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Overview
Although less affected than its more westerly counterparts, Austria has by no means escaped the economic downturn. M&A transactions have taken a serious hit, even if the market has not died altogether. Firms that have a strong capital markets offering will certainly see a drop in work, especially on the equity side.
After a bumper 2007, the number of deals in the pipeline has undoubtedly shrunk over the past year. However, the lack of funds in the market is yet to have a real impact on firms. Redundancies are not widespread, and firms are still seeing a good flow of new work through the door. Real estate, for instance, is still a relatively busy area, especially across eastern Europe. Since many of the firms in the Austrian market have a CEE focus, this continues to generate work.
Many players are maintaining their expansionist approach, with names such as CHSH Cerha Hempel Spiegelfeld Hlawati and Schönherr opening new offices across CEE in 2008. However, Austria continues to guard its own market fairly well. Most of the top names are domestic firms, with such firms as Binder Grösswang Rechtsanwälte, CHSH Cerha Hempel Spiegelfeld Hlawati, Dorda Brugger Jordis, Schönherr and Wolf Theiss leading the way. However, international firms do make their presence felt, and Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer, CMS Reich-Rohrwig Hainz Rechsanwälte GmbH, DLA Piper Weiss-Tessbach and Baker & McKenzie Diwok Hermann Petsche Rechtsanwälte GmbH all operate at the top of the market.
Mid-size and smaller firms, such as Barnert Egermann Illigasch Rechtsanwälte GmbH, Fellner Wratzfeld & Partners, Hausmaninger Kletter Rechtsanwälte GmbH and bpv Hügel Rechtsanwälte OEG offer niche expertise and consequently also garner some classy mandates.