Schoenherr is a corporate law firm with 15 offices and 4 country desks in Central and Eastern Europe. Around 350 lawyers cover the full range of commercial legal services and handle complex cross-border mandates across CEE. Schoenherr is headquartered at Schottenring 19, 1010 Vienna, Austria.
The firm's Managing Partner as of 2023 is Alexander Popp, the position of COO is held by Partner Gudrun Stangl.
History & offices
Founded as a small Austrian law firm by the lawyer and university professor Fritz Schönherr in 1950, Schoenherr was one of the first international firms to enter the Central Eastern and Southeastern European (CEE/SEE) market in the 1990s. Schoenherr began expanding its operations into Belgium in 1994 and entered the CEE market in Romania in 1996. After that, Schoenherr moved into other jurisdictions and opened offices or established co-operation partnerships in Croatia (2001), Slovenia (2001), Serbia (2002), Bulgaria (2004), Hungary (2008), Czech Republic (2009), Poland (2009), Slovakia (2009), Moldova (2009), Türkiye (2013), Montenegro (2016) and Linz, Austria (2019). Additionally, the law firm has country desks for Albania, Bosnia & Herzegovina, North Macedonia, and Ukraine.
Recent awards & distinctions
Schoenherr frequently wins awards for its work in the region from industry journals such as Chambers Europe, IFLR 1000, JUVE Verlag für juristische Information, Acuris (former "Mergermarket Ltd.") or The Lawyer for leading legal advisory. Most recently, Schoenherr won the "Deal of the Year" award (2023) in the category Equity from IFLR, the "Austria Trademark Disputes Firm of the Year" awarded (2023) by Managing IP (MIP) and the "2022 CEE-wide Law Firm of the Year" awarded by Chambers Europe. The firm has also won other notable awards such as "Austria Legal Adviser of the Year" (2021) at the Mergermarket European M&A Awards, "Austria Law Firm of the Year" from Chambers in 2019, 2020, 2021, "Top Employer Austria" (2020) from JUVE and the "2017 Deal of the Year" awarded in Austria by CEE Legal Matters for advising on the merger between Raiffeisen Bank International and Raiffeisenbank Zentralbank Österreich.
Publications
Since 2007, Schoenherr has been putting out an annual legal publication called "The Schoenherr Roadmap", featuring articles on legislative changes across CEE and SEE. The publication also includes artwork created in cooperation with various artists, such as Esther Stocker (2007), Mario Dalpra (2010), Leo Zogmayer (2015), Manfred Makra (2018) and Eva Schlegel (2021). The current issue of "The Schoenherr Roadmap" features the Finnish artist, Ida Vikfors.
Several Schoenherr lawyers are members of the editorial teams of legal journals, like ÖBl and ecolex. They have (co-)authored commentaries, studies and reports on IP and trademark law, cross-border mergers, NPLs, real estate and employment law matters across CEE.
Schoenherr lawyers can also be found among the authors of articles on CEE legislation for legal publishers such as International Law Office, Wolters Kluwer, International Comparative Legal Guides ("ICLG"), Lexology, Mondaq, The Lawyer, CEE Legal Matters, Getting the Deal Through, Thomson Reuters, and The Law Reviews.
Further Engagement
Schoenherr is a partner of Future-Law, an independent multidisciplinary platform that aims to support the development of the legal industry with the help of technology and innovation.
Schoenherr is a Founding Member of the former Legal Tech Hub Vienna, now Legal Tech Hub Europe (LTHE). Its goal is to lead the legal industry into the digital future in a proactive, client-focused and innovative way. Schoenherr's COO Gudrun Stangl serves as a board member of the LTHE.
The firm is known for its open approach in creating and using innovative paths for the benefit of its clients. Schoenherr assists with the collaboration between start-ups and corporates in a broad range of areas and industries.
Many lawyers at Schoenherr also share their expertise with the next generation by teaching at universities.