Secondary jobs

All that is right: The judge as a lawyer?

More than 200 judges work at the Federal Administrative Court throughout Austria.(Bild: Wolfgang Spitzbart)

A leading judge at the Federal Administrative Court in Innsbruck was still registered as a lawyer years after his appointment. In Liechtenstein. He would therefore also have been allowed to represent clients in Austria. He was also still prominently displayed on the website of his former law firm.

Austria's largest court is apparently turning out to be a judicial construction site: After the Krone recently reported on questionable procedures in the allocation of business, the Federal Administrative Court (BVwG) is showing a rather remarkable approach to secondary employment. This issue is obviously also a legacy from the time of the former president, who retired at the end of 2022. The new BVwG President Christian Filzwieser has only been in office since February 2024.

This case concerns the branch office of the Federal Administrative Court in Innsbruck. Martin Attlmayr was appointed as a judge there in October 2016. He acts as deputy head of the Tyrolean branch. Before that, Attlmayr was a lawyer and partner at the well-known law firm Gasser und Partner in Liechtenstein. The only problem is that Attlmayr obviously continued to work for the law firm from Vaduz.

Registered until July 2020
Research shows that the senior judge from Austria was registered as a lawyer with the Liechtenstein Chamber of Lawyers until mid-July 2020, for which annual chamber fees are due. As a lawyer registered in the Principality, he is also likely to represent clients in Austria. 

On the website until 2021: A judge as a team member of a prominent law firm(Bild: Krone KREATIV)

In addition: Attlmayr was listed on the website of Gasser und Partner as "Of Counsel", i.e. as a special advisor, with a photo, areas of practice and his own law firm email address until 2021. In the firm's presentation for the publication "The Legal 500" from 2022, the judge is also prominently presented as "Of Counsel" of Gasser und Partner. Five years after his appointment as a judge, Martin Attlmayr's LinkedIn profile still lists him not only as a judge but also as a lawyer. When internal discussions about secondary employment arose at the Innsbruck branch office at the time, the reference to "lawyer" was removed from the LinkedIn profile.

Former LinkedIn profile: "Judge" and "Lawyer" until 2022?(Bild: Krone KREATIV)

What is prohibited according to the guidelines
Working for a prominent law firm in Liechtenstein can be problematic, especially if cases involving companies from Liechtenstein are also heard at the Federal Administrative Court. The compliance guidelines of the Austrian judiciary state on page 27 in a highlighted passage with a large exclamation mark: "The simultaneous exercise of the profession of judge (...) and the profession of lawyer or the office of notary is incompatible." A decree issued by the Ministry of Justice in 2015 recalled the "relevant regulations" on secondary employment. It contains the following sentence: "For a judge in civil matters, secondary employment for a lawyer is prohibited due to the possibility of a presumption of bias."

The competence of the President
The "Krone" had already addressed questions to the Ministry of Justice and Judge Attlmayr on Friday of the previous week. On Monday, the Ministry of Justice referred to the competence of the President of the Federal Administrative Court. In response to specific questions about potential conflicts of interest and approvals, the spokesperson of the Federal Administrative Court merely stated on Tuesday: "Secondary employment of employees must be reported to the official authority (President of the Federal Administrative Court)." The judge in question had "declared to the new President Filzwieser that he had not worked as a lawyer since his appointment as a judge on October 1, 2016."

Judge Attlmayr left two inquiries about his former activities for Gasser und Partner unanswered last week. His LinkedIn profile is now "not publicly accessible or does not exist".