Faculty

Claudia Annacker

Independent Arbitrator and Counsel (Annacker International Disputes); specializes in international arbitration and public international law, in particular investor-State disputes, inter-State disputes, disputes involving international organizations and human rights cases; represented sovereign and private parties in more than 50 investment arbitrations, in commercial and inter-State arbitrations and before the European Court of Human Rights; acts as arbitrator in investment treaty and commercial arbitrations; member of several arbitrator panels, including the ICSID and SIAC Panels of Arbitrators; member of the SIAC Court of Arbitration and VIAC Board; PhD and venia legendi (habilitation) in public international law; adjunct professor at the University of Vienna, visiting professor at the Paris Ouest Nanterre La Défense University; published widely in the fields of international arbitration and public international law.

Ulrich Haas

Professor for Civil Procedure and Private Law at the University of Zurich and Attorney-at-Law in Hamburg; main areas of interest and research: international arbitration, (international) civil procedure, corporate insolvency law and sports law; chairman, sole arbitrator or party-appointed arbitrator in more than 350 (ad hoc and administered) arbitration proceedings with – inter alia – ICC, Swiss Arbitration, DIS, VIAC, CAS, BAT; extensive consultative trial work as well as legal opinions in the fields of interests.

Pubications: https://www.ius.uzh.ch/de/staff/professorships/alphabetical/haas/person/publikationen.html

Florian Haugeneder

Founding partner and co-head of KNOETZL; extensive experience as counsel and arbitrator under the rules of the major arbitral institutions, including the ICC, DIA, DIS, ICSID, KCAB, LCIA, SCC and VIAC, as well as in ad-hoc arbitration such as UNCITRAL; specializes in engineering and construction, energy, joint ventures, and commercial and corporate disputes; lectures at the University of Vienna and frequently speaks and publishes on international arbitration and investment protection; has been a member of the ICC Taskforce on “Corruption in Arbitration” since 2019.

Christian Koller

Professor at the University of Vienna; former professor at the University of Innsbruck; held a position as a Post-Doctoral Researcher and Erwin-Schrödinger-Fellow at the University of Zurich from 2009 to 2011; specializes in international commercial arbitration and litigation; main areas of interest include domestic and international civil procedure and its interfaces with private law, international insolvency law, conflict of laws and comparative law.

Christian W. Konrad

Founding and managing partner of Konrad Partners; Austrian Attorney at Law (Rechtsanwalt), Solicitor (England & Wales), Euroadvokat (Czech Republic and Slovak Republic); immediate past Vice-President of the Kosovo Permanent Tribunal of Arbitration; Chartered Arbitrator at the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators; specializes in commercial and investment arbitration; has extensive experience with arbitral practice, procedure and advocacy both in civil and common law systems; regularly acts as counsel and as arbitrator in ad-hoc and institutional arbitrations; regularly advises clients on the protection of their investments with a focus on Central and Eastern Europe and on the enforcement of arbitral awards and court judgments; member of the panels of various arbitration institutions worldwide; member of the ICC Commission on Arbitration and ADR; member of the ICC Taskforce “Addressing issues of corruption in international arbitration”; co-founding member of the Young Austrian Arbitration Practitioners (YAAP).

Author of numerous publications in the field of arbitration and investment protection.

Niamh Leinwather

Secretary General of the Vienna International Arbitral Centre (VIAC); common and civil law background (Bachelor of Civil Law, University College Dublin, Mag.iur., University of Vienna, Master of European Studies, University of Vienna); first Irish woman to be admitted to the Austrian Bar in 2013; over a decade of experience in international dispute resolution at Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer in Vienna; Secretary Treasurer der International Federation of Commercial Arbitration Institutions (IFCAI), Member of the Board of Directors of Arbitral Women, Adjunct Professor of the Sutherland School of Law at the University College Dublin.

Patrizia Netal

Founding partner and co-head of Knoetzl; practices as counsel and arbitrator and has extensive experience in institutional and ad hoc arbitration proceedings; represents public and private businesses in international commercial arbitration and arbitration-related proceedings, with a special focus on construction and engineering, aerospace, M&A projects, energy and international sales; vice-president of the VIAC and member of the Board since 2020; co-director of the Willem C. Vis Moot; faculty member of the ROAP and a member of Austria’s Steering Committee of ERA – The Pledge.

Paul Oberhammer

Professor at the University of Vienna; permanent visiting professor at the Law School of St. Gallen University, Switzerland; admitted to the bar in Hamburg, Germany; serves as of counsel with Wilmer Cutler Pickering Hale and Dorr, London (International Arbitration Practice Group); chairman of the working group that drafted the Austrian law on arbitration which was enacted in 2006; practical experience in different fields of arbitration as sole arbitrator, co-arbitrator and chairman, mainly in ICC, VIAC, ad-hoc, and SCAI arbitrations.

Author of about 250 legal publications, among them studies on international arbitration, litigation, civil and commercial law.

Helmut Ortner

Founding Partner at Paragon Advocacy; focuses on complex multi-jurisdictional disputes both as counsel and arbitrator; admitted to the New York and the Austrian bar; studied economics and law in Innsbruck, Vienna, Harvard, and Yale; honorary professor of international business law and international dispute resolution at the Europainstitute (Saarbrücken, Germany); lecturer on private law, comparative law, and alternative dispute resolution at various universities, including the Universities of Vienna, Linz, and Innsbruck.

Selected Publications: together with T. Tiede and B. Koch: Conflict of Law – Text and Materials, (5th ed. 2018); together with F. T. Schwarz and J. A. Trenor (eds.): Contractual Performance and COVID-19 (2020); together with M. Kern and K. Plavec: Applicable Law in International Arbitration (2020); together with F. Schwarz: Does a Right to a Physical Hearing Exist in International Arbitration? (2021); together with C. Fischer-Czermak and C. Nigsch: Private Law in Graphs (5th ed. 2021).

Friedrich Rüffler

Professor at the University of Vienna; practical experience in different fields of arbitration as legal expert, sole arbitrator, co-arbitrator and chairman, ICC, VIAC, DIS and ad-hoc.

Marija Šćekić

Director in Squire Patton Boggs’s International Dispute Resolution Practice based in London and an assistant editor of the Journal of International Arbitration (JOIA); specializes in international arbitration and has represented clients in both commercial and investment treaty disputes, across a range of industries and jurisdictions, and under various arbitral rules and in ad hoc proceedings; recognized as a Global Elite Thought Leader – Arbitration Under 45 in 2024, Future Leader in Who's Who Legal: Arbitration in 2019-2023, as well as in Euromoney’s LMG Rising Stars Expert Guide in 2020 - 2022 in the categories of commercial arbitration and the UK; often speaks at international conferences and has recently given lectures at Warwick University and Kings College London.

Selected Publications: together with G. Born, ed. D. Caron et al: Pre-arbitration Procedural Requirements: A Dismal Swamp, Practising Virtue – Inside International Arbitration (2015); co-author: Contractual Arbitrage in Today’s Gas and LNG Markets (2022); co-author: Update on European Measures for Natural Gas Security (2023).

Friederike Schäfer

Partner with Zeiler; graduate of the University of Freiburg, Germany and admitted to the bar in Germany and Austria; worked several years in private practice and as Counsel in the Secretariat of the ICC International Court of Arbitration; handled hundreds of ICC proceedings and scrutinized hundreds of awards; experience with various other arbitration rules, such as VIAC, UNCITRAL and DIS; advises clients at all stages of a dispute and is active as arbitrator and party representative; since joining Zeiler she focused on various aspects of the energy sector and financing matters as well as on commercial and corporate matters; she regularly lectures on international arbitration at international and national conferences.

Authored numerous publications on international arbitration, private international law and other areas of law.

Patricia Shaughnessy

Professor at Stockholm University where she created the Master of International Commercial Arbitration Law Program; specializes in international disputes and commercial law; a member of the ICC Court of Arbitration and ICC Commission; was a board member and Vice-Chair of the SCC Arbitration Institute, as well as a member of the drafting committees for the SCC Rules; government-appointed expert on the legislative committee for the 2019 revisions to the Swedish Arbitration Act; acts as an arbitrator, expert, and consultant, and leads projects related to commercial law and dispute resolution in many countries; has served as a fellow to the US Supreme Court; practiced law for ten years in the US; President of the Vis Moot Organization.

She publishes extensively and is a frequent speaker at leading universities and international conferences.

Nikolaus Vavrovsky

Founding partner of Vavrovsky Heine Marth and head of the arbitration team; specializes in international dispute resolution, with a particular focus on construction and infrastructure as well as corporate and finance matters; extensive experience as counsel in international arbitration proceedings (in accordance with the rules of international leading arbitration institutions) and profound know-how as an accomplished advisor in proceedings conducted under the ICSID and UNCITRAL Rules, resulting in frequent appointments as (sole) arbitrator or tribunal chair in high-stakes international arbitration proceedings; serves as chairman of the board of the Swiss Arbitration Academy Alumni Association and is member of the domestic advisory board of the Vienna International Arbitral Centre; regularly publishes and lectures in his fields of specialization.

Irene Welser

Senior Partner of the Vienna-based law firm Cerha Hempel, head of the Contentious Business Department; honorary professor at the University of Vienna and examiner for the Austrian Bar exam; passionate counsel and team leader in big-scale arbitrations as well as arbitrator known for never leaving the big picture out of sight; strong academic and international background; participation in roughly 80 arbitrations pursuant to the ICC, VIAC, UNCITRAL, LCIA and Swiss Rules as well as ad hoc; Board Member of the Vienna International Arbitral Centre; co-editor of the Austrian Yearbook on International Arbitration; author of more than 100 publications on various topics of arbitration, civil and commercial law.

Johannes Willheim

Partner in the Global Disputes and Energy Practices at Jones Day; his practice focuses on sector specific arbitration such as in art, aviation, energy, fashion, life sciences and media and entertainment as well as specialized corporate and commercial disputes, such as disputes involving antitrust issues, post M& A disputes and pricing disputes; in the energy sector, he has worked at the forefront of the fundamental transformation of EU energy markets caused by their liberalization in the early years 2000; at present he assists clients in navigating the opportunities and risks associated from the paradigm change in the regulation of EU energy markets stemming from RePowerEU, the energy transition and ESG obligations; recognized as an authority in commodity pricing disputes; represents parties in price revision arbitrations in Asia, Europe and the US; teaches international arbitration and energy law at leading academic institutions like the Strauss Institute for Dispute Resolution at the Law School of Pepperdine University, the University of Chicago Law School and the University of Stockholm.

Venus Valentina Wong

Partner with Wolf Theiss in Vienna and co-heads the firmwide arbitration team; she has been involved in more than 80 commercial and investment arbitration as well as other ADR cases under the major rules, including ICC, LCIA, VIAC, DIS, Swiss Rules, CEAC (now: ASEAC), CAS and UNCITRAL; has particular experience in the enforcement of foreign judgements and foreign arbitral awards; currently serves as the alternate Austrian member of the ICC Court of International Arbitration; she teaches at the University of Vienna and at the Austrian Lawyers' Academy and is a frequent speaker at international conferences; after having served as assistant professor at the Vienna University of Economics and Business, she  worked for two boutique law firms as well as at the ICC International Court of Arbitration in Paris and at CIETAC in Beijing; studied in Vienna, Amsterdam and Taipei and obtained degrees in law (Mag. iur., Dr. iur.) and sinology (Bakk. phil.); her working languages are German, English, French and Chinese (Mandarin and Cantonese).

Among her numerous publications is the third edition of a handbook on commercial arbitration covering the jurisdictions in the DACH region which she co-edited in 2024.