News

Prof. Dr. Julia Nicolussi contributed a total of three articles on executive board and supervisory board issues to the renowned handbooks on Austrian law.

The works are available at https://www.orellfuessli.ch/

Valeria Leusciatti, former member of the chair, has received the University of Zurich's Semester Prize for her master's thesis ‘Legal Transplants in Stock Corporation Law – A Success Story?’ This prize is awarded each semester on the recommendation of the faculties for outstanding work. A great success and a wonderful conclusion to her studies, for which we offer our heartfelt congratulations! For more information on the Semester Prizes, please visit the following link.

From 10 to 12 November, the interdisciplinary M&A seminar took place in Weggis – a joint format combining law and economics.

Under the guidance of Prof. Dr. Julia Nicolussi and Dr. Mariel Hoch (Bär & Karrer) on the legal side and Dr. Christian Köpe (dialogsante) and Amra Hrustanovic (UZH, Department of Finance) on the economics side, the students worked intensively on case studies and presented their M&A pitches in interdisciplinary teams.

The seminar not only offered exciting insights into the legal and economic dimensions of transactions, but also promoted mutual understanding between the disciplines and team spirit!

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On September 23 and 24, 2025, Prof. Dr. Nicolussi hosted the comparative law conference “International Conference for Young Scholars in Business Law” at UZH, with participation from departments at Heidelberg University, Budapest University, Vienna University, Würzburg University, and Vienna University of Economics and Business.

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Professor Julia Nicolussi will participate in the panel discussion on future issues in German stock corporation law.

Tagungsprogramm

Prof. Dr. Nicolussi recently published her contribution on FlexCo in the journal "European Company and Financial Review".

Prof. Dr. Nicolussi, together with Dr. Vera Naegli, has written an article on "Conflicts of interest on the board of directors" in the current issue of GesKR.

In the commemorative edition published on the occasion of the Schweizerischen Juristentags 2025 in Zurich, Prof. Dr. Julia Nicolussi examines innovation research in Swiss company law. The commemorative edition can be purchased here.

Prof. Dr Julia Nicolussi will speak at the «Deutsch-Österreichisch-Schweizerisches Symposium zum Gesellschafts- und Kapitalmarktrecht» on 12 and 13 June 2025 at the Max Planck Institute in Hamburg.

Programm

On 15 May 2025, a symposium was held at the Federal Ministry of Justice to mark the 60th anniversary of the Stock Corporation Act, chaired by Prof. Dr Julia Nicolussi and Prof. Dr Dr h.c. Susanne Kalss. After a ceremonial opening by Federal Minister Dr. Anna Sporrer, Susanne Kalss (WU Vienna) and Johannes Flume (University of Salzburg) gave a historical review of the economic and legal development of stock corporation law. Jens Koch (University of Cologne) spoke about current developments and the recent discussion on German stock corporation law. Peter Forstmoser (NKF / University of Zurich) outlined the differences to Swiss stock corporation law in his presentation.

The Stock Corporation Act is by no means the sole legal basis for the activities of stock corporations: Alexander Schopper (University of Innsbruck) and Mathias Potyka (BMJ) showed how many regulators and protagonists (company register, FMA, ECB, APAB, etc.) shape the legal framework of stock corporations today. In their presentations, Eveline Artmann (University of Linz) and Walter Bayer (emeritus professor at the University of Jena) made it clear that strengthening freedom of design can be an important piece of the puzzle in making public limited companies even more accessible to different types of companies. Angelika Sommer-Hemetsberger (OeKB) drew on practical experience to demonstrate how to deal effectively with uncertainties in the management board, while Martin Auer (University of Salzburg) outlined the limits of the management board in dealing with AI and sustainability.

Elke Heinrich-Pendl (SFU Vienna) and Stefan Fida (Grohs Hofer RA) analysed the role of the supervisory board as the only mandatory collegial body with the associated plurality, cooperation and control, as well as its ever-growing new tasks. Finally, Julia Nicolussi (University of Zurich) and Julia Told (University of Innsbruck) highlighted the effectiveness of corporate law and its further development through European standards, emphasising its importance for real economic life.

Photos of the event can be found here.
(© Simon Kupferschmied)

The conference proceedings will be published by Manz Verlag in early 2026.

New publication: An article on the right of the chairperson of the general meeting to cast the deciding vote (Art. 703 para. 3 OR) was written by Prof. Dr. Nicolussi in the commemorative publication for Barbara Dauner-Lieb. The anthology can be purchased here.

In the autumn semester of 2025, Prof. Dr. Julia Nicolussi will offer a Mergers & Acquisitions seminar. Bachelor's and Master's theses can be written as part of this seminar. Registration is via the faculty's registration tool.
For further information, please refer to the flyer. 

New publication: Prof. Dr. Nicolussi has contributed an article on GmbH & Co KG to an anthology. The anthology can be purchased here.

To mark the 60th anniversary of the Austrian Stock Corporation Act, Prof. Dr Julia Nicolussi and Prof. Dr Dr h.c. Susanne Kalss are hosting a celebratory symposium on Thursday, 15 May 2025. The conference programme and further information can be found here. 

Prof. Dr Julia Nicolussi will speak about Swiss business governance as part of the executive education programme ‘CAS Family Governance & Family Office Excellence’.

The flyer can be found here, further information and registration here. 

The 15th Austrian Supervisory Board Day will take place on 27 February 2025. Numerous experts will discuss the topic of ‘Empowering – Europe must move from talk to action’. Prof. Dr Julia Nicolussi will moderate the workshop on public enterprises.

The programme can be found here, further information and registration here. 

Prof. Dr Julia Nicolussi will speak at this year's conference on company law (RuSt 2024) in October 2024.

Registration and programme can be found here. 

The sixth edition of the third volume of the Munich Commentary on the German Stock Corporation Act (AktG) was published in September 2024. Prof. Dr. Julia Nicolussi provided commentary on Sections 133, 134, 136 and 142-146 of the Austrian Stock Corporation Act (dAktG).

The commentary is available  here. 

Prof. Dr. Julia Nicolussi will give a presentation on 27 September 2024 at the 18th ECFR Conference in Budapest on the topic of ‘Creating a new legal form for business enterprises: The Austrian FlexCo’.

The full programme can be found here. 

In August 2024, the anthology ‘Gesellschaftsrecht im Spiegel grosser Debatten’ (Company Law in the Mirror of Major Debates) was published under the editorship of Holger Fleischer, Jens Koch and Klaus U. Schmolke. Prof. Dr. Julia Nicolussi and Prof. Dr. Dr. h.c. Susanne Kalss co-authored the article ‘One Share - One Vote or Multiple Voting Rights Shares’ for the anthology. 

The article is available here.

Prof. Dr. Julia Nicolussi will speak about Swiss corporate governance as part of the executive education programme ‘CAS Stakeholder Management and Stewardship’.

The flyer can be found here, further information and registration here. 

On 21 June 2024, a memorial symposium for Prof. Dr. Christian Nowotny will be held at the Vienna University of Economics and Business, at which Prof. Dr. Julia Nicolussi will give a lecture on ‘The strictness of statutes in stock corporation law’.

The invitation and programme can be found here. 

On 25 April 2024, Prof. Dr Julia Nicolussi will give a presentation at the 2024 Share Law Conference on the topic of ‘Virtual decision-making at general meetings and on supervisory boards’.

Registration and programme can be found here.

The 1st Vienna M&A Day will take place on 24 April 2024, at which Prof. Dr. Julia Nicolussi will be speaking.

The programme and tickets are available  here. 

On 14 March 2024, the Institute for Corporate Law at the Vienna University of Economics and Business will hold a seminar at which Prof. Dr Julia Nicolussi and Dr Vera Naegeli, LL.M. (Harvard), will give a presentation on ‘Conflicts of interest on the board of directors’.

The seminar programme can be found here. 

In February 2024, the first commentary on the FlexKapGG was published, in which Prof. Dr. Julia Nicolussi commented on Sections 1–5 of the VirtGesG on virtual meetings.

The work is available here.

At the 14th Austrian Supervisory Board Day, numerous experts discussed the topic ‘Simple, understandable, convincing – that's all you need!’. Prof. Dr Julia Nicolussi moderated the workshop on public companies.

Further information can be found  here.

The sixth edition of the first volume of the Munich Commentary on the German Stock Corporation Act (AktG) was published in December 2023. Prof. Dr. Julia Nicolussi commented on Sections 58–60 and 67–70 of the Austrian Stock Corporation Act (dAktG), Section 13a of the German Commercial Code (HGB) and Sections 67a–67f of the Austrian Stock Corporation Act (dAktG) (together with Prof. Dr. Dr. h.c Susanne Kalss) on Austrian law.

The commentary is available here.

In December 2023, LexisNexis published a practical commentary on private international law. Prof. Dr. Julia Nicolussi, together with Prof. Dr. Georg Eckert (WU Vienna), commented on Art. 3 Rome I Regulation on the choice of law.

The commentary is available here.