We are a proud partner of this festival. We traditionally support Smetana Litomyšl. Our role is not only financial. We also contribute with advice, if you want moral support.
You are also the President of the Czech-Israeli Joint Chamber of Commerce. At what level are relations between the two countries now?
It’s not a common situation. I will give you an answer in a moment, but let us first say that Israel is at war and Hamas is at war. But Israel is part of our civilisation, whereas Hamas is a barbaric corps that revels in the murder of civilians.
But there are civilian casualties on both sides.
Given how viciously and ingeniously Hamas uses civilians as human shields, this is unfortunately unavoidable. Believe me, the servicemen and women of the Israeli army are doing everything they can to keep civilian casualties to a minimum. But let’s look at why now? Why and who needed to hit Israel in such a way? I believe this is a false flag operation. I know that Israel has been making intensive diplomatic efforts for at least a decade to reach an agreement with all the decisive players in the region.
It is about future security. The fruit of these efforts is the establishment of diplomatic relations with Morocco, the United Arab Emirates and Sudan. Others were in the pipeline. Israel was to cease being a devil to be destroyed in the eyes of its environment and become a respected democratic society and economy. Unfortunately, in the last moments of this process, at least before the major breakthrough, October 7th occurred.
Six months have passed since the massacre of Israeli civilians in October. Public opinion around the world has been leaning more in favour of the Palestinians for some time now, hasn’t it?
But we must continue to say that Israel is defending itself, that it is not the aggressor. Fortunately, the Czech Republic has shown great solidarity with the Jewish state from the beginning. Logically, trade went down for a while, the Israeli economy is bleeding, but as far as the Czech image is concerned, it has strengthened again. Our companies and people there are actively helping. It is not just a lyrical level that the Czechs are fine and like Israel. The support is real. For example, in our country it is safe to be of Israeli origin. In Germany, Holland or France, that is not quite the case anymore.
But have you noticed any calls from some Czech personalities for the government to change its attitude towards Israel? They say it is ignoring the humanitarian catastrophe in the Gaza Strip.
It is a series of grotesque misunderstandings that resulted in a letter to the government. When I saw it, I was horrified. They demanded a radical change of course in foreign policy. When I saw the names of some of the people who signed it, I thought it was nonsense. In the end, it came out that they wanted to trigger a dialogue on Gaza and Israel. In the Jewish community, this caused not so much consternation as disgust. I think that dialogue about Palestine and Israel has been going on all the time since the creation of the Jewish state. Both here and globally.
Author of the article: František Strnad Full article at idnes.cz (16. 4. 2024)
