The institute will focus on issues pertaining to lawyer law, focusing not only be on laws and codes for the profession but also on issues in different legal areas - including tax law – that intersect with lawyer. Civil law expert Univ. Prof. Dr. Andreas Geroldinger will head the new institute and Assoc. Univ. Prof. Dr. Sebastian Bergmann, LL.M. MBA (Institute of Finance Law, Tax Law and Tax Policy, JKU) will serve as deputy department head.

The institute’s official grand opening ceremony took place on January 31, 2019, following the institute’s founding member Prof. Geroldinger inaugural lecture titled “Leistbarer Zugang zum Recht”. After opening remarks by Rector Univ. Prof. Dr. Meinhard Lukas, Dean Univ. Prof. Dr. Katharina Pabel introduced made the formal introduction. President RA Dr. Rupert Wolff (Austrian Bar Association) and President RA Dr. Franz Mittendorfer, LL.M. (Bar Association of Upper Austria) also spoke in front of the audience of around 150 guests, emphasizing the legal profession’s great interest in the new institute and the potential for fruitful cooperation.

A special highlight included a presentation by Univ. Prof. Dr. Dr. h.c. Hanns Prütting, co-founder and director of the first Institute for Lawyer Law in Germany at the University of Cologne, about the development tendencies of the legal profession, particularly the challenges of LegalTech.