AUSTRIA Trends and Developments Contributed by: Bettina Knoetzl and Katrin Hanschitz, KNOETZL
Conclusion Austria’s litigation environment reflects both signifi- cant economic challenges and continuing institutional strengths. Persistent inflation, rising court and legal fees, budget constraints, and the burden of insolven- cy and complex commercial disputes have created a climate of uncertainty, raising both the costs and the stakes of litigation. Yet Austria’s courts continue to adjudicate effectively and efficiently, supported by advanced digitalisation and a stronger embrace of transparency, and to enjoy the trust of practitioners and the public. Looking forward, careful planning and budgeting and the skillful balancing of new technologies – espe- cially AI – with stringent ethical and data protection standards will be critical to ensuring justice in Austria remains accessible, effective, and trusted.
Other key innovations include electronic signatures on court decisions, which are now fully implemented, and the mandatory of electronic legal communication (ERV) for professionals and institutions. Since Janu- ary 2025, all legally binding decisions of the Higher Regional Courts must be published online (Supreme Court decisions have long been accessible online). True to its role as a judiciary digital pioneer, Austria is taking a leading role in the e-Codex project that aims to enable citizens and business entities in all of Europe to electronically communicate with the courts of other EU Member States. A successful example is the EU order for payment procedure that has been set up as a pilot project for e-Codes in many EU member states including German, France, Greece, Italy and the Netherlands. Use of AI by Litigation Practitioners Most Austrian law firms use AI-enhanced research tools, including LexisNexis and Manz legal databases as well as translation tools ChatCPT, Perplexity, etc, with the appropriate human supervision. Forward- looking firms are keen to adopt a suit of AI tools that will eliminate repetitive and routine work and allow lawyers to focus on client interaction and strategic work. Currently, the use of AI technology on sensitive casefile documents remains restricted, with AI litiga- tion tools that are already in use in other jurisdictions still not compliant with strict Austrian professional ethics and confidentiality requirements. Practition- ers look forward to solutions that will allow specific AI litigation tools – for the summary and collation of documents, the search for specific evidence, the gen- eration links to appropriate case law, drafting, etc – to be applied in a manner that consistent with Austrian professional ethics and confidentiality rules and with GDPR requirements.
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