Lawyers elected

Completed court handover not entirely without aftershocks

The lawyers were also selected, but there was no doubt about the outcome

(Bild: P. Huber)

The succession in the Upper Austrian Bar Association was completed as planned a year ago and the previously appointed president was elected. However, at the end of the event, there were quiet prophecies of doom against his predecessor, who is not worried about coming into conflict with the judiciary due to a real estate deal with aftershocks.

The court handover took place as planned at the Upper Austrian Bar Association. Walter Müller was elected as Franz Mittendorfer's successor. "The succession had already been settled for a year," says Mittendorfer. No one stood as an opposing candidate - he would have needed ten supporters.

Walter Müller (62) is the new President of the Upper Austrian Bar Association. There were no opposing candidates at the plenary session.

(Bild: zVg)

Formality
Mittendorfer left for reasons of age and made way for his colleague of the same age. The majority of the lawyers present belonged to the law firms of the lawyers - Saxinger (Mittendorfer) and Prof. Haslinger & Partner (Müller) - and the appointment of Mittendorfer as Honorary President was a formality.

Franz Mittendorfer (62) headed the Bar Association for twelve years and always said: "If there's a six in front, I'll quit."

(Bild: Land OÖ/Kauder)

Usury when buying land
However, things didn't go off without a hitch, as Mittendorfer was involved in the case of the reversal of a real estate deal on Lake Traunsee: his brother had purchased a boathouse for 324,000 euros in 2019. In retrospect, a civil court found that it was worth almost ten times as much - one of Mittendorfer's employees had been involved in the deal. The accusation was usury - the seller's heiress got the property back. "It was negligent ignorance of the price," says the outgoing president. When asked about a similar case on Lake Traunsee, which led to - not legally binding - convictions of lawyers, Mittendorfer told the "Krone": "We are somewhere else entirely" and fears no consequences. The civil judge who allowed the boathouse deal to fall through would have been obliged to report the matter to the police in the event of criminal suspicion.

Criticism from the Court of Audit
Upper Austrian politicians are also keeping an eye on the lawyer, particularly with regard to his activities on the supervisory board of the Upper Austrian health holding company. This is because his law firm received a conspicuously large number of contracts from OÖG - until the State Court of Audit criticized this circumstance in 2023 and demanded a tender based on the best bidder principle.