For the seventeenth consecutive year, CERHA HEMPEL in cooperation with the Vienna University of Economics and Business has awarded prizes to those students who have written the best dissertations on the subject of commercial law.
The official award ceremony for the CERHA HEMPEL Best Thesis Award – the LAWard 2025, which had a total prize fund of EUR 5,500 and also included book vouchers kindly provided by Facultas Verlags- und Buchhandels AG – was held on Tuesday 20 January 2026 in the conference rooms of CERHA HEMPEL. CERHA HEMPEL had the pleasure of welcoming special guest speaker Univ.-Prof. Mag. Dr. Martin Kocher, Governor of the Austrian National Bank (OeNB).
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. (President of the Supreme Court) and Dr. Clemens Hasenauer, LL.M./MBA (CERHA HEMPEL Managing Partner), together with Univ.-Prof. Dr. Erich Vranes, LL.M. (European law and international law, Vienna University of Economics and Business) and Univ.-Prof. DDr. Peter Lewisch (attorney at CERHA HEMPEL).
The winners of the LAWard 2025 are: Dr. Gernot Ehgartner and Dr. Ulrike Prokes, MSc, MIM (CEMS) in the PhD thesis category, Maximilian Pfeiffenberger, LL.M. in the Master's thesis category, and Florian Leitner LL.B. in the undergraduate dissertation category. "This year, the jury was once again extremely impressed by the broad range of subjects tackled by the papers submitted. Also of considerable note was the high quality of all the entries and the way in which the subjects were treated. Over the past 17 years, in excess of 500 papers have been submitted for the LAWard and in total we have awarded prizes in recognition of 70 submissions. A record we're very proud of", said Managing Partner Dr. Clemens Hasenauer, who heads the Corporate Transactions Department at CERHA HEMPEL.
In his keynote speech, Univ.-Prof. Mag. Dr. Martin Kocher, Governor of the Austrian National Bank, spoke about current challenges regarding monetary policy in the eurozone, followed by a lively panel discussion with Dr. Clemens Hasenauer, Univ.-Prof. Dr. Erich Vranes, and Univ.-Prof. DDr. Peter Lewisch on pressing European and global economic issues. Afterwards, the numerous high-profile guests took advantage of the reception to exchange ideas and network.