Alice Fremuth-Wolf, Ex-VIAC secretary-general, joins Vienna boutique PARAGON Advocacy

She spent ten years at VIAC, including four as the centre’s secretary general, before joining Nivalion in 2022 as its market area head for Austria and Central and Eastern Europe. Fremuth-Wolf says she will continue to advise Nivalion as an external senior legal consultant on matters relating to Austria and the CEE region.

Paragon’s co-managing partner Helmut Ortner says: “I am very happy to welcome Alice to our team. Her wealth of expertise and incredible network as a leading voice in international arbitration and litigation finance bring exciting perspectives and opportunities to Paragon.”

The firm’s other co-managing partner, Philipp Peters, says: “For more than two decades, Alice has been among those leading the charge to establish Vienna as a leading hub for international dispute resolution. Her striving for an international perspective over provinciality makes her a perfect fit for us.”

Alice Fremuth-Wolf worked as an associate at Wolf Theiss and Baker McKenzie before joining VIAC in 2012. She was promoted to secretary-general in 2018, replacing Manfred Heider.

VIAC passed several milestones during her tenure, including administering its first all-female tribunal in her first year. The institution also began publishing the names of appointees to all its tribunals.

In 2019, it launched investment arbitration and mediation rules, along with a portal and electronic case management system to promote “greener” and more cost-conscious arbitrations.

Alice Fremuth-Wolf stepped down as secretary-general in 2021 and was later replaced by Irish national and former Freshfields lawyer Niamh Leinwather. Fremuth-Wolf joined Nivalion in February 2022.

Anna-Maria Tamminen, managing partner at Hannes Snellman in Helsinki, says “Alice has been a key player on the Austrian international arbitration scene for over 20 years. She has counsel experience form her early years in the industry, experience from the institutional side at VIAC, from the financing side at Nivalion, and she has acted as arbitrator all along. (…) I wish Alice all the best in her new role.”

Stavros Brekoulakis of 3 Veruluam Buildings and the National University of Singapore says: “For more than two decades, Alice has been a leading force in shaping Vienna’s place in international arbitration, whether through her tenure at VIAC, her leadership at Nivalion in Austria and CEE, or her continued work as arbitrator. She is known for her integrity, expertise and international outlook, and I have no doubt she will bring the same impact and vision to her new role at Paragon.”

A&O Shearman’s head of international arbitration in Germany Anna Masser says: “Alice’s background from her previous roles as secretary-general of VIAC and head of Austria and CEE at Nivalion enables her to bring a particular expertise to the to the table. I am convinced that she is a great fit at Paragon.”

Paragon’s partnership includes Martin Hackl and Michael Hofstätter, who joined from Konrad Partners, and Veronika Korom, a French-Hungarian investment arbitration specialist who joined the firm as affiliated partner in 2023.

Thanks to Tom Jones for this article in Global Arbitration Review.