CERHA HEMPEL
Best Thesis Award
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.
To promote the academic activities of those studying Austrian, European and international corporate law, CERHA HEMPEL in cooperation with the business law programme at the Vienna University of Economics and Business (WU Wien) will once again be presenting the CERHA HEMPEL Best Thesis Award – the LAWard – in recognition of outstanding academic work. The LAWard 2025 has a total prize fund of EUR 5,000.
Prizes will be awarded by a jury consisting of academics and legal practitioners, in the following three categories:
Undergraduate dissertation
Master's dissertation
PhD thesis
Prizes:
| Undergraduate dissertation | EUR 500.00 (awarded in respect of up to two dissertations) |
| Master's dissertation | EUR 1,000.00 (awarded in respect of up to two dissertations) |
| PhD thesis | EUR 2,000.00 (awarded in respect of one thesis) |
(Note: The LAWard jury reserves the right to distribute the prize money differently)
An expert panel of judges consisting of representatives drawn from the fields of academia and practice will decide on the awarding of cash prizes.
Facultas Verlags- und Buchhandels AG is supporting the LAWard 2025 by agreeing to publish the winning PhD thesis and by providing book vouchers.
Conditions of participation:
Applicants must be students or graduates of the business law program of the Vienna University of Economics and Business or of a doctoral program of an Austrian faculty of law. Undergraduate dissertations, Master's dissertations and PhD theses from one of the aforementioned fields of study that have been awarded a "Good" or "Very Good" grade at the time of their entry may be submitted; the date of the last assessment may not be before 30/06/2024.
If the dissertation or thesis has also been submitted for or has already been awarded other prizes, this must be stated in the application letter.
Entries can be submitted that deal with topics related to business law, for instance:
- Employment law
- Banking and finance
- Corporate law
- Trade law and arbitration
- Capital markets law
- Real estate law
- Media and telecommunications law, and IP law
- Eastern European law
- Public commercial and European law
- Civil law and civil procedural law
- White collar crime
The deadline for the LAWard 2025 has already passed. The award ceremony will be held in January 2026.
Contact persons at CERHA HEMPEL:
Dr. Clemens Hasenauer, LL.M./MBA
Managing Partner
clemens.hasenauer(at)cerhahempel.com
Barbara Skok
Human Resources
barbara.skok(at)cerhahempel.com
Contact person at the Vienna University of Economics and Business (WU Wien):
Mag. Mira Ferguson
Email: jusplus@wu.ac.at