The Vienna University of Economics and Business and CERHA HEMPEL present the "LAWard" for the fourteenth time

For the fourteenth consecutive year, CERHA HEMPEL – in cooperation with the business law programme at the Vienna University of Economics and Business (WU Wien) – has awarded prizes to those students who have written the best dissertations on the subjects of law and commercial law.

The official award ceremony for the CERHA HEMPEL Best Thesis Award – the LAWard 2022, which had a total prize fund of EUR 4,000 – was held on Tuesday 24 January 2023 in the conference rooms of CERHA HEMPEL. After being held as a virtual event for two consecutive years, this year it was once again possible to host the event with numerous guests in attendance. CERHA HEMPEL had the pleasure of welcoming special guest speaker Dr. Armenak Utudjian, President of the Austrian Bar Association.

As an international corporate law firm, CERHA HEMPEL aims to support high-quality education and practical legal training and to support those students and graduates who have shown themselves to be particularly gifted and talented individuals. The winners of this year's LAWard were selected by a panel of judges headed by Univ.-Prof. Dr. Georg Kodek, LL.M. (Civil and Civil Procedural Law, Vienna University of Economics and Business) and Dr. Clemens Hasenauer, LL.M./MBA (CERHA HEMPEL Managing Partner) together with Univ.-Prof. Dr. Erich Vranes, LL.M. and Univ.-Prof. DDr. Peter Lewisch (attorney at CERHA HEMPEL).

The winners of the LAWard 2022 are: Dr. Lena Werderitsch in the PhD thesis category, Jan Rodax, LL.M. in the Master's thesis category, and Lukas Matzka and Theodor Stallmeister, LL.B. in the undergraduate dissertation category.

Dr. Armenak Utudjian discussed the "Challenges of Being a Lawyer" in his keynote speech. The focus was on current challenges for practitioners and the legal profession itself, as well as the personal challenges that many encounter on their way to becoming successful lawyers. The topics covered during his keynote ranged from demographic developments to increasing digitalisation.

During the subsequent panel discussion, current legal issues in this regard were debated before a distinguished audience by a panel consisting of Dr. Armenak Utudjian, M.B.L.-HSG, Univ.-Prof. Dr. Georg Kodek, LL.M., Univ.-Prof. DDr. Peter Lewisch and Dr. Clemens Hasenauer, LL.M.

Afterwards, guests enjoyed a buffet and an evening of networking.

Photos from the event can be found here.