Schoenherr recently announced the promotion of three equity partners and two contract partners effective 1 February 2022. This round of promotions has now been extended to include four new counsels: Sara Khalil, Iliyana Sirakova, Marco Thorbauer and Bojana Vareskic.

The four new counsels have exceptional skills, experience and great dedication to providing clients with the highest standard of services. These promotions signalise the strength of Schoenherr's dispute resolution, healthcare & life sciences, and tax practice groups.

"We are very happy to highlight the strength of our dispute resolution, healthcare & life sciences and tax teams and the remarkable potential of our young talent with these appointments," said Michael Lagler, Schoenherr managing partner.

Alexander Popp, HR partner on Schoenherr's Steering Committee, added: "Our new counsels play an integral role in advancing our firm across a wide range of legal practice areas and jurisdictions. I am pleased to welcome four up-and-coming attorneys to their new positions as of 1 February, in addition to our new partners. It is great to see many female lawyers across all levels in this promotion round." 

Sara Khalil – Sara Khalil, an expert in domestic litigation, contract and distribution law, has been appointed counsel in the litigation team. A graduate of the University of Vienna (Mag. iur. 2013) and the University of York (LL.M. 2014), she gained experience in international law firms prior to joining Schoenherr in 2016. She advises and represents international clients from various industries in commercial litigations, in particular in complex data protection proceedings and distribution disputes.

Iliyana Sirakova – Iliyana Sirakova has been named counsel in Schoenherr's healthcare & life sciences practice. She joined Schoenherr in 2014 after graduating from the University of Vienna (Mag. iur. 2012) and specialises in mediation with expertise in healthcare, life sciences, litigation (civil law) and administrative procedures. She advises national and international clients among others on pharmaceuticals and medical devices, law on medical profession, food and feed law, chemical and cosmetics law, toys, tobacco and other general consumer products.

Marco Thorbauer – Marco Thorbauer (with Schoenherr since 2016) has been named counsel in Schoenherr's tax practice group and has been significantly involved in its development and expansion over the past several years. Before joining Schoenherr he worked as an associate in an international law firm in Vienna and Frankfurt. He specialises in national and international tax law and advises international companies on tax structuring and tax planning, in transactions and tax proceedings. He is also the author of numerous academic publications in the field of tax law.

Bojana Vareskic – Bojana Vareskic (with Schoenherr since 2015) has been named counsel in Schoenherr's dispute resolution practice. She is a dual-qualified attorney (Austria, Croatia) based in Vienna and advises clients from a variety of sectors in complex national and international commercial disputes. Her recent track record includes representing investors in damages claims against sovereign states based on European law, energy companies and banks in consumer class action suits, start-ups on newly emerging legal issues and creditors in complex enforcement proceedings of foreign judgments and domestic and foreign arbitral awards.

In November 2021, Schoenherr announced the appointment of new equity and contract partners in Austria and CEE: The three experts Vladimír Čížek (Czech Republic), Alexandra Doytchinova (Bulgaria) and Miriam Simsa (Austria) will join the ranks of equity partners as of 1 February; Soňa Hekelová (Slovakia) and Dominik Hofmarcher (Austria) will become contract partners based on their outstanding performance in recent years. For more information, please see our press release.