Disputes

ARBITRATION

The international arbitration practice lies at the heart of Paragon. We offer one of the premier international arbitration practices in Vienna.

The firm’s partners have been involved in hundreds of arbitrations, including highly complex cases with billions of Euros in dispute. Their international arbitration practice spans the entire globe.

Our international arbitration lawyers have been involved in arbitrations seated, among others, in Vienna, Frankfurt, Berlin, Munich, Amsterdam, Stockholm, London, Brussels, Paris, Geneva, Zurich, Basel, Rome, Nicosia, New York, Boston, Tokyo, Singapore, and in the capitals of almost all Eastern and South-Eastern European countries.

They have also been handling disputes under a global variety of arbitration rules, including ICSID, UNCITRAL, AAA, ICC, SCC, LCIA, LAC, SRIA, VIAC, DIS, MCC, LAR and NAI.

Our team members have been representing clients in disputes arising in a wide range of industries and sectors, including engineering and construction, oil and gas, telecommunications, insurance and reinsurance, luxury goods, pharma, aviation, and sports.

Our lawyers are consistently recognized as leading arbitration practitioners in the most prestigious global rankings, including Who’s Who Legal, Chambers Global & Europe, Legal 500, Leaders League, Benchmark Litigation, and JUVE.

Our international arbitration practitioners are intimately familiar with the ins and outs of the arbitral landscape and process – as well as the art of advocacy. We take joy in consistently achieving our clients’ objectives through innovative and pragmatic solutions firmly rooted in rigorous factual and legal analysis and research, as well as exceptional trial advocacy.

Paragon does not apply simplistic all-purpose approaches. We are experienced in using the flexibility of the arbitral process to the advantage of our clients – tailoring the diverse tools of arbitration to the idiosyncrasies of each individual case and to the specific needs of our clients. This includes taking seriously the respective size and complexity of each dispute, assembling the most appropriate team and finding the most reasonable fee arrangement.

LITIGATION

Litigation proceedings can be a regular corollary of a company’s business, or they can arise in the form of an exceptional worst case. They can range from being minute, calling into question whether they are even worth pursuing, to being huge bet-the-company litigations, threatening the existence of the entire enterprise or a major line of business. Whatever their nature or size, however, they carry the risk of putting considerable strain on a business’s resources.

We assist our clients in devising litigation strategies that handle each of their disputes as effectively and efficiently as possible. This also includes considered advice on whether litigation is the right fit for a particular dispute at all. We do not only have one gear, spurring our clients on to litigate, whatever the cost. Instead, in analysing any given case, we take a holistic approach, identifying strengths and weaknesses, evaluating risks, and proposing a route towards the most reasonable resolution of a particular dispute for a particular client.

Our lawyers are recognized experts in civil and commercial litigation matters in both domestic and cross-border disputes. They are also experienced in ancillary proceedings, securing our clients’ interests through injunctive relief and enforcement. In addition, our team has extensive experience in providing assistance for foreign litigations, including in court proceedings aimed at securing and taking evidence.

Our team has advised and successfully represented clients across a broad range of industries and sectors, including construction and engineering, transportation, pharma, oil and gas, insurance and reinsurance, finance and luxury goods. In addition to our experience in representing business clients, we also advise private clients in all litigious matters.

MEDIATION

Mediation is increasingly popular with businesses. It allows them to steer the resolution of a dispute towards a mutually beneficial result and maintain control over the outcome even if negotiations have broken down. Mediation also maximizes the chances to maintain long-standing relationships between companies despite the successful resolution of their dispute. In addition, mediation allows businesses to control costs and time more tightly than is possible in litigation or arbitration proceedings.

We assist businesses in capitalizing on these opportunities, by helping them to assess whether this dispute resolution mechanism is best suited for their needs in a particular case; by guiding them through business mediations either as (facilitative or evaluative) mediators; or by assisting them in making their mediations a success as their party representatives. We are experienced in both institutional and ad hoc settings with a focus on international commercial mediation proceedings.

We also advise our clients on possibilities how to optimize the use of mediation in conjunction with other dispute resolution mechanisms. For example, we assist businesses in structuring multi-tier dispute resolution settings, allowing them to move their dispute to arbitration in the most efficient way if mediation proceedings fail. Where the parties reach a settlement in a successful mediation, we assist our clients to transform this outcome into an award on agreed terms, which can be enforced globally under the New York Convention on the Recognition and Enforcement of Arbitral Awards.

We also provide assistance to our clients already at an early stage by drafting tailor-made dispute resolution clauses that optimally cover their needs in a particular case or project.

Adjudication & DABs

The past three decades have seen adjudication turn into a powerful instrument in the dispute resolution toolbox, often allowing for a swift and efficient resolution of disputes arising in an ongoing project.

We assist our clients in using adjudication and dispute adjudication boards (“DABs”) as an efficient way to safeguard their interests and efficiently resolve disputes when realizing projects in a variety of sectors, ranging from the construction industry, over long-term concession projects, to operational and maintenance contracts.

Our intimate familiarity with and understanding of our clients’ projects and of the industries they are placed in allows us to maximize the benefit and success that our clients can extract from these dispute resolution mechanisms.

Most importantly, we adopt a 360-degree approach, which does not only kick into gear after disputes have already arisen.  Rather, we assist our clients in fashioning the contractual framework of their projects in a way that minimizes conflicts from the outset, and we organize and manage their work streams and documentation in ongoing projects in a way that maximizes their leverage in case any dispute does arise; and, as the case may be, successfully present their case before adjudicators and DABs based on our industry, technical, and legal expertise as well as our advocacy prowess.

Negotiations

Everyone does it, very few do it well.

While the dispute lawyer’s fantasies often revolve around high-stake arbitrations and litigations, what the parties usually benefit the most from is a swift and skilful resolution of disputes through negotiations.

If used right, negotiation is a universally applicable tool to prevent protracted proceedings, save tremendous costs, create value, and salvage and foster sound business relations.

Negotiating well and successfully, is both a science and an art. We marry deep industry expertise and an in-depth familiarity with our clients’ businesses with extensive training and experience in negotiations. This allows us to go beyond zero-sum positional haggling and unlock win-win situations for our clients and their businesses.

Enforcement

In the aftermath of a legal battle, the sweet taste of victory may sour when realization sets in that the win so dearly purchased in years of litigious proceedings is actually a Pyrrhic victory. The most beautiful win before courts and arbitral tribunals may well be futile if success falters at the enforcement stage.

We thus advise our clients on strategic enforcement-related issues and decisions even before legal proceedings are formally initiated. And we subsequently ensure that our clients’ victories have teeth if and as necessary to realize the objectives they have successfully fought for. To that effect, we bring to bear our extensive experience in securing the enforcement of domestic and foreign decisions – arbitral awards and court decisions alike – in Austria, including in pre-award procedures such as preliminary attachment or conservatory measures.

We are also expert guides for our clients in how best to enforce their victories globally. From organizing and accompanying asset tracing investigations to coordinating multi-jurisdictional collection and enforcement strategies, we offer our clients a holistic approach to their post-award options.

Just as importantly, where legal proceedings have gone awry, we assist our clients in opposing enforcement of judgements and awards tainted by corruption and fraud. Where judges or arbitrators have failed to render justice, tenacity, perseverance, and sophisticated legal expertise can tip the scales in favour of our clients after all.

Claim Management

Increasing complexity of transactions in a global business world has led to substantial (over-)regulation of change and claims procedures. In many industries, formalistic mechanisms have taken hold that make or break a claim irrespective of its justification – usually with the full endorsement of the law.

In such a legal environment, preparation is key. The importance of observing these procedures, of keeping track of changes and claims, and of managing time limits and notifications has spawned its own guild.

While businesses from some legal traditions have embraced these developments and turned them to their advantage, there are legal cultures in which many enterprises shun the overall process.  However, treating the applicable legal requirements with reservation or disdain often comes at a substantial price. We assist our clients in avoiding these pitfalls and offer the full range of claim management services as part of our InHouse Outsourced portfolio.

The focus of our task to protect our clients’ interests often shifts once litigious proceedings have been commenced.  Where necessary, we ensure that our clients’ justified reliance on the usages and practices established within the relevant industry are not frustrated and fend off unjustified attacks based on purported violations of claims and change procedures.  We do so by complementing our legal and practical expertise with industry knowledge and our hallmark advocacy skills.

Ancillary Services

Conducting court and arbitration proceedings well involves ancillary tasks that may not always be apparent to clients that are less used to resolving their disputes in a litigious environment.

Most importantly, the forensic aspects of gathering, processing, organizing, and exploiting information and evidence require considerable skill and expertise. While more formal documents like contracts, offers and orders, change requests or even meeting minutes may be easily identified and collected, systematically identifying and combing through years of project correspondence may take substantial amounts of time, tying up valuable company resources and/or substantially increasing costs.

This is where we step in, crafting a cost-efficient yet effective setup for document collection and review, including by selecting the most appropriate database solutions and artificial intelligence tools designed to provide considerable relief from a seemingly overwhelming deluge of (digital) data.

On an entirely different level, we present our clients with opportunities to test-run procedural strategies and the force of arguments and evidence on which their case strategy is built by means of mock trials and shadow arbitrations. These can provide new perspectives on key aspects of a case and offer independent analysis of the strengths and weaknesses of a case throughout the lifecycle of a dispute. We are adept at setting up the most appropriate process for our clients and guiding them through the experience. Our senior lawyers’ vast experience as both party representatives and arbitrators in high-stake disputes also allows us to offer customized mock trial and shadow arbitration services to other firms and their respective clients.

Inhouse Outsourced

Whether during regular operations or on an occasional basis, businesses face a variety of legal issues that are typically handled by their in-house lawyers.

For some enterprises, maintaining their own legal department will be economically inefficient. However, even for well-established legal departments, unforeseen developments may still lead to a sudden increase in workload or shortfall of legal personnel that needs to be addressed immediately. And even the most experienced legal divisions may face tasks that require specialized knowledge not available in-house.

In all these cases, we cater to our clients’ operative legal needs in a flexible and targeted way. Our experience in handling large-scale international disputes has taught us the essence of what it means to cooperate closely with our clients’ teams, sometimes for years on end.

Examples of such a cooperation include legal helpdesk services, support in negotiations, regular contract review on a general or on a detailed level, as well as claims and contract management.

The fee arrangements we offer for this kind of services are as diverse as our clients’ needs, including lump sum agreements for pre-defined tasks, monthly flat fees for repeat services, bulk-purchase of support hours at greatly reduced prices, or even temporary secondment of experienced lawyers to our clients’ in-house teams.

VIRTUAL LEGAL DEPARTMENT

The recurring need for sound legal advice is a corollary of operating almost any business. A considerable range of legal issues must be addressed at various junctures and with varying frequency – from specific advice on a particular project, via legal issues arising from a business’s organization and daily operations, to the review of contract clauses and project correspondence.

Depending on industry and size of the business, the setup and operation of a legal department may not be feasible, while ad hoc external legal advice may be both expensive and hard to come by on short notice. In some instances, unforeseen developments may make it difficult for an otherwise well-established legal department to provide the unexpectedly swift responses or speedy assistance required.

We address these needs with solutions that are tailored to the specific situation at hand, acting in lieu of a legal department or as its organic extension. With next to no fluctuation amongst our lawyers, our teams can provide our clients with dependable long-term assistance at the chosen intensity and necessary frequency. This allows our lawyers to become intimately familiar with the business structure and culture of our clients, ensuring seamless integration of our services and unlocking synergies benefiting both sides.

Our virtual legal department is designed to ensure cost-awareness and effectiveness, offering a number of easy-to-manage and transparent fee arrangements, from adaptable monthly flat fees, via flexible service packages to discounted hourly rates.

CLAIM MANAGEMENT

Increasing complexity of transactions in a global business world has led to substantial (over-)regulation of change and claims procedures. In many industries, formalistic mechanisms have taken hold that make or break a claim irrespective of whether it is justified on substance – usually with the full endorsement of the law.

The importance of observing these procedures, of keeping track of changes and claims, and of managing time limits and notifications has spawned its own guild.

While some businesses have embraced these developments and use them to their advantage, there are legal cultures in which enterprises often shun the overall process.  However, treating the applicable legal requirements with reservation or disdain often comes at a substantial price. We assist our clients in avoiding these pitfalls and in overcoming their reservations towards active claim management.

We offer our clients assistance in managing their claims, whether by taking the helm with fully fledged claim management in close cooperation with the project team, or by assisting them with selected issues or matters. The ultimate goal regarding this aspect of project management, however, is to teach our clients how to fish, helping them set up their own processes and procedures, and seamlessly integrate these into their everyday business.

Our team’s familiarity with the project and the cooperation established with our client’s project team allows us to also provide particularly swift and accurate support in case a dispute arises.

CONTRACT MANAGEMENT

Whether on an administrative level or throughout the lifecycle of a particular project or transaction, managing the legal side of things is often perceived by businesses as an unwelcome nuisance.

We step in by assisting our clients in managing their contracts, from the early stages of creation, negotiations and review, through the implementation and monitoring stage, all the way to the renewal or termination of their agreements.

To this end, we do not just provide the legal tools and input required for the task, but also take care of the organisational side, ensuring legal due diligence as well as efficient and consistent monitoring of deadlines and notifications.

In keeping with one of the cornerstones of our work philosophy, we aim at close cooperation with our clients while at the same time focusing on the least invasive approach, keeping disruptions at bay.

The value we add in matters of contract management does not stem from guarded business secrets, but from experience – which we are happy to share. We assist our clients in establishing their own contract management, implementing smooth and efficient procedures as well as easy-to-follow guidelines.

Crisis Support

While overcoming challenges forms part of every enterprise’s business, there are times when significant negative surprises or unexpected obstacles arise which may seem insurmountable, whether materializing on the project level or threatening to pierce the heart of the business itself.

In these times, decisive yet collected crisis management is key. When the roof is on fire, sober analysis and swift but level-headed actions must prevail over panicked band-aid solutions or extreme reactions. Almost always, the objectivity contributed by the unbiased view of an external expert advisor can help calming the situation. Good crisis management goes beyond mere damage control, but aims at building back better and identifying the unique opportunities that a crisis presents for a business.

We help our clients navigate these storms by providing emergency evaluations and legal due diligence; by coordinating legal teams from various jurisdictions in case of cross-border crises; by conducting or organizing internal investigations; by preparing legal turnaround concepts and preventive measures for future implementation; and by handling legal and strategic aspects of message control and communication.

Our years of experience in international dispute resolution have trained us to manage the element of surprise and to swiftly switch into “crisis mode” if necessary. It is in these situations that our battle-proven instincts unfold their full potential to advise, manage, and support until the storm has settled.

Dispute Coordination

Standing in the limelight, forcefully and artfully advocating our clients’ interests in court or before arbitral tribunals is the essence of being a disputes lawyer. However, we bring our experience as litigators to bear to the benefit of our clients in other ways as well. In some cases, our clients’ interests may be best served by us directing and coordinating, and orchestrating their overall interests in multi-jurisdictional disputes behind the scenes.

Assuming this role, we craft strategies and action plans, coordinating not just external counsel in various jurisdictions but also different levels and departments involved on the clients' side.  In doing so, we ensure that our clients' approach is one of concerted and forceful action, rather than of passive reaction.

Our setup as an international independent law firm seated in the heart of Europe makes us perfectly suited for catering to our clients’ needs in multi-jurisdiction disputes. We are not locked into a rigid organizational framework, nor are we hell-bound to use a particular firm or consultant. Rather, we have a rich and substantial network of international experts in numerous legal, commercial, and industrial fields at our fingertips, and diligently select the best of candidates for each role and task. We manage the task force thus created efficiently, keeping the hassles of organization and administration away from our clients’ desks.

Paragon’s lawyers have acted as strategic counsel and dispute coordinators in some of the most complex multi-jurisdictional disputes in recent years, always focussed on the specific preferences of our clients and the particularities of the respective dispute. To us, every case is unique, and so is the team we are assembling to handle it.

Contract Negotiations

Contracts in international business transactions are often negotiated by sales or procurement departments with the involvement of technical and project teams. Our disputes practice shows that the involvement of lawyers is kept to a minimum, often to avoid what is perceived as excessive caution or formalism.

We offer our clients a different approach to legal guidance in contract negotiations. Rather than issuing warnings or pointing out problems at every juncture, we aim at blending into the commercial and technical teams of our clients, providing practical solutions within the confines of what can reasonably be achieved in a given setting.

It is our goal to help our clients negotiate beneficial terms by explaining how the contract’s provisions may affect their interests and projects, while keeping in mind the realities of their underlying business transaction. This allows our clients to make well-informed decisions and to decide when and how to compromise.

Assisting in contract negotiations, however, is more than just providing legal advice. If clients integrate us into their negotiation teams, they can harness our full skillset of presentation, persuasion, and conciliation as well as our refined sense for where to compromise and to what extent.

Communication Support

Communication is key.  The content and manner of communication can be of strategic importance and legal significance.

We assist our clients in shaping the right content of their message as well as the right time and manner of its communication. We take on communications on both, the internal and the external level, whether for a specific occurrence or as part of establishing general guidelines and practices. If called upon, we also devise with and for our clients a comprehensive communications strategy. In every case, we assist our clients in communicating in a way that prevents damage to their business, reputation, and legal position.

A specific niche for our communications support arises in large-scale projects and long-term contracts. There, clear communication, concise wording, and avoidance of legally ambiguous correspondence and records (such as meeting minutes) are essential to safeguarding a client’s legal position and the overall smooth progress of the project. This can become a particularly sensitive issue where a dispute has arisen and the need for continued cooperation appears to be at odds with the need to take a strong stance and limit legal exposure. We help our clients to find a safe path through this rocky territory, identifying ways to strike the right balance in harmonizing a constructive approach and legal protection wherever possible.

How-to – Briefings

Knowledge, creativity, and enthusiasm lie at the heart of solving complex legal issues. We like to share our knowledge and enthusiasm with our clients’ teams, allowing them to unfold their own creativity to utmost effect. To this end, we offer individualized in-house trainings and tailor-made briefings on issues of practice, strategy, and law, which enable our clients to safely traverse the legal jungle growing in the backyard of their business.

Mastering the substantial flood of information and legal requirements affecting so many fields of business requires increasing specialisation and training of employees, whether on the level of project management, procurement departments, sales forces, or on site.

Our trainings combine deep knowledge with practical experience and creative ideas that work, aiming to create awareness of pitfalls on a general level, to help keep up to date with legal developments in the relevant field, and to foster a sense for when and where in-depth external advice should be obtained. The result is often considerable relief for the inhouse legal department and cost savings facilitated by a targeted approach to employing outside counsel.

Our deep familiarity with and understanding of our clients’ projects put us in the position to develop adequate project-related guidance and training without losing sight of practicability. Our briefings are interactive and engaging, creating an environment that allows our clients to distil lessons from an honest assessment of past experience and providing space for Q&A as the need arises.

Corporate

While our firm’s tradition is anchored in decades of experience in international dispute resolution, we are not solely procedural lawyers. Our experience spans a broad range of substantive legal fields, from simple delivery and supply contracts to international distribution and dealership arrangements; from small real estate deals to complex constructions and large-scale infrastructure projects; from failed corporate deals and issues of company law to intellectual property rights in technology and design. We see, on a daily basis, where and how things can go wrong, and we analyse, in every instance, where and how the ensuing dispute could have been prevented.

It is this insight which we capitalise on for our clients. Rather than simply waiting for the next arbitration or court case, we assist our clients in implementing foresighted solutions, aligning the legal framework of their deals with the industry’s particularities and requirements, legally structuring and optimizing their projects, and limiting their risk and exposure. We ensure that the advice we give is pragmatic and to the point, favouring targeted briefing notes over lengthy internal memos unless so required by the circumstances or the client.

Most importantly, we acknowledge our responsibility to make things possible for our clients rather than burdening their deals with impracticable pro forma advice. Where risks present themselves, we do not merely disclose them or issue warnings; we address them, propose ways to neutralize them, and outline actions for contingency situations.

It is self-evident that we can provide the depth and quality of these services only in legal fields in which we feel absolutely comfortable and which we can confidently navigate. We are not, therefore, what would typically be considered a full-service law firm. In those carefully chosen areas in which we do offer legal advice, however, we fully capitalize on the flexibility afforded to us by our size and lean structures, and the control over quality that comes with it – and so do our clients.

COMPANY LAW

We assist our clients in creating the legal base from which their businesses can get off to a great start, as well as the legal framework within which they can continue to grow and flourish.

To this end, our lawyers advise and assist startups, SMEs and family-owned businesses as well as multinational stock-corporations in all relevant corporate matters. These include preparing articles of association, implementing changes in the shareholder structure, drafting syndicate agreements and consulting managing directors, supervisory boards, and other company representatives. We also advise on compliance issues, always adhering to our creed that it is our goal to facilitate, rather than prevent. We do not, however, shy away from drawing the line where it needs to be drawn. Striking this balance when identifying, assessing, and managing possible liability scenarios, lies at the core of our consulting activities.

In keeping with our firm’s soul as a dispute resolution powerhouse, and drawing on our extensive experience and expertise in litigation and arbitration, we also have a particular focus on the contentious aspects of corporate and company law, including on shareholder disputes and D&O liability issues.

In both contentious and non-contentious matters, our approach is always tuned in to our clients’ particular circumstances and needs. We fuse with their teams, including their tax advisers, to understand intimately how requirements and expectations may differ from case to case, and to supply them the perfect blend of legally sound and financially optimized solutions.

DISTRIBUTION AND DEALERSHIP

Distribution structures come in a vast variety of forms. From simple sale and purchase agreements to international dealer networks or monumental franchises, the legal architecture of distribution channels can touch upon a considerable number of very specific laws. Add to that the manifold implications of an international distribution network, and you have yourself a smorgasbord of issues requiring legal attention. We help our clients navigate these – at times unchartered – waters.

Throughout their practice, our lawyers have been involved in many disputes arising out of international distribution or commercial agency contracts. We are intimately familiar with all pitfalls of cross-border or multi-national distribution, franchise, or agency agreements, and the legal tools available, both on the national and the European level, to avoid them.

This experience not only equips our team members to guide clients through any arbitration or litigation involving distribution matters. It also puts them in the best position to assist our clients in legally structuring their ventures and in coordinating efforts in multiple jurisdictions to attain a concerted system of contracts aimed at preventing disputes from the outset. It is our lawyers’ deep understanding of the underlying issues that enables them to identify any aspects that require particular attention in the drafting of distribution, dealership, or agency contracts.

We advise and accompany producers, distributors, commercial agents, franchisors and franchisees, from the drafting and negotiation of contracts, throughout their implementation, all the way to their possible termination, the assessment of subsequent compensation claims, and their enforcement in potential arbitration or litigation proceedings. In all this, we bring to bear our particular strength and expertise with cross-border and multi-jurisdictional legal relationships.

Insurance

Taking out insurance is an everyday event in today’s world. It plays a critical role in safeguarding individuals, businesses, and organizations against the financial consequences of extraordinary events. A sound understanding of insurance policies and risk assessments has become critical for decision makers in companies of all sizes.

Still, for most businesses, the insurance sector, in particular on the level of re-insurance, remains a somewhat inaccessible world on its own. This is where we come in.  We assist our clients in reviewing and negotiating insurance policies and we ensure that they align with our clients’ needs, including by providing adequate coverage for the intended purpose.

Moreover, we are well-versed in re-insurance matters and support insurance companies not just with optimizing their re-insurance policies but also with aligning their own policies with them. Our insurance law portfolio is completed by our expertise in brokerage and agency matters.

In the unfortunate event that a potentially insured risk materializes, we assist both policy holders and insurance companies in properly delineating the scope of the existing coverage. Our considerable forensic capabilities, resulting from our decades-long experience as disputes lawyers, perfectly complement our instance-related expertise in finding solutions that protect our clients’ interest.

We have successfully represented many of our clients at all levels of the business in insurance coverage disputes, dealing with the unique challenges revolving around matters of interpretation, scope of coverage, and intricate contractual arrangements, in particular in multi-party re-insurance settings. Our expertise extends across various jurisdictions and various industries, including but not limited to, healthcare, construction, manufacturing, technology, and professional services.

IP and Unfair Competition

Companies investing substantial resources in R&D to create “the next big thing”, companies in the creative industries, and companies building their valuable brands all rely on the protection of their IP and business secrets to have an edge over their competitors. IP rights also fuel the creative process of musicians, photographers and videographers, painters, digital artists and other creatives and allow them, deservedly, to live off their works of art.

Our lawyers assist companies and creatives alike in protecting their IP and monetising it. Our services span all stages of the IP lifecycle. We register trademarks, designs, and patents in all relevant registers. We draft and review, among others, licensing agreements, transfer of know-how contracts, non-disclosure agreements, and co-existence agreements.

We also have extensive experience in defending our clients’ IP rights in courts of law (including the Court of Justice of the European Union) as well as before national and international authorities, in particular the EUIPO. Being litigators at heart, we have a particularly successful track record in contentious trademark and copyright matters.

We want our clients to be able to focus their energy on their creations – while we will make sure that they can enjoy the fruit of their labour.

Paragon also assists clients in ensuring the level playing field that keeps their business competitive. Our lawyers advise companies in all matters related to unfair competition, be it misleading and comparative advertisements, sole position advertisements, misappropriation of trade secrets, and confidential information or other unfair business practices. The spectrum of our casework includes brick-and-mortar businesses as well as clients from new media, including cases relating to online gambling.

Competition Law

Competition and antitrust law sets reasonable boundaries for business practices, articulating the rules necessary to ensure a level playing field and safeguard a competitive market environment. These rules should not only be perceived as restrictive limits on what businesses can and cannot do in their market activities.  If understood and used well, they present significant opportunities for businesses.  We assist our clients to capitalize on these opportunities.

We advise our clients regarding the impact of competition law on successfully setting up new businesses, cooperative arrangements, and joint ventures on both the vertical and horizontal level. We also assist our clients in optimizing the structure and negotiations of their distribution, licensing, or agency agreements. Additionally, we help our clients navigate issues such as exclusivity and potentially restrictive practices across industries and on a transnational level in a way that emphasizes their opportunities and room for manoeuvre to implement their business objectives.

In keeping with our roots, we represent our clients in private disputes entailing questions of competition law, including state aid, as well as before Austrian and EU authorities.  In cross-border cases we work with highly specialized and reliable foreign partner law firms. In these cases, too, our approach is first and foremost economical, practical, and solution oriented, and our clients benefit from our considerable experience in diverse industry sectors derived from our technology-focused disputes practice.

Commercial Contracts

The secret to the successful execution of every project lies in its careful structuring and planning. Naturally, our clients will focus on the commercial conditions and technical solutions underlying their deals. We acknowledge that our clients’ projects are about realising visions and attaining goals; legalistic glass bead games have to take a back-seat. Carefully drafted and harmonised contracts, however, can be that decisive layer of armour protecting a project from irreparable harm. We ensure thus that the legal terms in which the business ventures of our clients are framed conform with the needs of their business realities while solidifying their long-term success.

Our firm’s lawyers have been involved in the drafting and negotiations of numerous commercial contracts. We have successfully stood at our clients’ sides throughout the planning and execution of small and large-scale projects. With our assistance, our clients are able to avoid legal pitfalls both mundane and extraordinary, thereby minimising complications and risk exposure.

Our experience in the field of dispute resolution has shown us all too well where projects can take a wrong turn. The insights obtained through years of handling multi-jurisdictional disputes have provided us with the sharp vision required to identify issues that warrant particular attention at the time of drafting a contract. Most importantly, however, we listen to what our clients have to say – and assist them in realising their goals.

Each individual client and each individual project requires different levels of involvement. The solutions we offer are bespoke, catering to the individual needs of each one of our clients. Hence, our contracts team takes care of the entire legal framework of a given project, if so requested, but is also content to provide focused and specific legal support on individual issues, as needed.

Real Estate and Construction

Construction projects and real estate deals form part of an economy’s hardware and backbone. Many of our clients are deeply involved in such projects and transactions, and our team at Paragon is attuned to their needs.

Construction-related dispute resolution forms part of our DNA. Our expertise does not, however, end there. Both the conduct of real estate transactions and the execution of construction projects involve a wide variety of legal issues, among them contract management, financing, the obtaining of various permits, and the resolution of disputes. Our firm’s lawyers are well equipped to advise on all these matters, providing clear guidance on the legal background against which a transaction is conducted or a project implemented.

In providing our legal services, we also interface closely with our clients’ tax consultants to ensure that the deals of our clients not only rest on firm legal footing but are also structured in a tax-efficient manner.

Our core goal in assisting our clients with their real estate transactions or construction projects is this: allowing our clients to focus on their core business while we keep it clear of any untoward legal entanglements.

IT, Blockchain and Crypto Assets

Our firm has strong roots in legal matters concerning technological innovation and application. We understand the rapidly evolving landscape of information technology and the technical intricacies of blockchains and their various applications, including cryptocurrencies, smart contracts, and decentralized applications.

While a comparably recent phenomenon, these matters are far from unregulated, and the regulatory landscape affecting, constraining, and shaping these technologies and applications is evolving with significant speed.  We keep ourselves abreast of these developments and provide cutting-edge advice to our clients that are active in or brush up against these technologies.

This does not only reflect the existing black-letter law.  Where today’s state of the art may be tomorrow’s old hat, and where legal regulation is aimed at staying relevant in the future, it is crucial to ensure that legal compliance is not myopically focused on the present moment but proactive and forward-looking. We guide our clients through the digital legal jungle and work with them in setting up future-proof concepts and applications that remain relevant and sound within tomorrow’s legal framework.

We advise enterprise-level companies, startups, and financial institutions on corporate law, securities law, M&A, and finance transactions involving cutting edge IT, blockchain technology, and crypto assets. Our legal solutions are developed in close cooperation with our clients, and are tailored to the unique challenges they face in the digital world.

Data Protection

A world of ever-increasing digital connectivity and integration engulfs our clients’ businesses and data-driven operations.  In this environment, protecting sensitive information has never been more critical.  At the same time, data privacy and data protection are often perceived as incomprehensible legal behemoths and hurdles for realizing promising business objectives.

We assist our clients in navigating these waters confidently, protecting their own sensitive data and implementing their projects in a way that is consistent with the applicable laws and regulations.  To that end, we offer a wide range of data protection services designed to address the unique needs and challenges our clients face across all business sectors:

• We assist clients in understanding and complying with the applicable legal framework;
• We draft clear and robust privacy policies and notices that clearly communicate your data handling practices to customers and stakeholders;
• In case of data breaches, we provide support in navigating the complexities of breach notification obligations, preparing incident responses, and mitigating potential legal and reputational risks;
• We help our clients to develop comprehensive training programs to educate their employees about best practices and a practicable approach to complying with their responsibilities and within their organization.

Our team combines expert knowledge, personalized attention, and practical advice with proactive strategies to assist our clients in building a strong foundation for data protection and privacy compliance that complement their business objectives rather than undermining them.

Supply Chain Compliance

Recent regulatory developments aim at setting new legal standards for ethical behaviour and accountability. Businesses are required to account for the origins of their products starting from the first link in their supply chain.  This includes the obligation to establish proper risk management procedures to identify and minimise the risk of human rights violations and environmental depredation.

Our experts assist our clients in matters of corporate accountability and supply chain compliance. We guide them through the entire process of supply chain due diligence, thereby facilitating corporate responsibility while avoiding risks like fines and penalties, sanctions and the exclusion from public (and, increasingly, private) tenders.

The demands of state-of-the-art corporate responsibility are not, however, exhausted with a certificate based on one single due diligence. Compliance must be monitored continuously and consistently. We support our clients in establishing the procedures and creating the tools enabling them to manage, and document, their compliance efficiently and effectively.