Team size: nine

Can you please give us an idea of the sort of work your team has done recently?

In the last five years we managed legally the acquisition of real estates and companies for € 800m, the sales of real estates and companies for €1.4bn and the development of buildings with investments of about € 1.3bn.

Out of all these challenging tasks shines the Austrian “BUWOG case,” which according to my knowledge is the largest criminal and civil case in Austria. The BUWOG case refers first to the criminal proceedings in relation to the privatisation of state-owned companies with   more than 60,000 apartments in 2004. In 2020, the then finance minister Karl-Heinz Grasser and accomplices were convicted for several crimes. The nullity appeals are currently pending. In the final stage of the privatisation in 2004, CA Immo was one of the last two bidders besides “Österreich-Konsortium” and has been narrowly defeated in the bidding race. The criminal court stated in its non-binding judgment essentially that Mr. Grasser as the sole responsible minster for the privatisation in return for a bribe handled the privatisation in a biased manner in favour of winning Österreich-Konsortium.

Already in 2009, CA Immo joined the criminal investigations and proceedings as private party with a damage claim of most recently €1.9bn. Besides this, in spring 2020 – even before the oral criminal judgement only in December 2020 – CA Immo has filed two actions for damages (€ 1m and € 1.9bn) against the Republic of Austria and Carinthia on grounds of the alleged manipulated privatization. In 2021 upon request of CA Immo the civil court interrupted the proceedings as to the action with € 1.9bn until a final judgement in the parallel action with €1m. This means that CA Immo has achieved to litigate – at least on the merits – a €1.9bn action with an adverse legal cost risk only of the €1m action. On filing these actions for damages, CA Immo alleged the applicability of an exemption from court fees of about € 25m. Given that most recently also the Federal Administrative Court, as expected, denied the alleged exemption from court fees CA Immo has filed a constitutional complaint against this judgement. In this case CA Immo breaks new grounds foremost due to the considerable amounts in dispute and new unprecedented legal arguments.

What would you say are the unique qualities required to be successful as an in-house lawyer in your industry?

It is paramount for a successful in-house lawyer to follow the KISS (keep it simple stupid) principle in every action and communication. Success while working in-house further demands thinking creatively towards tailor-made solutions – a quality requiring legal knowledge and a deep understanding of the own company and its stakeholders.