Litigation 2025

AUSTRIA Law and Practice Contributed by: Bettina Knoetzl, Katrin Hanschitz, Dr Kirstin McGoldrick and Natascha Tunkel, KNOETZL HAUGENEDER NETAL GmbH

KNOETZL HAUGENEDER NETAL GmbH is Austria’s first large-scale disputes resolution powerhouse dedicated to high-profile, impor- tant and complex cases. The firm’s diverse expertise encompasses civil, commercial, sov- ereign, corporate and fraud litigation, focus- ing significantly on liability claims; corporate – including M&A, financing and joint venture disputes – banking, insurance and financial derivatives cases; investor protection; digital transformation; data protection and social me- dia; business and political crime; asset-tracing and provisional measures, such as freeze or-

ders and attachments, in the domestic and international contexts; and the enforcement of foreign judgments and arbitral awards. KNOET- ZL’s practice also covers international com- mercial arbitration, investment protection and arbitration-related court proceedings, media- tion and ADR. The firm is well-recognised for its disputes work at the intersection of civil and criminal matters. Distinguished international law firms, corporate decision-makers and gen- eral counsel frequently turn to KNOETZL to act as counsel in their significant disputes with an Austrian nexus.

Authors

Bettina Knoetzl is a founding partner at KNOETZL. She has over 25 years’ experience in high-profile international and Austrian matters, specialising in high-stakes international and

Katrin Hanschitz is a partner at KNOETZL and, as co-chair of the international litigation committee, an active member of the American Bar Association. She is an experienced first-chair

commercial litigation, focusing on investor protection, liability claims, corporate disputes, and fraud and asset recovery. She has led clients from banking, finance, life science, and energy industries to remarkable successes. Bettina has successfully defended against class action lawsuits, and represents corporate and investor clients in shareholder disputes. She counsels government institutions and has designed and led successful defences of ultra-high net worth individuals. She led the International Bar Association (IBA) multi- committee AI showcase in Paris, 2023, is president of Transparency International, Austrian Chapter, vice president of the Vienna Bar, and lectures on dispute resolution.

litigator with expertise in M&A, finance transactions and ancillary disputes. In addition to corporate and post-transactional litigation, her primary focus is on shareholder disputes, managerial liability, governance issues and disputed M&A transactions, as well as contentious insurance coverage, financing, international trade and international insolvency matters. She regularly represents multinational clients from a wide range of industries, with an emphasis on banking, construction, (renewable) energy and life sciences. She has experience handling complex, disputed cases in the fields of advertising, competition law, international insolvency and insurance.

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