We advise our clients on real estate transactions in the private and corporate sector (apartments, single-family houses, apartment buildings and property portfolios, share and asset deals). We will assist you to ensure optimal tax arrangements and handle trusteeships.

Project development is one of our main focuses. We support property developers in setting up real estate projects and in property sales.

We carry out condominium conveyancing for you, both first-time appraisals and reappraisals (“Nachparifizierung”), especially for construction projects (e.g. loft conversions). We also provide counsel to draft usage agreements and the optimisation of the condominium ownership of appurtenances.

Efficient handling of the land registry aspects forms an essential element of a successful real estate transaction. We have the necessary experience and expertise.

We advise you on drawing up lease agreements in the private as well as in the corporate sector.

Our firm has great experience in comprehensive out-of-court settlements and litigation concerning all aspects of the Tenancy Act (“MRG”) and the Condominium Act (“WEG”).

We represent well-known property management companies in disputes with tenants, in complex terminations and in disputes over construction work on a property, etc.

We support tenants with the enforcement of maintenance obligations, rent reduction claims and bill checking. We help to enforce the individual rights (including constructional modifications) of individual co-owners in condominiums and represent condominium communities in case such rights are abused.

Furthermore, we handle any construction litigation for our clients and can rely on our own and very experienced debt collection department to manage this area.

We advise our clients on all aspects of broker law in relation to commission claims, due dates and possible rights to a reduction and assist in drafting broker contracts.

ETHOS.legal supports you in all issues related to the planning, submission and realisation of construction projects, as well as raising or defending objections in construction proceedings. Our partners have many years of outstanding expertise in warranty and compensation issues as well as in successful construction litigation.

We advise you on all kinds of copyright issues.

With tailor-made contracts, we enable you to market your creations or to use works effectively and securely. We fight at your side to enforce your rights.

We advise you on trademark and domain law issues. Together we develop strategies for your brand identity, handle national, EU-wide and international trademark and domain registrations, manage your trademarks and represent you in trademark and domain law disputes.

We assist you in patent matters, pattern and design laws, together with patent lawyers we continually collaborate with.

As legal representatives of VAP, the anti-piracy association of the Austrian film and video industry, we have many years of experience in protecting works and intellectual property of all kinds and effectively enforcing the rights of entitled parties, both in the analogue and the digital world.

We draw up individual licence agreements and distribution contracts of all kinds for you and help you to enforce them as well.

We advise you on all data protection issues and draft appropriate agreements.

Publications in print media or online can easily damage your good reputation. Together with our clients, we develop a strategy to protect their reputation and their privacy, taking account of judicial and extrajudicial measures, including the drafting of counter-statements and petitions according to the Media Act.

We advise you on all legal matters relating to movables and monuments, works of art and cultural heritage as well as their sale, restitution, import and export. We assist you with the drafting and negotiating of agreements for national and international transactions and represent you in judicial and administrative proceedings. We support heirs and legal successors in administering and managing art collections and estates of artists.

For our clients, we find tailor-made solutions, found partnerships and corporations and draft syndicate contracts.

We carry out company reorganisations for you and advise you on issues of reorganisation tax law.

We advise you on company acquisitions and sales, including share deals, asset deals and all issues concerning private equity. In the course of a due diligence process, we review (company) agreements for you and oversee the signing and closing.

Together with our clients, we develop and draft all the contractual relationships for business operations. From standardised supply and purchase agreements (including GTCs) to international distribution and franchise agreements, we have experience to create legal certainty and protection for your day-to-day business.

We advise companies experiencing economic problems and assist them in finding long-term solutions.

Passing businesses on to following generations is a common challenge. We find tailor-made solutions that are satisfactory for both parties involved.

We liquidate companies and take on the duties of the liquidator.

We found associations and advise on their daily activities and responsibilities. We assist associations in dealing with association authorities and are happy to contribute our extensive personal experience in this area.

There is no obligation to involve a lawyer in administrative proceedings, but it can save time and money to obtain legal advice, even in simple proceedings.

We assist you in registering trades (“Gewerbe”) and supervise procedures for the approval of operational facilities. Furthermore, we help you to achieve your goals in building permit procedures.

This dynamic field of law requires special attention from all market participants and advisers.

We assist you in adapting your business processes to new legal regulations (customer profiles, risk disclosure, compliance, etc.) and will supervise proceedings before the authority (“FMA”) due to concessions for financial service providers or criminal proceedings due to violations of the Securities Supervision Act (“WAG”). We advise you on thepreparation of capital market prospectuses, especially relating to alternative investments.

As holder of reserve shares in Anlegerentschädigung von Wertpapierfirmen GmbH (AeW), we handle your admission to or withdrawal from AeW.

We advise art dealers, auction houses and owners of all kinds of works of art on the applicability of the Monuments and Historic Buildings Act (“DMSG”). We help you to structure your duties in accordance with the DMSG and negotiate for you with the Austrian Federal Monuments Authority (“BDA”) regarding the economically viable revitalisation of listed buildings. We also advise you on all matters of archive law and the import and export of works of art.

We advise you on the handling of major projects according to the Environmental Impact Assessment Act (“UVP-G”) and help you to efficiently communicate with authorities, neighbouring residents and the media.

If you are a neighbouring resident affected by such major projects, we assist you in enforcing your rights and in obtaining reasonable expropriation compensation.

If you disagree with the content of a notification, we draft complaints on your behalf to the administrative courts and appeals to the Supreme Administrative Court (“VwGH”).

In some cases, for the purposes of asserting your interests, we would challenge a law or ordinance before the Constitutional Court (“VfGH”) for a violation of the constitution or human rights. We also have many years of experience in constitutional and human rights law.

In your capacity as contracting authority, we assist you in drafting invitations to tender and handling of award procedures.

As a bidder and/or contractor, we can protect you against violations of public procurement law by contracting authorities and help you to assert your claims as the best bidder. This includes, in particular, invalidity and review proceedings for infringement of public procurement rules before the administrative courts.

We advise you on setting up your succession and draw up wills. Furthermore, we register testamentary dispositions and store these for you.

We have many years of litigation experience in this area and are happy to assist you in inheritance disputes.

We draw up purchase and donation agreements for real estate, including the granting of rights of residence, rights of usufruct and bans on sale and encumbrance. A key aspect of our advice is the optimal tax arrangement (valuation of granted rights, real estate capital gains tax, etc.).

Together with our clients, we create an optimal safeguard in the event that you are no longer able to make decisions yourself.

With a contractual agreement on the occasion of a wedding (advance agreement) or even during an intact marriage, many disputes can be avoided in the event of divorce. As unmarried partners have no legal right of succession, they too should consider a contractual arrangement for their property succession.

ETHOS.legal’s experts advise you on all areas of partnership, marriage and family law. In particular, we assist you with the creation of marriage agreements, the conduct of divorce, maintenance, contact or custody proceedings, the preparation of settlements and the distribution of marital property.

The ever stricter handling of breach-of-trust offences increases the risk for entrepreneurs and managers of being involved in judicial criminal proceedings.

Due to the criminal responsibility of legal entities, which has existed for some years now, not only the persons involved but also companies themselves often have to resort to a criminal defence. We advise and defend you, from criminal police preliminary proceedings to the main hearing, and draft the necessary appeals.

Disagreements between entrepreneurs, companies and their customers or between private individuals do not always have to be heard in court.

We analyse the opposing positions and inform about chances of success in a legal dispute.

In many cases, the legal situation is clear but the facts are disputed, so the risk of litigation is increased by the fact that the appraisal of the evidence is often hard to predict. We help you to avoid risks by negotiating an out-of-court settlement.

Some of ETHOS.legal’s lawyers act as arbitrators and counsels in arbitration proceedings, mostly with complex factual and legal issues with an international background. Ethos.legal’s lawyers can draw on years of experience to help them conduct such proceedings and they are supported by a national and international network.

If a dispute cannot be settled out-of-court fairly and quickly, the only remaining option is often the active introduction of court proceedings, especially in case of compensation claims.

We have many years of experience in litigation as well as knowledge of the respective specialist subjects. We have special expertise in the following areas:

Building damage / construction defects, infringement of licence agreements and distribution agreements, compensation and warranty claims in the high-tech domain, medical liability, investor compensation, copyright and trademark law, unfair competition product liability.

Claim management is one of our firm’s key areas. Thanks to our experience, we are able to efficiently carry out debt collection also on a large scale. We have appropriately trained employees who have worked for Ethos.legal’s lawyers for many years.

On your behalf, ETHOS.legal addresses complaints to the courts of public law (Supreme Administrative Court (VwGH) and Constitutional Court (VfGH), drafts individual applications to examine the constitutionality of laws or ordinances or assist you with complaints about laws. In the area of fundamental and human rights, our activities include representation before the Constitutional Court and the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR).

We draft appeals and other submissions to institutions of the European Union, in particular the Commission and the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU).