Organising Committee
Vienna
University of Vienna
Juridicum
Nikolaus Pitkowitz
Organising Committee (VIAC)
Nikolaus Pitkowitz is the founding partner and head of dispute resolution at Pitkowitz & Partners, Vienna, and Vice-President of VIAC. He holds law degrees from the University of Vienna (JD and PhD) and the University of Sankt Gallen, Switzerland (MBL) and is also qualified and certified as a Mediator. Dr. Pitkowitz has been practising law since 1985. His practice, which has always been very international with a strong focus on CEE, initially mainly comprised transactional work in the fields of Real Estate and M&A and soon expanded to international dispute resolution. Nikolaus Pitkowitz is considered one of the preeminent Austrian dispute resolution practitioners.
Federico Antich
Organising Committee (IBA)
Federico Antich graduated at the School of Law, University of Florence, Italy and earned an LLM in U.S. and Global Business Law at Suffolk University Law School, USA, after having completed postgraduate studies at Harvard Law School, UC Davis, UC Berkeley and at King’s College, UK. He practices as an Attorney at Law in Florence since 1997. Since 1999 he also practices as a civil and commercial mediator and is currently accredited by several Organizations including the Center for Effective Dispute Resolution (CEDR), the International Mediation Institute (IMI) and has been the first Italian to be inducted as a Distinguished Fellow of the International Academy of Mediators (IAM). He currently serves as President of the Italian Delegation of the Mediation Center for Europe, the Mediterranean and the Middle East (CEM) and as Co-Chair of the Mediation Committee of the International Bar Association (IBA). He is also a Member of the American Bar Association (ABA) – International Section, the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators (MCIArb) and since 2004 he has been involved in teaching the theory and practice of non-contentious dispute resolution, having also received certification as a trainer of trainers in mediation by CEDR, by Mediation Works Inc. Boston (MWI) and as a trainer in higher education by the Derek Bok Center for Teaching and Learning at Harvard University.
Niamh Leinwather
Organising Committee (VIAC)
Since 1 January 2022, Niamh Leinwather has taken office as the new Secretary General of the Vienna International Arbitral Centre (VIAC). Of Irish origin, Niamh has both a common and civil law background (Bachelor of Civil Law, University College Dublin, Mag.iur., University of Vienna, Master of European Studies, University of Vienna). She was the first Irish woman to be admitted to the Austrian Bar in 2013 and has over a decade of experience in international dispute resolution at Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer in Vienna where she acted as both counsel and arbitrator.
Martin Hauser
Organising Committee (IBA)
Martin Hauser is a certified mediator in Germany and France. He leads national and international commercial mediations in English, French, and German. Martin has a legal background in intellectual property, IT, licenses, distribution, competition, complex industrial projects, and international business law. With over 30 years of practice as a business lawyer in commercial litigation, international arbitration, international commercial and investment mediation, and negotiations, Martin works full-time as a commercial mediator on the resolution of complex and emotional legal conflicts. He is accredited with mediation institutions such as ICC Centre for ADR, Paris, CMAP, Paris, WIPO Arbitration and Mediation Center, Geneva, EUCON, Munich, VIAC, Vienna, IFCM/IMI, Paris/The Hague, and listed with the Paris Court of Appeals and CNMA, Paris. Martin is Officer of the IBA Mediation Committee Advisory Board and past Co-Chair (2021-2022) of the IBA International Bar Association Mediation Committee. He is a member of the VIAC Board, Vienna. He is a Distinguished Fellow of the IAM, Dallas, and is selected by WWL Who’s Who Legal as Thought Leader Global Elite in Commercial Mediation. Martin is a member of the Munich (Rechtsanwalt) and Paris (avocat honoraire) Bars. He practiced from 1988 to 2019 as a founding partner at BMH AVOCATS, Paris. From 1980 to 1983, he was a research fellow in French intellectual property and competition law with the Max-Planck-Institute for Innovation and Competition, Munich. Martin holds degrees of Master of Arts (M.A.) in negotiation and mediation from the European University Viadrina Frankfurt Oder (2015), Master of Comparative Jurisprudence (M.C.J.) from New York University (NYU) (1986), Doctorate in Law (Dr. iur.) from the University of Munich (1983) and law degrees from the Universities of Munich and Freiburg i. Br. (1985, 1979).
Shaun Henriques
Organising Committee (IBA)
Soon to follow.