Simonas Rėksnys

Simonas Reksnys was a special child because he started reading and writing when he was just two. And when he was four, he had already known the capitals of all the countries of the world. So nothing strange that from first class it was suggested to jump straight into fourth: the teachers decided that in the lower he would have nothing to do. Simon, 44, now works as a lawyer in Vilnius, speaks at least twelve foreign languages, and collects phone numbers from memory. – Simon, where are your such extraordinary abilities from? – Such an inheritance, I would say. The father – physicist – who defended his dissertation is from the highly educated Chibir family. Paul Chibir was a professor, a long-term head of the VU Department of Infectious Diseases, as well as a man in Infectious Hospital. Doctor and author of the first Lithuanian textbook on Infectious Diseases. And while pregnant, mom ate a lot of fish. And now I read about recent research, I learned that phosphorus in fish is very good at the development of the fetal brain. These would be the succession factors. – When did you realize that you were separating your abilities from peers? – Maybe when I went to first class for seven years and school leaders offered me to go straight to fourth if I passed the five exam session. Then there was still a five-point system, it was necessary to pass all the exams at least getting four. And I succeeded. I remember, and I wrote the dictation, checked both the knowledge of mathematics, nature cognition. I was immediately transferred to the fourth grade. – You probably never left for a second year? – No, I wasn’t. (Laughs.) I finished the school in ten years. I originally studied at Vilnius Michael Biržiška Gymnasium, from the eighth grade – Gabija gymnasium. I was by two years younger than my pees. I then entered sixteen at the Faculty of Law at Vilnius University. Of the 630 entrants, I was second in terms of scores. When I successfully graduated from the Faculty of Law, there was a dilemma of what to choose: whether a scientific or practical path. I did very well in science, theoretical things, but I still chose practice. I worked practical legal work without forgetting the theory: I published a „Employment law“ book in 2003. I was the head editor. My customers – foreign firms that have interests in Lithuania. And Lithuanian companies that have interests abroad. – In this case, it is very useful that you know a lot of foreign languages. In what languages are you easily communicating? – Learning Languages – in English,  Spanish, Polish, German, Italian, French, Norwegian, Danish, Russian is  my hobby, matched with the work. For example, in the years of studies, I have accompanied tourist groups and  Italian tours. Of course, this has helped to improve the language very much. Once the following order was: two weeks with one client and driver to drive from Vilnius to Tallinn and communicate constantly in the car. But you still need to be in that country to capture knowledge in memory. – Now as a lawyer, you represent one Japanese company. You probably already know well Japanese too? – I still learn Japanese. There are, two thousand hieroglyphs and eyes can be tired  while learning.  So a lot of Japanese to wear glasses. (Smiles.)  

Parengta pagal dienraščio „Respublika“ priedą „Julius/Brigita“