Robert Pelikán (born 18 October 1979) is a

Czech Czech may refer to: * Anything from or related to the Czech Republic, a country in Europe ** Czech language ** Czechs, the people of the area ** Czech culture ** Czech cuisine * One of three mythical brothers, Lech, Czech, and Rus *Czech (surnam ...

lawyer and politician who served as

Minister of Justice A justice ministry, ministry of justice, or department of justice, is a ministry or other government agency in charge of the administration of justice. The ministry or department is often headed by a minister of justice (minister for justice in a ...

from 2015 to 2018.

Biography

Legal career

Pelikán studied at the Faculty of Law of the

Charles University in Prague Charles University (CUNI; , UK; ; ), or historically as the University of Prague (), is the largest university in the Czech Republic. It is one of the oldest universities in the world in continuous operation, the oldest university north of the ...

. He began his professional career in 2002 as a Junior Associate at the Císař, Češka, Smutný and Co. law firm. After completing a six-month professional internship at the General Court of the European Union in Luxembourg in 2006 and passing the Bar exam in 2007, Pelikán joined the international law firm

Linklaters Linklaters LLP is a British multinational law firm, headquartered in London. Founded in 1838, it is one of the four ' Magic Circle' law firms known for their corporate and financial expertise. It currently employs about 3,100 lawyers in 31 of ...

, where he practised as an Attorney until 2009. Pelikán co-founded the Vrána & Pelikán law firm the same year, becoming a partner until 2014, when he left the firm, sold his share in Vrána & Pelikán, and suspended his attorney practice – before entering the state administration. Pelikán's fields as an attorney were competition, corporate and civil law, as well as dispute resolution.

Political career

On 12 March 2015, Pelikán was appointed the sixteenth Minister of Justice of the Czech Republic, succeeding

Helena Válková Helena Válková (born 7 January 1951) is a Czech politician, university professor, and lawyer, specialising in criminal law and criminology. From January 2014 until March 2015 she was the Czech Minister of Justice in the government of Bohuslav S ...

. He was criticized by , Supreme Public Prosecutor of the

Czech Republic The Czech Republic, also known as Czechia, and historically known as Bohemia, is a landlocked country in Central Europe. The country is bordered by Austria to the south, Germany to the west, Poland to the northeast, and Slovakia to the south ...

, for his plan to increase state executive control over the Prosecutor's Offices. At the 2017 legislative elections, Pelikán was elected as a member of the Chamber of Deputies. On 7 April 2018, Pelikán announced that he would leave politics and resign from all executive posts, citing the significant differences of opinion between himself and his party. He remained in the post until 27 June 2018, when a new government was appointed.

Post-political career

In October 2018, Pelikán joined the international law firm

Wolf Theiss Wolf Theiss is an Austrian law firm with offices in Central, Eastern, and Southeastern Europe. History Wolf Theiss was founded in 1957 in Vienna. Since 1995, the company has opened offices in Prague (1998), Belgrade (2002), Bratislava (2002), L ...

as a Counsel and a member of the newly-established regional Corporate Investigations practice.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Pelikan, Robert 1979 births Justice ministers of the Czech Republic Charles University alumni Living people ANO (political party) Government ministers 21st-century Czech lawyers Politicians from Prague Members of the Chamber of Deputies of the Czech Republic (2017–2021)