The Legal 500 > Europe, Middle East & Africa > Austria > Commercial, corporate and M&A

‘Full-service law firm with high level quality of legal advice in all areas and broad geographical coverage with own offices and networks (eg. Lex Mundi).‘

‘Very strong corporate practice in Austria. One of the go-to firms in Vienna.‘

‘In comparison to others they stand out because they always go the extra mile and come up with creative ideas when it comes to transactional issues. They have fantastic knowledge of the field and extensive experience. You can always depend on them and they will never leave you hanging.‘

‘Excellent combination of expertise, experience and commercial sense.‘

‘Clemens Hasenauer and Johannes Prinz – Outstanding legal knowledge and ability as well as negotiation skills.‘

‘Albert Birkner stands out for sure. He has overwhelming knowledge of his field, in our case regarding corporate, M&A, as well as real estate and tax matters. Simply an extremely reliable and efficient expert. Matters get explained in a logical way and complex situations are clearly broken down, so that one can understand what is required or necessary. He is very well known within the industry not only in Austria. And as far as the law firm is concerned, Nadine Leitner and Alistair Gillespie (lawyers in Albert’s team) are worth mentioning, great attitude with a hands-on approach.‘

‘Albert Birkner is one of the leading M&A and corporate lawyers in Austria. His responsiveness is outstanding.  He is extremely commercial.‘

‘Schönherr’s corporate/M&A practice has distinguished itself as a market leader in Austria. The corporate practice is very experienced in the structuring and implementation of reorganizations in the banking sector. Their legal advice is very much to the point and they are very responsive.‘

‘Roman Perner advises on a broad range of corporate matters and provides very valuable advice to the legal department as well as to the board and the key executives in their decision making process. His advice is very much to the point and he is very responsive.‘

‘Great private equity experience – crazy work ethics and commitment, always responsive and advice right on point. Best Austrian law firm from my view and we use a lot of different firms.‘

‘According to my experience, they are business minded and look for solutions not just speak legal.‘

‘The team is very responsive and in time! It answered all questions comprehensively and gave good advice which turned out to be effective.‘

‘Bernd Schneiderbauer and Thomas Schirmer – both are excellent lawyers, always available, working day and night, perfect and clear advice. For me the by far best PE lawyers in Austria.‘

‘Thomas Schirmer and Gottfried Gassner are both experienced and sought after professionals, yet hands-on and reachable when we work together.‘

‘Andreas Hable and Christian Zwick are very knowledgeable in M&A transactions and legal questions and activities connected therewith. In particular their assessment of their due diligence findings was very accurate and helpful.‘

‘Swift and flexible but large enough to supply capacity when needed.‘

‘The team of bpv Huegel is characterised above all by an extremely business-oriented approach. Many of the team members are also qualified as lawyers and tax advisers (this combination is unfortunately rather rare in Austria), which simplifies and accelerates the discussion and provides very high added value to the advice. The team members are all highly motivated and highly qualified and quickly and creatively find tailor-made solutions to problems. They have a very broad and good general overview as well as very deep and resilient specialist knowledge in commercial, corporate and tax law. This combination makes the advice provided by this niche law firm something very special and unique in Austria and internationally.‘

‘bpv Huegel’s corporate/M&A team always delivers well thought-out work products of the highest quality. Their reaction time is extremely short and they are very pragmatic. For me, this is the best law firm in this field in Austria.‘

‘The team offers a very broad spectrum on a very high level: M&A transactions, strategic (board room) advice, corporate restructurings, legal opinions relating to tricky corporate law questions. They are very hands on, always available and have a pragmatic approach.‘

‘Florian Gibitz – unbelievable know how in corporate law, top negotiator, Always keeps the companies target and Advantage in mind, good overview during tough times, well structured.‘

‘Christoph Nauer – complex issues are solved simply; corporate law at highest levels.‘

‘Thomas Lettau: M&A – always concentrated and to the point.‘

‘Elke Napokoj is one of the most solution-oriented lawyers I have worked with. Always on top of the topic. Excellent response time!‘

‘They are fast and professional.‘

‘Great to work with and good understanding of underlying commercial rationale of respective transactions.‘

‘Very dedicated and available almost around the clock 7 days a week.‘

‘Hands on and very passionate with a strong business focus.‘

‘Alexander Rakosi – great legal and business understanding. He is also thinking outside of the “legal box” – focused on trying to find solutions and seems to be always available (in particular outside of ordinary office hours).‘

‘Very dedicated, a strong transaction experience, good sense for business, success driven and aiming to solve issues.‘

‘Very supportive and clever team with a lot of experience and enthusiasm. They focus on finding solutions and getting the deal done and this is exactly what I am looking for.‘

‘Broad experience, excellent availability and communications, proactive and forward thinking, deliver results.‘

‘Martin Brodey – excellent lawyer who looks far beyond the actual issue or matter. He seems to be always balanced and cannot be disturbed.‘

‘Christian Ritschka – he has a very matter of fact appearance; he brings “peace” into the negotiation and is always well prepared.‘

‘Bernhard Rieder is very responsive and gives quick feedback. He is very good at handling matters professionally and pragmatically.‘

‘Andreas Mayr and Bernhard Rieder have been the perfect tandem for our matter. Mayr is an excellent adviser with broad experience and a well-established network in Vienna. Rieder is highly competent, on top of things and immediately available.‘

‘Christoph Brogyanyi has a very precise and pragmatic approach. He is extremely responsive and “hands-on”. Very experienced in corporate and M&A matters, also in complex cross-border transactions.‘

‘The teams’ grasp of the law and ability to influence and drive negotiation of key terms in the transaction.‘

‘Very responsive and thorough. Incredibly thoughtful and hard-working. Seamless transaction coverage between the team members.’

‘Compared to other law firms we know, we can be absolutely sure that all specialists of Eisenberger & Herzog, which are needed for our problem, addressed all aspects and can be dealt with in one appointment. There are thus no delays in troubleshooting and in the past has always resulted in an effective and fast solution.‘

‘Peter Winkler and Nidal Karaman’s grasp of the law and ability communicate and influence others are second to none.  They were able to achieve favourable results for us on our transaction and influence the other side to accept our position.‘

‘The accessibility and availability of the employees is to be emphasised, also the large experience in the area of corporate law.‘

‘Clemens Lanschuetzer – excellent and commercially-minded M&A lawyer who focuses on what’s important.‘

‘Michael Strenitz – very knowledgeable and provides great strategic advice.‘

‘The team has a very solid legal background and experience in large deals and industry-related knowledge.’

‘Absolute top law firm in Vienna/Austria, highest quality, best practice and unique experience in corporate law and M&A.‘

‘The local knowledge in CEE is extremely good besides the general M&A knowledge one would expect from a firm like Wolf Theiss.‘

‘Just good lawyers. They know what they are doing and are attentive to their clients. They understand international business.‘

‘Christian Hoenig – venture capital expert, more than 20 years experience in financing rounds, M&A and IPOs.‘

‘Doris Buxbaum – high quality partner in all questions of content in VC and corporate law.‘

‘Doris Buxbaum and Christian Hoeing are reliable and reactive – excellent expertise. They are also excellent people, which has made our relationship work so well.‘

‘Very profound knowledge and understanding of the business and requirements of the client. Business oriented, creative and practical approach to finding solutions.‘

‘Extremely committed team, thinks ahead to anticipate potential issues and very structured approach.‘

‘Paul Luiki is one of the most experienced M&A lawyers in Austria. He has a strong attitude to get the job done. He is a native speaker in English too, a rare combination in Austria.‘

‘Really believe that the team at Brandl & Talos are the hidden champions in the Austrian market. The have a team consisting of more than 20 professionals only working on corporate/M&A matters and are really active in the market. Given the size of the firm, they are involved in an outstanding number of high-end transactions in the Austrian market. In my opinion they are underestimated in the market as they are delivering exceptional services. They tend to work in small but very committed teams of highly experienced professionals, are accessible 24/7, always straight to the point and focus on (commercially) relevant topics (being pragmatic on other issues). If you engage the team you always have the team’s full attention and the feeling that your transaction is the most important project they are currently dealing with.‘

‘Very competent transaction lawyers with perfect understanding of the commercial aspects of investing and translating these requirements into legal terms. Complementary team with different strong viewpoints that go the extra mile to get a deal done.‘

‘Roman Rericha and Markus Arzt – willing to walk the extra mile for their clients, very proactive approach, enormous expertise, very business minded.‘

‘Roman Rericha – exceptional team leader – high integrity and 24/7 available to complete time-critical transactions.‘

‘Markus Arzt – associate and deputy of Roman Rericha – best transaction lawyer below 35 in Austria.‘

‘We love the very business driven approach and their way of handling negotiations. They are strong at thinking out of the box and have outstanding cross border capabilities. We also love their diverse teams.‘

‘The highest standard in legal expertise combined with the availability and dedication towards the customer make the practice unique. The teams strength is the quality of each team member in combination with partner who is always perfectly available and fully aware of every step of the way. Strong at providing very diverse teams, able to think out of the box.‘

‘Very dedicated, great business judgement and very pragmatic advice!‘

‘Elisabeth Stichmann and her team deliver high quality advice always in due time. Information is always brought to the point, no unnecessary fuzz around it.‘

‘Maria Doralt stands out for her unrivalled commitment and impressive negotiation skills. She is a great communicator and makes complex issues easy to grasp. She is also great at building relationships with all parties and ensuring smooth negotiations, very tough in substance but very smooth in her manner of negotiating deals. That helps her to build confidence with all parties and to find win win solutions. She is certainly one of the best corporate lawyers I have ever met.‘

‘Maria Doralt – outstanding, both academic and practical excellence, very much engaged, good availability!‘

‘Kerstin Schnabl – one of the leading experts in  Germany AG Law,  very responsive and reliable!’

‘Reliable, helpful, available, understanding, good ideas and quick.‘

‘Young, strong pro-active and quick reaction team; high legal skills but also with required hands-on mentality to get things done and executed quickly.‘

‘The practice’s respective specialists in these areas cooperated extremely well. Relevant information was gathered in a very effective way by the litigation team and and shared proactively with other teams of the practice. As a consequence, their services proved to be both high quality and cost efficient.’

‘Really on our side, motivating but also warning in legal decisions.‘

‘Alexander Operenyi – pragmatic approach, focused to the important points, quick reactions.’

‘Bernhard Köck is very down to earth and result oriented. Bernhard is also easily accessible.‘

‘Fast and accurate.‘

‘Solution and case oriented.‘

‘Tasks are tackled in a solution-oriented manner and assigned accordingly – no “empty kilometres”. All-round carefree package ensures ‘very good customer feeling’.

‘PHH has a size and expertise to cover all private and business needs – with a very personal approach. PHH is well connected and has an international network. Depending on the case, international law firms are consulted – they have always worked competently and speedily. Perfect, eloquent negotiation even in English, whether face-to-face or conference calls.‘

‘Straight forward practical approach.‘

‘Rainer Kaspar and his team – high competence, tightly organised, comes straight to the point, perfect negotiation skills, high operational readiness and 24/7 availability.‘

‘Very strong technical legal skills.’

‘Christoph Diregger stands out as one of the top corporate lawyers of this generation. Also very pleasant to work with as a colleague.‘

‘The advice received is straight forward, practical and very quick – we are never left to chase up.‘

‘Highly flexible and practical solutions, collaborative approach on eye-level with in-house consultant, high transparency on billing matters and excellent case communication.‘

‘Alexander Stolitzka stands out with great communication skills, making him an ideal partner not only for the preparation and drafting phase but also in the negotiation process. His dedication, availability and collaborative approach are outstanding.‘

‘Silva Palzer and Mario Tiefenbacher both provide a first rate service in terms of both quality and efficiency.  In particular, nothing is too much trouble for Silva, even small queries are dealt with in the same efficient way.‘

‘I have always been happy with level of responsiveness, the efficiency from Silva Palzer and how common sense & a commercial approach prevail. I would definitely recommend Silva Palzer.‘

‘The team is very professional, flexible to fulfil the requests and they are very quick at working.‘

‘The firm offers a lot of experts for each different legal field. All of them are really experts in their special segment.‘

‘GSV is our go-to firm for complex corporate matters in Austria. GSV partners are very well versed to work with multinationals and in international complex transactions. GSV stands out for being a local firm, but with expertise and connections similar to larger firms. We are very pleased with the work provided by GSV.‘

‘Bernd Grama and Philip Vondrak are the partners who regularly work with us. Bernd is a very client oriented corporate lawyer, with extensive knowledge of complex corporate structures for multinationals. Philip Vondrak is qualified as a corporate and tax lawyer, which is fantastic for our needs. Both Philip and Bernd are technically excellent and, differently from the average in Austria, very responsive.‘