Leading and renowned manufacturers of automobile, high-performance motor sports vehicles, truck, bus and related products, doing business in and around Austria from across the globe, including Germany and the United States, turn to our lawyers for representation in lawsuits, regulatory disputes, corporate crises, investigations and strategic planning.
Our experience in automotive product liability, business disputes, fuel and energy, finance and technology, including artificial intelligence issues, OEMs and intervening alterations, is remarkable, and we have continually achieved outstanding results for our clients.
The commercial aviation sector is a significant focus for us, representing a diverse range of clients that includes carriers, operators, concessionaires, developers and governments.
Our expertise focuses on development, planning, conversions and financing, and we regularly represent foreign and multinational corporates in complex multi-jurisdictional airline, airport and avionics disputes.
From supporting a manufacturer of civil and military aircraft in civil, criminal and administrative proceedings in connection with massive contractual disputes, to working with a significant shareholder of a transnational airline in a corporate litigation dispute, our lawyers have the invaluable sector knowledge to deliver the best outcome.
Our expertise in complex banking and finance litigation and arbitration, including focus areas such as financial derivatives, new product development and implementation, and fundamental macroeconomic upheaval, is unequaled in the entire CEE/SEE region.
Crucially, we have the capacity and know-how to utilize immense amounts of data and use it effectively in legal proceedings in order to optimize your position. Our clients include Austrian and multinational banks, hedge funds, real estate funds, alternative asset providers, private equity, insurers and an array of additional market participants. They all value our decades of trial experience on Austrian and international banking and finance disputes, strong quantitative analysis and ground-breaking academic work, coupled with a profound knowledge of the market players and practices. Illustrating this success, lawyers on our team led as first chair one of the largest litigation cases ever brought before an Austrian court.
Our experience in construction and engineering disputes includes all major forms of contracts, including FIDIC and turnkey, procurement, concession, and joint venture, as well as license and maintenance, output, supply, vendor and finance agreements.
Our attorneys have represented companies in their most complex disputes from an early stage case and risk assessment until their finalization through litigation, arbitration or settlement, covering a diverse range of infrastructure and commercial construction projects. This includes one landmark case relating to the construction of fibre-optic pipes in Central Europe which led to one of the highest arbitral awards of the year, and a settlement of several hundred million euros.
We also represent clients before dispute adjudication boards and in all other forms of alternative dispute resolution.
Our dispute resolution practitioners have a strong focus on corporate litigation, the resolution of business irregularities and arbitration.
We advocate for predominantly multi-national clients in complex cases involving an array of diverse industries, including banking, financial services, construction, advertising, sports, professional services, gaming, enterprise technology, large retail, healthcare and food and beverages.
Our thorough understanding of how multinational groups operate and interact, and how complex M&A deals are structured really sets us apart. From shareholder disputes to tackling regulatory and financial accounting improprieties, our in-depth knowledge of corporate and business law allows us to help formulate and effectively implement strategies with the best possible results, while minimizing disruptions to our clients’ business. Our corporate litigation lawyers have experience in winning multimillion shareholder disputes on all court levels, including the Austrian Supreme Court.
We boast a number of industry specialists with substantial backgrounds in the areas of distribution and sales and licensing; routinely advising in international distribution and licensing disputes and assisting clients in defending their contractual rights under distribution agreements.
Our distributions-in-dispute expertise covers a wide range of industries such as pharmaceuticals, cosmetics, beverages, electronic consumer goods and building materials. We represent commercial agents, distributors, manufacturers and suppliers and provide in-depth understanding of the business relationship between principals and their distributors or agents. Our strong distribution expertise is perfectly matched by our arbitration capabilities, given that most international distribution agreements are subject to the jurisdiction of an arbitral tribunal.
Increasing global demands for enterprising energy solutions create all sorts of challenging risks for business.
Our expert lawyers are here to tackle the arising disputes with insight and influence. Our experience ranges from price adjustment disputes, project financing and joint ventures right through to oil and gas exploration and construction.
We bring valuable intelligence in the field of clean technology and sustainable, alternative energy, but we’re also experts in more traditional energy production areas, highlighted by such work as our case involving the world’s largest coal strip mine.
Businesses operating in the fast-moving food and beverage sector not only face a complex regulatory framework but one of the most competitive global marketplaces in history.
Our lawyers have a profound understanding of the current and future challenges of the sector and are used to handling landmark cases, such as the largest arbitration in the past thirty years for a leading global soft drinks company. We are also proud of our knowledge about disputes related to international investments and acquisitions, including supply-side build, as well as their distribution, shipping, marketing, and license agreements. We have hands-on experience in winning multimillion corporate disputes from cases of first impression through the Austrian Supreme Court, and in defending insider trading cases in the criminal system, all resulting in full acquittals.
We are also proud of our knowledge about disputes related to international investments and acquisitions, including supply-side build, as well as their distribution, shipping, marketing, and license agreements. We have hands-on experience in winning multimillion corporate disputes from cases of first impression through the Austrian Supreme Court, and in defending insider trading cases in the criminal system, all resulting in full acquittals.
We provide our clients in Austria and abroad with sound legal counsel and success-driven representation in disputes relating to their investments, within and outside of Austria, combining contractual and treaty protections.
We frequently advise on bilateral and concerted economic sanctions, anti-corruption legislation, anti-money laundering, bilateral and multilateral investment protection treaties, the UK Anti-Bribery Act, the U.S. Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, as well as state immunities.
Our objective is to provide our clients with the best practicable strategy in order to achieve optimal results through litigation, arbitration or agreement, and routinely act for clients in disputes with sovereign states and state entities.
Gaming law is extraordinarily complex. It is driven by diverse and increasingly technology-focused commercial frameworks and comprises a rich variety of businesses, from major gaming companies and platform operators to start-up interactive developers.
We provide legal support at all stages of gaming industry disputes, right from the start of the commercial scoping through to the finalization of the matter before courts, arbitral tribunals or through to final, dispositive, agreement.
Our experience principally focuses on handling claims arising out of concession agreements, commercial matters or commercial drawbacks, and those connected to management and service agreements.
The hospitality industry is one of the largest global business sectors and, in Austria, one of the most important drivers of a thriving economy.
Our disputes lawyers bring considerable sector experience to our clients engaged in contentious buying, financing, operating, promoting, expanding and exiting hospitality businesses, including hotels and resorts, tour wholesalers, ground, water and air transportation providers and financiers.
Our lawyers have led major representations and have formulated creative and successful strategies in major litigated and arbitral matters for every such provider, including those whose funding and management originates in Asia, the Middle East, Europe and America.
The KNOETZL insurance disputes practice is long-standing and far-reaching.
Our litigation and arbitration lawyers have been immersed in coverage questions, reinsurance treaty matters, captive, commercial policy and product–specific insurance, related to transactional disputes, both within and affecting Austria businesses, and internationally for many years.
Our disputes lawyers are routinely and actively engaged in resolving matters related to property, casualty, financial product (including credit default and swaps coverage), D&O and life (key man, enterprise-dependent) insurance questions. As a result, our specialists are knowledgeable — and often critical — in helping our business (insureds) and provider (insurers) clients identify and achieve good, expedient and effective solutions to vital insurance-related disputes, often when it counts most for the financial health of the insured enterprise. Our deep knowledge of and experience in the insurance industry, policy interpretation and the businesses, requirements and expectations of policyholders engaged in energy, financial services, automotives, capital markets, human resources, aviation, logistics, wood product producers, financial derivatives and a plethora of other businesses reliant upon insurance, distinguishes KNOETZL in our market.
Our attorneys take on some of the most complex and important disputes in the IT and telecommunications sector in Austria and the CEE.
Our strength is in understanding the technology behind a dispute, coupled with a specialized network of experts that allow us to deliver unrivaled insight. We are experienced in disputes relating to license and maintenance agreements, financing and constructing wireless systems infrastructure, roll-out of information technology infrastructure and software, level service agreements, joint venture agreements, outsourcing agreements and revenue sharing agreements.
Our disputes work profits from the knowledge of our lawyers advising large regional banks financing telecoms and international telecommunications companies.
We deliver substantial healthcare legal and trial experience in an array of consumer and liability actions brought against life sciences companies, regulatory agencies and medical-care providers, and are proud to provide litigation counsel to a number of major industry players in pharmaceuticals, medical devices and biotech.
Our life sciences practitioners work within a strong and responsive network of healthcare professionals, too. We engage at all stages of development, co-development, oversight, branding, clinical trial and international marketing of compounds. This gives us a true understanding of our client’s needs and the issues at hand, allowing us to stay one step ahead of the opposition through all stages of the proceedings.
Our lawyers have decades of experience in successfully defending collective actions in this field and avoiding reputational damage.
Competitive markets and compliance pressures require substantial commercial and legal expertise, and our team has a practical understanding of the tough business environment that international retailers, manufacturers and suppliers of consumer goods face.
We serve clients in areas such as domestic and international product liability and safety disputes, comparative advertising proceedings, as well as in disputes with ongoing commercial relationships.
Our sector expertise ranges from health and cosmetics, perfumes, nutrition, sportswear, optic lenses and food and beverages, guiding our clients through the complex and delicate stages from the best practice guidelines and Codes of Conduct through to defending clients’ rights before administrative bodies, civil and criminal courts.
