Q & A with Matej Michalec

Your current occupation and country of work?
I am an attorney registered to practice both in Slovakia and the Czech Republic.

How do you use European law in your work?
My areas of specialisation (IP, in particular trademarks, e-commerce, and data protection) have been quite significantly harmonised via various EU law instruments, some of which also necessitate representation of clients at EU institutions including the Court of Justice of the EU. As result, my work requires me to deal with EU law issues practically on a daily basis.

How did you benefit from the scholarship and the knowledge gained?
ERA’s courses are very well structured and organized. They provide an excellent opportunity to get an insight into a particular area of EU law and are very well suited for both complete beginners as well as people with a more advanced background and experience. I have very much benefited from the course’s contents, which allowed me to get a strong basis in all of the main areas of IP including cross-disciplinary (with e.g. the competition law).