EY Law ranks Band 1 at Chambers FinTech 2024

Chambers & Partners ranks EY Law and NewTech Practice Lead Martin Hanzl in Band 1 for their FinTech advice

EY Law Austria has been honored as a Band 1 law firm in the 2024 Chambers ranking of the best Austrian law firms in FinTech advice. This is particularly noteworthy as Chambers & Partners not only recognizes the law firm as one of the best in Austria for its 2024 FinTech Ranking, but also individually ranks attorney at law and head of the New Tech practice Martin Hanzl in Band 1 for his outstanding legal advice in the FinTech sector.

This top tier ranking recognizes both the dedication and commitment as well as the expertise of the EY Law New Tech team in providing comprehensive legal advice to companies in the financial technology and crypto services sector. The team around Martin Hanzl can count leading Austrian and international FinTechs and technology companies to their esteemed client list and advises them in particular in the areas of regulatory compliance, assessment of business models or complex legal B2C matters. The long list of clients includes, among many others, the renowned unicorn and Austria’s largest crypto FinTech Bitpanda, the Bitcoin-only platform 21 bitcoin, which recently attracted a 2.1 million Euro investment, and the leading international Ethereum Layer 2 developer Matter Labs.

“We are of course particularly proud to be awarded the highest possible ranking for our FinTech practice in the first year of this specific Chambers category. We always strive to offer our clients innovative and individual solutions, even for previously undiscussed and constantly evolving matters. We certainly also owe our success to the trust put in us and the good cooperation with our clients, with whom we are already preparing for the realization of the next upcoming exciting projects, especially with regard to MiCAR or the AI Act,” commented Martin Hanzl, attorney at law and Head of New Technologies at EY Law Austria, on the recognition in Chambers’ FinTech Band 1.

“The top ranking by Chambers & Partners in the Fintech sector underlines not only the expertise of our team, but also our passion to constantly evolve with this dynamic industry. At EY Law Austria, one of our top priorities is to provide our clients with innovative solutions. This approach helps us to create opportunities for growth while maintaining a legally secure environment, particularly in the FinTech sector,” says Mario Gall, Partner at EY Law.

Martin Hanzl is an expert in advising national and international crypto service providers, FinTechs, start-ups and financial and insurance institutions, but also plays a leading role in various other projects beyond his work as a highly-regarded attorney at law. As project leader of the European Law Institute’s “Blockchain and Smart Contracts” project, he has contributed significantly to the legal development of this field at EU level and, as editor of one of the first international MiCAR commentaries, he is actively involved in the interpretation of the new overarching legal act for Crypto-FinTechs.

“In addition to the recognition as a law firm, which clearly testifies to the quality of our team, I am of course also personally honored to have been included in Band 1 of Chambers’ FinTech lawyer ranking. For the entire New Tech team and myself, this ranking shows that we are moving in a strong, promising direction with our approach to cater towards our clients and that we want and need to continue to develop and further improve in the coming years,” added Martin Hanzl.

About Martin Hanzl

In addition to his work at EY Law Austria, the attorney at law shares his expertise as a lecturer at renowned national and international teaching institutions such as universities, including Harvard Law School and Rutgers University, the Austrian Lawyers Academy and the FH Campus Wien. As the editor and author of several handbooks and numerous specialist articles on the topics of digitalization, smart contracts, new technologies and corporate law, Martin Hanzl also makes significant contributions to fostering legal knowledge and the further development of these areas of law. His outstanding work has already been recognized several times, and he is also a sought-after keynote speaker at international conferences, most recently at the Blockchain Economy Summit 2023.

EY Law’s New Technology Desk

EY Law assists multiple different companies with their digitalization and innovative projects such as blockchain technology from the very beginning. The New Technologies Desk, led by Dr. Martin Hanzl, is one of the fastest growing areas of the firm and plays a leading role in assisting many well-known FinTechs with their innovative business models. Thanks to the cooperation with EY’s IT experts and its extensive practical experience, EY Law offers comprehensive and competent support for companies in the digital environment.

This recent Chambers ranking comes on top of an impressive list of recognitions for EY Law Austria, including awards for M&A and Corporate Law and many other services.