KNOETZL is a leading Austrian law firm of effective, experienced and perceptive legal minds, providing the highest quality of advocacy in dispute resolution and corporate crisis. KNOETZL finds optimal outcomes for corporate, financial and governmental clients in their most significant and complex disputes. With an all-star team, combined with a diversity of styles and specialisations, the firm represents new standards of excellence in the market.
KNOETZL is Austria’s first large-scale dispute resolution powerhouse dedicated to high-profile and significant cases that matter. The firm is best known for taking the unique approach in Austria to provide a diverse team of highly-skilled lawyers and legal advisers, included from four continents, to offer international, focused advice in dispute resolution. The firm’s dispute resolution specialists have raised the bar to a new, higher level to litigate in Austrian and regional courts, to mediate and to arbitrate across the CEE region and globally. Leading international law firms value work with KNOETZL and the firm is engaged as Austrian disputes counsel by elite international advisers, corporate decision makers and general counsel.
KNOETZL’s expertise encompasses civil, commercial, sovereign, criminal and fraud litigation, focusing significantly on liability claims, corporate – including M&A, financing and joint venture disputes – banking, insurance and financial derivatives cases, investor protection, business crime, energy, automotive, technology and life science. Expertise also includes asset-tracing with provisional measures, such as freeze orders and attachments in Austria and internationally, and enforcement of foreign judgments and arbitral awards.
The firm’s elite practice includes international commercial arbitration, investment protection and arbitration-related court proceedings. Construction and engineering, energy (upstream through downstream and power production), gaming, hospitality, IT and telecommunications, data protection, life science, healthcare and pharmaceuticals, and aviation are covered. The arbitration team has acted in some of the largest, best-known and most complex disputes in Latin America and the CEE region. Our lawyers are in high demand as arbitrators.
KNOETZL works seamlessly with international partner law firms and industry experts in the Central and Eastern Europe (CEE) and South-East Europe (SEE) regions, and our lawyers are widely recognised as true leaders and innovators.
Katrin Hanschitz, partner
Katrin Hanschitz is an experienced first-chair litigator with a strong background in M&A and finance matters, and ancillary disputes. Her focus is on corporate and transactional litigation, including all forms of shareholder disputes, manager liability, governance issues and disputed M&A transactions. Hanschitz represents multinational clients from a wide variety of industries. She has been particularly active in representing life sciences clients in court, including Austrian and multinational pharmaceuticals. She is also experienced in complex, disputed matters in advertising, investment banking, energy and international insolvency.
Florian Haugeneder, partner
Florian Haugeneder has extensive experience both as counsel and arbitrator in institutional and ad hoc arbitration proceedings, most notably under the International Chamber of Commerce (ICC), International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID), London Court of International Arbitration, Vienna International Arbitral Centre (VIAC), Stockholm Chamber of Commerce and UNCITRAL rules. Haugeneder has represented clients in some of the largest, most complex disputes in the CEE and SEE regions. A special focus of his practice is international law on the protection of foreign investments under bilateral and multilateral investment protection treaties. Haugeneder specialises in engineering and construction, energy, joint ventures, financial services, and commercial and corporate arbitrations. His experience includes numerous M&A projects, hotel management contracts, thermal and hydro-power plants, international gas transportation and storage, banking and finance, portfolio fraud, highway and rail construction, and a water and sewer system.
Emmanuel Kaufman, partner
Emmanuel Kaufman is an Argentinian attorney with over ten years’ experience in high-value and complex arbitrations in Austria, CEE, SEE and Latin America. He acts both as counsel and arbitrator. Kaufman’s expertise spans various industries, including engineering and construction, rail and telecommunications, and in quantification of damages in large, high-volume disputes. Kaufman represents both national and multinational clients in arbitration proceedings involving major infrastructure projects and turnkeys, as well as concession, joint venture and FIDIC contracts. Kaufman handles a large number of arbitration cases under a wide range of arbitration rules, including ICC, ICSID, VIAC and UNCITRAL.
Bettina Knoetzl, partner
Bettina Knoetzl is a leading dispute resolution expert, with over 25 years’ experience in major Austrian and international cases. Knoetzl’s practice focuses on international and commercial litigation, investor protection, liability claims, business crime, fraud and asset tracing, corporate disputes, banking, insurance, financial derivatives cases and life science litigation. She has successfully defended against class-action lawsuits, including one of Austria’s all-time largest civil litigation cases, and represents corporate and investor clients in well-known shareholder disputes. She also provides counsel to significant government institutions. With her recognised understanding and experience of cross-border work, she is a sought-after co-counsel by elite and global law firms.
Patrizia Netal, partner
Patrizia Netal has extensive experience as counsel and arbitrator in institutional and ad hoc arbitration proceedings, including the ICC, VIAC, DIS (German Arbitration Institute) and UNCITRAL rules. A significant concentration of her practice is in international commercial arbitration, with construction and engineering, post-M&A disputes, distribution, aviation and international sales disputes as areas of note. Netal inter alia represents life sciences and pharmaceutical companies, and has acted as arbitrator to resolve major claims arising out of manufacturing, supply and distribution agreements, covering the CEE and SEE region. She is director of the Willem C. Vis International Commercial Arbitration Moot, the world’s largest international arbitration competition. Netal currently serves as co-chair of the Young Austrian Arbitration Practitioners.
Tim Pfister, managing partner
Tim Pfister is a corporate and finance lawyer with over 35 years’ experience as lead or special counsel to principal parties in large numbers of cross-border and US domestic transactions with aggregate (and individual) value of several billion dollars. He routinely advises on the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act and anti-bribery, the corporate law of New York and Delaware, and in managing corporate crises, including those involving criminal circumstances. Pfister has gained considerable experience supervising litigation and strategic legal planning. His industry experience includes infrastructure development, structured transactions, public and private finance, technology, representation of pharmaceuticals, banks, biotech companies, airlines, airports, insurance companies, and traditional and renewable energy concerns.
KNOETZL
Herrengasse 1, A-1010
Vienna
Austria
Tel: +43 1 34 34 000
Email: office@knoetzl.com
Web: www.knoetzl.com
