Wilmer Cutler Pickering Hale and Dorr LLP Announces Significant Addition to its International Arbitration Group

• 4.4.2011

Wilmer Cutler Pickering Hale and Dorr LLP’s International Arbitration Group is pleased to announce that Professor Paul Oberhammer has joined the firm as of counsel.

Professor Oberhammer, who is admitted to practice as a German Rechtsanwalt, is a leading expert in international litigation and arbitration, focusing on the laws of Germany, Austria and Switzerland. He has authored more than 230 publications in the fields of arbitration law, civil procedure, and civil and commercial law, and has participated as legal expert, adviser, counsel, or arbitrator in nearly 200 litigation and arbitration proceedings. He was chairman of the reform commission and drafted the new Austrian Arbitration Act of 2006.

Professor Oberhammer is also a distinguished academic. From 2001-2003, he held the chair of Civil Law, Civil Procedure and Commercial Law at University Halle-Wittenberg in Germany. From 2003- 2011, he taught at Zurich University, where he held the chair of Swiss and International Civil Procedure, Insolvency Law, and Civil and Commercial Law. Since February 2011, he has been a Professor of Civil Procedure at the University of Vienna.

In his role as of counsel, Professor Oberhammer will work with the International Arbitration Group as an expert adviser and party representative; he will also continue his work as arbitrator.

“I have seen WilmerHale’s International Arbitration Group in action in several cases,” said Oberhammer. “The Group’s academic integrity, their strategic approach to cases, and their tenacity as advocates have impressed me tremendously.”

“In what is perhaps a unique combination, Professor Oberhammer is expert in German, Swiss and Austrian arbitration law and civil procedure,” said Gary Born, Chair of the firm’s International Arbitration Group. “These are all very important jurisdictions for international arbitration, and his profound knowledge of these legal systems will be a great asset to our clients.”

Oberhammer’s appointment adds to the group’s significant existing offerings in the region. Over the past decade, the International Arbitration Group has been involved in some of the most complex and high-profile cases in Austria, Germany and Switzerland, and the CEE countries. The group has more than 10 German-speaking arbitration specialists, and Chambers Global 2011 recently named Partner Franz Schwarz the leading overseas arbitration counsel for both Germany and Austria.

“Our entire team is extremely excited about Professor Oberhammer joining us,” said Schwarz. “He is not only a leading academic, but also a gifted advocate whose experience will be of great benefit to our clients.”

Wilmer Cutler Pickering Hale and Dorr LLP offers one of the world's premier international dispute resolution practices. Our International Arbitration Group is one of the most successful, experienced and varied of its kind. Our practice covers virtually all forms of international arbitration and our lawyers have recently handled disputes governed by the laws of more than 70 different legal systems in arbitrations seated in Europe, Asia and the Americas. We have recently served as counsel in more than 550 international disputes, and we are handling disputes under all leading rules (including ICC, the Vienna Centre, DIS, LCIA, ICSID, AAA, UNCITRAL, HKIAC and SIAC) and in all leading arbitral seats. In a recent survey, Global Arbitration Review ranked our group amongst the top five of the world’s 100 most active arbitration practices.