KWR Karasek Wietrzyk Rechtsanwälte GmbH

Managing Partner: Dr Thomas Frad

Number of partners: 12

Number of lawyers: 50

Languages: Bulgarian, English, French, German, Italian, Russian, Serbian, Spanish, Turkish

Firm Overview:

KWR Karasek Wietrzyk Rechtsanwälte GmbH is one of Austria’s leading corporate law firms based in Vienna, founded in 2004. The firm advises well-known national and international clients in all fields of business law. The firm’s thorough understanding of the clients’ needs, economic grasp and the newest developments in academic doctrine in addition to the expertise in the legal profession enables KWR to offer excellent legal advice and innovative solutions. Benefitting from a ‘no barriers’ working culture through an international network of handpicked lawyers, KWR is able to provide competent legal advice exactly where it’s needed.

Main Practice Areas:

Antitrust, Merger & Unfair Competition:

KWR holds extensive experience advising national and international clients in antitrust, merger/acquisition activities and competition matters. The highly specialised lawyers advise inter alia on federal competition authority proceedings, merger control, unfair competition, abuse of dominance, state aid, dawn raids, antitrust litigation/investigations, antitrust compliance, proceedings for preliminary injunctions.

Construction/Real Estate:

Ranked in band one in Chambers Europe 2020, KWR is recognised as one of the top firms in this area in Austria and boasts a strong focus and outstanding experience on construction/real estate matters. KWR offers advice on a wide range, inter alia: project finance/development, transactions, sale/acquisition of property, lease agreements, private public partnership, construction/ civil engineering projects, power plant engineering, traffic infrastructure, architects law, public procurement/ verification procedures, construction/real estate litigation.

Corporate/M&A:

KWR advises on the full range of corporate legal issues, customised to the specific needs of the clients’ business sector; inter alia: DD, establishment of stock companies, LLCs and partnerships, initial public offerings, privatisations, restructurings, take-over law, syndicate agreements, legal disputes arising from corporate relationships, rules of procedure for supervisory board, board of directors, management.

Data Protection:

KWR provides comprehensive advice in all contentious and non-contentious data-protection issues, inter alia in relation to the implementation of the EU - General Data Protection Directive (GDPR). KWR also has a strong focus on the interface of employment law and data protection. KWR’s practice encompasses cyber security matters such as cyber breach response.

Employment Law:

The firm’s employment practice covers all aspects of employment law inter alia: contracts of employment, remuneration/employee participation programs, cross-border deployment, temporary employment/ personnel leasing, termination, business takeover, restructurings/outsourcings, employment DD, working time allocation, collective agreements, compliance issues, retirement, representation in court proceedings.

Energy, Renewables, Climate Protection:

The firm advises leading market players in the energy sector, inter alia on national/European energy law, renewable energy/green electricity, national and international trading contracts, energy efficiency, power and industrial plants, projects, restructuring, transactions, and competition, regulatory matters, representation before national and international regulatory authorities, before the Austrian Constitutional and Administrative Court, the European Commission and the Court of Justice of the European Union, litigation and arbitration, compliance counseling and DD.

Intellectual Property:

KWR provides advice in all contentious and noncontentious IP matters including trademarks, patents, designs, trade secrets, product piracy, personality rights, unfair competition, advertising law, franchising/ licensing, copyright and the law of collecting societies. The KWR team has received substantial recognition from international market observers.

New Technologies & Digitisation:

We are seeing a strong increase in demand from our clients in the area of complex digitalisation and transformation projects across all industries. Whether cloud computing, big data or automation - no company can avoid these topics and a successful implementation of such projects requires specialised legal and technical know-how, which we are now further expanding.

Litigation & Arbitration:

KWR attorneys have extensive experience in representing in civil as well as arbitration proceedings in their respective practice areas; inter alia: representation in civil proceedings in all areas of business law as well as in national and international courts of arbitration (including the enforcement and appeal of the arbitration award).

Public Commercial Law:

The experience of KWR in public commercial covers the full range, inter alia: constitutional/administrative law, state aid, environmental impact assessment, regulatory, financial regulatory authority, traffic law, trade law, public construction law, compliance, criminal administrative law, representation before the Austrian Constitutional Court, the Austrian Administrative Court and the Court of Justice of the European Union.

Public Procurement Law:

The firm’s practice encompasses all aspects of public procurement, inter alia: legal supervision before/ during tender procedures, representation of tenderers/ contracting authorities before procurement review bodies, public private partnerships, counselling on the consideration of grants for public projects, advising public clients/sector clients in preparing and issuing public tenders, advising companies on winning public tenders/on filing appeals.

Sustainability:

We offer our clients comprehensive advice on all aspects of sustainability law, supporting them in setting up a system which ensures compliance with related legal requirements in this area as part of their corporate risk mitigation and development strategy.

White Collar Crime:

Our range of services includes the defense of individuals and companies in investigative proceedings before the prosecutor's office and law enforcement agencies, in main proceedings before the court, and in appellate proceedings before higher courts. Furthermore, we specialize in representing victims, injured parties, and private parties at all stages of proceedings.