Dr. Zsolt Tibor Szabó, attorney-at-law, graduated from the Faculty of Law and Political Sciences of Eötvös Loránd University as a scholarship holder. Prior to that, he graduated from the Faculty of Public Administration at the Corvinus University of Budapest and completed the Master of Laws in Economic Criminal Law at the Deák Ferenc Institute of Law and Political Sciences of the Pázmány Péter Catholic University.
After receiving his law degree, he was admitted to the Doctoral School of the Faculty of Law and Political Sciences of Eötvös Loránd University, where he is currently pursuing his Ph.D. studies as a doctoral candidate with Ph.D. pre-degree certificate. He is expected to obtain his scientific degree in 2023. He is currently working on his doctoral thesis at the Department of Criminal Law, while at the same time he has been teaching criminal substantive law as an adjunct lecturer for more than three and a half years to full-time and part-time students. In addition to teaching, he also acts as a consultant for theses and coursework, and also takes part in the examinations for the relevant year groups.
His research interests include the dogmatics of official and economic corruption offences.
Dr. Zsolt Tibor Szabó’s professional experience was mainly gained in law firms with mixed practices, and in addition to general practice areas, he has also had the opportunity to work in the fields of public procurement law, competition law, administrative law and tax law.
He has acted in a number of civil litigation proceedings (damages, enforcement of claims related to obligations, claims for personality rights, actions for the termination or limitation of enforcement, etc.), has appeared in several large-scale liquidation proceedings as the representative of the creditor or debtor, has been involved in the execution of several real estate sales contracts, has acted as a defence counsel in criminal proceedings on a weekly basis, and has been involved in more complex corporate litigation.
As a trainee lawyer, he worked for the longest time with the law firm Gellér and Bárányos, where he gained very thorough, wide-ranging and deep knowledge, professional experience, sharp and precise insight specifically in the field of criminal law from Prof. Dr. Balázs József Gellér, Professor and Head of Department, attorney-at-law.
Thanks to his former principal and mentor, he was able to act in criminal cases of the highest importance and the greatest substantive weight in the country, including economic, budget-damaging and transport cases, by taking an active role on the side of the defendant or the aggrieved party.
As a defender and researcher, his skills and abilities acquired over more than ten years in the field of criminal law have given him a marked confidence and decisiveness in dealing with the authorities and the courts.
At Szabó and Szalai Law Firm, he is also partly involved in civil litigation and non-contentious proceedings, such as debt collection and liquidation proceedings, but also in divorce proceedings, drafting of deeds, incorporation or change registration proceedings, as well as in representing plaintiffs or defendants.
In addition to traditional law practice, Dr. Zsolt Tibor Szabó specialises in criminal law and infraction law.
Dr. Zsolt Tibor Szabó, attorney-at-law, has always kept in mind and followed the principle that the knowledge acquired in practice must be balanced with the objective, theoretical knowledge acquired in the course of the study of law. With this in mind, and with a view to making a strong impact, he decided at an early stage to make progress in the field of jurisprudence, which he would then be able to put to good use in the application of the law.
During his university studies, he twice won first place in the Budapest Criminal Law Moot Court Competition, and as a trainee lawyer he once reached the third and once the first podium in the moot court competitions organized by the Budapest Bar Association. He has also competed in national competitions representing the Faculty of Law of ELTE and the Budapest Bar Association.
At the XXXIII National Scientific Student Conference in Miskolc, his thesis was awarded a special prize in the Criminal Law Section, and then – working on the same topic – he won a 12-month scholarship within the framework of the New National Excellence Programme.
The competent Council of ELTE awarded him the Hajnóczy Prize for his achievements, making him one of the pride of the Faculty.
Dr. Zsolt Tibor Szabó has presented at more than ten professional and academic conferences, and has published more than twenty academic papers in reputable Hungarian law journals on corruption offences (gratuity, passive trading in influence, active trading in influence, bribery regarding a public officer, corporate compliance, whistleblowing) and criminal procedural law (preparatory session, preparatory proceedings, confessions, plea agreement).
He was an external workshop member of the Criminal Law Workshop of the Bibó István College, and he submitted several papers to the scientific competition of the Prosecutor General’s Office in memory of Sándor Kozma.
In addition to the Head of the Department of Criminal Law, his career in jurisprudence is also assisted by Dr. hab. István Ambrus, Associate Professor, Head of the Department of Criminology at ELTE-ÁJK.
He passed his bar exams with excellent result.
He speaks English and Italian.
