22/12/2008
The Austrian Bar
The national representation of the bar in Austria is the Austrian Bar (Österreichische Rechtsanwaltskammertag – ÖRAK), an umbrella organisation, which consists of the nine regional bar associations (Rechtsanwaltskammern), one located in each federal state.
The nine bar associations are responsible for licensing lawyers and trainee lawyers to protect the rights and the standing of the lawyers and trainee lawyers and supervise their duties. They also run pension and health insurance systems for the profession.
The right to practice as a lawyer is attained exclusively by registration in the list of lawyers maintained by the bar associations. A lawyer has to be registered with the association where he/she is based. Only independently practicing lawyers (and no lawyers employed by non-lawyers) can be admitted to the legal profession. Judges and notaries public are organised differently and separately.
At the end of September 2008, there were roughly 5,300 lawyers registered in Austria. Of these, 90 are established European lawyers and approximately 17 per cent are women.
Each of the nine bar associations in Austria has a President (Präsident), Vice-Presidents (Präsidenten-Stellvertreter), a Board (Ausschuss) through which it exercises and performs most of its rights and duties and a Disciplinary Council (Disziplinarrat), which deals with alleged violations of ethical duties by lawyers.
The Austrian Bar is a public body located in Vienna and primarily responsible for the protection of the rights of the Austrian legal profession at large as well as for their representation. Its further statutory duties include: the rendering of opinions on draft legislation, drawing attention to deficiencies in the judiciary and in public administration, making recommendations for their improvement and promoting the exercise of the legal profession. It is particularly concerned with training and education and preserving the Bar’s independence.
The Austrian Bar may also issue guidelines for the exercise of the legal profession, the supervision of professional duties (ie, with regard to trusteeships) and the training of trainee lawyers. It publishes a monthly magazine called Anwaltsblatt which contains legal treatises and information on recent legislation and court cases.
The Austrian Bar’s three executive bodies are the Representatives’ Assembly (Vertreterversammlung), the Council of Presidents (Präsidentenrat) and the Executive Committee (Präsidium). The Vertreterversammlung consists of delegates of the nine Bar Associations, their number depending on the number of members of each Bar. The Präsidentenrat is made up of the Presidents of the nine respective Bar Associations. The Präsidium consists of the President of the Austrian Bar and three Vice-Presidents.
Further information about the Austrian Bar and access to its online lawyers directory can be found on its webpages at www.rechtsanwaelte.at.