Olaf Riss, Professorship of Austrian and European Civil Law

picture of Olaf Riss

Faculty of Law

Contact Olaf Riss

"The image of what lawyers do is often characterised by media coverage and feature films: in a conflict situation, they stand up for one side or the other. This is an important, but only a small part of our work. In my opinion, lawyers make the most important contribution by designing the rules according to which we should all live together. If these rules are well thought out, conflicts don't arise in the first place. I try to orientate my research towards this goal." (Olaf Riss)

Research areas:

* Property law, credit security law and insolvency law
* Banking contract law and financial market law
* General terms and conditions law and consumer law
* Property law and property development contract law
* Economic analysis of the law
* in each case including European references

Curriculum Vitae:

1996-2000 Diploma Programme in Law (University of Vienna)
2001-2011 Assistant at the Institute for Civil Law (University of Vienna)
2002-2003 Postgraduate University Course (University of Vienna) Information and Media Law
2004 Doctorate in Law with distinction (University of Vienna)
since 2006 Senior Researcher / Consultant / Associated Researcher at the Institute for European Tort Law of the Austrian Academy of Sciences and the University of Graz
2013 Awarded teaching authorisation for Civil Law, Corporate Law and Civil Procedure Law (University of Vienna)
2014 Bar exam with distinction (Higher Regional Court of Vienna)
2012-2016 Associate and lawyer in Vienna
2014-2019 Professor of Civil Law (University of Linz)
2019-2025 Professor of Private Commercial Law (University of Klagenfurt)
since February 2025 Professor of Austrian and European Civil Law at the University of Vienna