Schoenherr is bolstering its presence in Austria by opening a new office in Linz, Upper Austria this autumn.

On the radar

The firm cites “an outstanding financial year” with an increased turnover of around 9% as part of the reason Schoenherr is on course for expansion. Michael Lagler, managing partner of Schoenherr, said “Upper Austria is a growing economic area with a strong university uniting innovation, industry and technology. We will be closer to our Upper Austrian clients and look forward to an even stronger cooperation.” Arabella Eichinger, who comes from Upper Austria and was appointed partner on 1 February 2019, will manage the new branch. Looking forward to the opening with her new team, Ms Eichinger explained, “Upper Austria has been on our radar for quite some time now. It's the logical response to our steadily growing client base there. With leading experts in Austria and our strong CEE/SEE network, we can now offer a significant added value locally.”

Consumer protection

Schoenherr is headquartered in Vienna and with currently 14 locations in CEE/SEE offering legal advice in all commercial law aspects. Linz will be the 15th Schoenherr office. Last month the firm established a dedicated, firm-wide consumer protection group.  Partner Wolfgang Tichy, who leads the group, said “Consumer protection is complicated and affects all legal relationships between entrepreneurs and consumers. The EU commission has prioritised the strengthening of consumer rights, which makes it a growing concern for all involved.” The firm was named Austria's m&a law firm of the year by Chambers and Partners, and leads the Mergermarket league tables 2018 for Austria, awarded Austrian m&a legal adviser of the year" in December 2018.