The two partners, Christian Temmel (53) and Christian Knauder-Sima (49), will be establishing the capital markets law practice at KWR from March onwards.

This expansion represents a significant step in the ‘KWR 2035’ strategy, as it adds a key area of expertise to the firm’s range of advisory services and further strengthens KWR’s market position.

“The arrival of Christian Temmel and Christian Knauder-Sima is a significant development for our firm and is fully in line with our strategic plans for the further expansion of our firm and our advisory portfolio. We are delighted to have succeeded in recruiting two such highly specialised and market-recognised experts as new partners for our firm. Both colleagues are a perfect fit for our firm, both professionally and, above all, personally. We are thus consistently continuing our KWR 2035 growth strategy and are very much looking forward to working together with Christian Temmel and Christian Knauder-Sima on the further development and success of our firm,” said KWR Partner and Management Board Spokesperson Clemens Berlakovits.

“Building up the capital markets law practice at KWR is an incredibly exciting task. We are raring to go and look forward to contributing to the development of the firm of the future,” says Christian Temmel.

“KWR is one of Austria’s leading commercial law firms, which is why we are delighted to now become part of the team and to lead the capital markets law practice. “This aligns perfectly with the ‘KWR 2035’ strategy of becoming one of the market leaders in the Austrian legal market in the field of full-service advice over the coming years,” says Christian Knauder-Sima.

About the new partners:

Christian Temmel has been a partner at KWR since 2026 and possesses extensive expertise in corporate, capital markets and securities law, including regulatory aspects, as well as private and public M&A. He specialises in particular in capital markets transactions, corporate restructuring, M&A and regulatory issues relating to financial market law.

In his areas of focus, he regularly advises clients on national and international legal matters and transactions.

Dr Temmel is a lecturer in corporate law and capital markets and securities law at the University of Vienna, and in stock exchange and capital markets law at Danube University Krems and the University of Applied Sciences Wiener Neustadt.

Christian Temmel has for many years been the author, co-author, editor and co-editor of numerous publications and is a regular speaker at specialist conferences.

Christian Knauder-Sima has been a partner at KWR since 2026, with proven expertise in corporate and capital markets law. He advises clients primarily on matters relating to corporate, capital markets and securities law, M&A and related legal areas, with a particular focus on aspects of financial market regulation.

In addition, Christian Knauder-Sima has extensive experience in structuring and executing financing and capital market transactions (debt and equity) as well as M&A transactions, both at national and international level.

He also advises on complex corporate restructuring, issues relating to directors’ duties, corporate governance and ESG, as well as on matters of takeover and stock exchange law.

Christian Knauder-Sima publishes regularly and gives lectures on topics relating to private sector law. He is a long-standing lecturer at the Institute for Business Law at the University of Vienna, as well as at FH Campus Wien and other institutions, with the focus of his teaching and research activities lying in the areas of company, group and capital markets law. His most recent publication is the commentary on the Austrian Payment Services Act 2018, in which Christian Knauder-Sima, as co-editor and co-author, addresses fundamental civil law issues relating to payment transactions as well as regulatory requirements for payment institutions.