Franz Schwarz Delivers 4th Bergsten Lecture In Vienna

Franz Schwarz delivered the 4th Bergsten Lecture on the subject of "Systemic Case Management and Burden of Proof". Over 400 registered attendees, including senior members of the Austrian and German judiciary and academia, followed the invitation of the Austrian Arbitration Association and the Vienna University School of Law, who co-hosted the event at the premises of the Vienna International Arbitral Center.

In his lecture, Mr Schwarz encouraged a deeper, more 'systemic' consideration of how substantive law interacts with procedural issues, exploring the interdependence of substance and procedure on the example of burden of proof and document disclosure. Should a party be only entitled to request documents from the other side with respects to facts for which it carries the burden of proof (as the majority of civil law authorities suggests)? Or should document production requests be considered, and granted, independently from the burden of proof (as