Litigation
Specialised litigation & dispute resolution team with experience across industries
Dedicated commercial litigation lawyers serving Central & Eastern Europe
Need to ensure the professional handling of dispute resolution work on a regular basis? Or are you or your company facing a highly challenging one-off dispute which may affect your business significantly? We are your partner for either case. Knowing where, when, and how to initiate legal proceedings in order to protect your business is a necessity if you want to stay one step ahead and avoid costly and potentially reputation-damaging investigations. You can rely on our extensive experience in handling complex and sensitive matters combined with a strategic and cost-effective approach.
Involved in a bigger dispute or a dispute abroad? We can advise you on your overall dispute resolution strategy, including multijurisdictional questions, and coordinate the involvement of other firms advising on the matter. We use our years of international litigation work to your benefit so that you stay on top of the potentials and risks emanating from litigation elsewhere in the world.
Key experts
Handling complex & sensitive commercial litigation, including cross-border cases
“It is a top-quality team, from partners down, that is knowledgeable, pragmatic and very approachable. Its advice is fast, sharp and to the point, and 24/7 availability is the norm to expect from Wolf Theiss.”
– The Legal 500
“Wolf Theiss’s ‘very dedicated’ commercial litigation team has expertise across numerous practice areas, including IP/IT, employment, regulatory, construction, procurement and corporate. Additional stand-out features of the commercial litigation department is its involvement in high-profile cross-border disputes and the cooperation between the civil law and white-collar criminal departments.”
– The Legal 500
What makes our team the best litigation and dispute resolution lawyers for you?
Our regional, integrated firm offers distinct advantages, spanning the full spectrum of legal services.
- An established international law firm with 60+ years of experience in Austria and CEE/SEE
- A fully integrated, single team of 340 locally-qualified lawyers in 13 countries and offices
- Collaboration and innovation across multidisciplinary teams and offices
- Excellent client satisfaction – responsive, client-oriented, and consistent
- Experience with complex and cross-border matters covering the full spectrum of legal services
- Knowledge and expertise to add value to deals across industries
Leading the legal field
Our lawyers are involved in key transactions and matters across the region, bringing their industry expertise and specialised business knowledge to add value to our clients’ work.
$10 million tort claim against our clients for alleged copyright breach successfully rejected
Defended major car manufacturer in partnership dispute
Successful outcome for global leader in dredging
Positive outcome for our client defending €180 million claim
A team of Dispute Resolution lawyers from our Bucharest office secured a favourable decision in first instance in a EUR 180 million claim against the majority shareholder of Electroputere Craiova, the Saudi-Arabian company Al-Arrab Contracting Co., an affiliate of the Investment Fund Al Rajhi.
The claim was initiated by the Authority for the Administration of State Assets (AAAS) against the majority shareholder of Electroputere Craiova, one of the most iconic Romanian manufacturers of industrial electrical equipment (formerly the largest Romanian locomotive producer), for an alleged breach of investment obligations under the Privatization Agreement of Electroputere.
Our commercial litigation lawyers provided the client with legal assistance during the settlement negotiations and representation in court in first instance. Our Wolf Theiss lawyers successfully managed to reduce the initial claim of AAAS of EUR 300 million to EUR 180 million by raising preliminary issues and eventually obtained the overall rejection of the claim.
Defending client against alleged unlawful termination of partnership
Our commercial litigation lawyers are advising and defending a major car manufacturer in a complex dispute arising from the fact that the client terminated the partnership agreement with the biggest and oldest distributor of its products in the Czech Republic. The opponent considered the termination of the partnership agreement to be unlawful and we are now defending our client against claims in three different legal proceedings.
Successful defence of major Hollywood production studios, financiers and writers
Our litigation lawyers have successfully assisted nine major Hollywood production studios, financiers and scriptwriters through all degrees of jurisdiction in a USD 10 million tortious liability claim for alleged copyright breach initiated by a Romanian writer.
The claimant contended that the Hollywood blockbuster “Escape Plan” featuring Arnold Schwarzenegger and Sylvester Stallone has been created based upon a script and a book that he wrote and published in Romania, but the Romanian courts have definitively rejected this claim and ruled in favour of our clients.
Favourable outcome for one of the world’s largest dredging companies
Our team has advised one of the world’s leading dredging companies in litigation proceedings against a state-owned bankrupt Croatian shipbuilder.
We successfully secured that: (i) the client’s proprietary equipment that was installed into the dredger during the construction was safeguarded from potential unauthorised disclosure and use by its competitors while the dredger was still in the shipyard (after the shipyard had already fallen into the bankruptcy), and (ii) that the dredger is finally released to the client and safely towed outside Croatia’s territorial sea and outside the reach of the competitors’ attempts to get hold of the client’s technology through Croatian courts (by getting hold of the dredger).
We can advise you in connection with:
- Asset Tracing & Recovery
- Banking Litigation
- Class Action Defence
- Commercial Litigation
- Corporate & Shareholder Disputes
- Directors’ Liability
- Enforcement of Judgments and Arbitral Awards
- EU law and proceedings before the European Courts
- Fraud Disputes/Defence
- Insolvency and recoveries related disputes
- Insurance Litigation
- Libel/defamation, reputation protection
- Life Science Litigation
- Product Liability
- Sales Agents/Agencies, Distribution & Franchise related disputes
- Shareholder Activism
What others say about us
“They are the ‘right contacts for high-volume work,’ sources observe.”
“‘The advantage of Wolf Theiss is that we use them as a one-stop shop. It’s always very quick and we save a lot of money,’ another source reports.”
– Chambers Europe
“It is a very dedicated team that also works very personally for the needs of the client.”
– The Legal 500
“‘The team has impressive knowledge of legal arguments,’ a client observes, also noting that lawyers at the firm ‘have a client- and result-focused mindset.'”
“Clients praise the team’s ‘perfect knowledge of court proceedings,’ also noting that the lawyers are ‘extremely helpful in the decision-making process.’ Another client describes the team members as ‘diligent, accurate, flexible and client-focused.'”
– Chambers Europe
Get in touch
Whether you need an international team with extensive experience, Wolf Theiss can support your business goals through our profound legal practice.
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Accessibility Statement
- www.wolftheiss.com
- 1 July 2022
Compliance status
We firmly believe that the internet should be available and accessible to anyone, and are committed to providing a website that is accessible to the widest possible audience, regardless of circumstance and ability. To fulfill this, we aim to adhere as strictly as possible to the World Wide Web Consortium’s (W3C) Web Content Accessibility Guidelines 2.1 (WCAG 2.1) at the AA level. These guidelines explain how to make web content accessible to people with a wide array of disabilities. Complying with those guidelines helps us ensure that the website is accessible to all people: blind people, people with motor impairments, visual impairment, cognitive disabilities, and more. This website utilizes various technologies that are meant to make it as accessible as possible at all times. We utilize an accessibility interface that allows persons with specific disabilities to adjust the website’s UI (user interface) and design it to their personal needs. Additionally, the website utilizes an AI-based application that runs in the background and optimizes its accessibility level constantly. This application remediates the website’s HTML, adapts Its functionality and behavior for screen-readers used by the blind users, and for keyboard functions used by individuals with motor impairments. If you’ve found a malfunction or have ideas for improvement, we’ll be happy to hear from you. You can reach out to the website’s operators by using the following emailScreen-reader and keyboard navigation
Our website implements the ARIA attributes (Accessible Rich Internet Applications) technique, alongside various different behavioral changes, to ensure blind users visiting with screen-readers are able to read, comprehend, and enjoy the website’s functions. As soon as a user with a screen-reader enters your site, they immediately receive a prompt to enter the Screen-Reader Profile so they can browse and operate your site effectively. Here’s how our website covers some of the most important screen-reader requirements, alongside console screenshots of code examples:- Screen-reader optimization: we run a background process that learns the website’s components from top to bottom, to ensure ongoing compliance even when updating the website. In this process, we provide screen-readers with meaningful data using the ARIA set of attributes. For example, we provide accurate form labels; descriptions for actionable icons (social media icons, search icons, cart icons, etc.); validation guidance for form inputs; element roles such as buttons, menus, modal dialogues (popups), and others. Additionally, the background process scans all of the website’s images and provides an accurate and meaningful image-object-recognition-based description as an ALT (alternate text) tag for images that are not described. It will also extract texts that are embedded within the image, using an OCR (optical character recognition) technology. To turn on screen-reader adjustments at any time, users need only to press the Alt+1 keyboard combination. Screen-reader users also get automatic announcements to turn the Screen-reader mode on as soon as they enter the website.These adjustments are compatible with all popular screen readers, including JAWS and NVDA.
- Keyboard navigation optimization: The background process also adjusts the website’s HTML, and adds various behaviors using JavaScript code to make the website operable by the keyboard. This includes the ability to navigate the website using the Tab and Shift+Tab keys, operate dropdowns with the arrow keys, close them with Esc, trigger buttons and links using the Enter key, navigate between radio and checkbox elements using the arrow keys, and fill them in with the Spacebar or Enter key.Additionally, keyboard users will find quick-navigation and content-skip menus, available at any time by clicking Alt+1, or as the first elements of the site while navigating with the keyboard. The background process also handles triggered popups by moving the keyboard focus towards them as soon as they appear, and not allow the focus drift outside of it.Users can also use shortcuts such as “M” (menus), “H” (headings), “F” (forms), “B” (buttons), and “G” (graphics) to jump to specific elements.
Disability profiles supported in our website
- Epilepsy Safe Mode: this profile enables people with epilepsy to use the website safely by eliminating the risk of seizures that result from flashing or blinking animations and risky color combinations.
- Visually Impaired Mode: this mode adjusts the website for the convenience of users with visual impairments such as Degrading Eyesight, Tunnel Vision, Cataract, Glaucoma, and others.
- Cognitive Disability Mode: this mode provides different assistive options to help users with cognitive impairments such as Dyslexia, Autism, CVA, and others, to focus on the essential elements of the website more easily.
- ADHD Friendly Mode: this mode helps users with ADHD and Neurodevelopmental disorders to read, browse, and focus on the main website elements more easily while significantly reducing distractions.
- Blindness Mode: this mode configures the website to be compatible with screen-readers such as JAWS, NVDA, VoiceOver, and TalkBack. A screen-reader is software for blind users that is installed on a computer and smartphone, and websites must be compatible with it.
- Keyboard Navigation Profile (Motor-Impaired): this profile enables motor-impaired persons to operate the website using the keyboard Tab, Shift+Tab, and the Enter keys. Users can also use shortcuts such as “M” (menus), “H” (headings), “F” (forms), “B” (buttons), and “G” (graphics) to jump to specific elements.
Additional UI, design, and readability adjustments
- Font adjustments – users, can increase and decrease its size, change its family (type), adjust the spacing, alignment, line height, and more.
- Color adjustments – users can select various color contrast profiles such as light, dark, inverted, and monochrome. Additionally, users can swap color schemes of titles, texts, and backgrounds, with over 7 different coloring options.
- Animations – epileptic users can stop all running animations with the click of a button. Animations controlled by the interface include videos, GIFs, and CSS flashing transitions.
- Content highlighting – users can choose to emphasize important elements such as links and titles. They can also choose to highlight focused or hovered elements only.
- Audio muting – users with hearing devices may experience headaches or other issues due to automatic audio playing. This option lets users mute the entire website instantly.
- Cognitive disorders – we utilize a search engine that is linked to Wikipedia and Wiktionary, allowing people with cognitive disorders to decipher meanings of phrases, initials, slang, and others.
- Additional functions – we provide users the option to change cursor color and size, use a printing mode, enable a virtual keyboard, and many other functions.