He is now known for his ability to concurrently lead teams from multiple jurisdictions and has a reputation for expertise in cross-border proceedings where politically sensitive issues meet commercial matters. In 2005, Oblin decided to start his own firm – “to give it a shot and fly solo,” he says. It was a bold move for someone who had no experience or education running a business, but at the same time it was the inevitable next step for Oblin. “I was not totally aware of what having my own firm meant,” he admits. “And making money is first. If you are 110 percent responsible for the income, you approach things differently than being a partner or a salaried partner or an employed lawyer. You don’t think only law. From the beginning, you have to pay your invoices. That changes everything.” He says he learned how to run a successful firm step by step and through learning by doing. Much of it, he says, was instinct and common sense. He says it is no different from a locksmith who sets up his own shop or a chef who opens her own restaurant. It requires talent, hard work, making smart choices about building a team, and a little bit of luck. There’s no recipe, he says to young lawyers looking to start their own firm, though it did help having worked in Big Law. “You see what they’re doing there,” he says. “It’s not a miracle.” Today, OBLIN Rechtsanwälte has 16 lawyers licensed to practice in six different countries. The firm specializes in crossborder disputes, commercial litigation, and arbitration. Oblin has worked diligently to concentrate the firm’s work on cases involving litigation and arbitration. His success is reflected in how the cases he’s
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Attending law school in the United States helped shape the worldview of Austrian attorney Klaus Oblin.
handled have grown in complexity and claim value over the years. “It has always been about money in court,” he says. “It’s about contracts and breach of contracts and damages and performance, and, at the end, it’s about money.” Oblin strives to maintain a high standard of performance and ethics across the firm through leading by example, he says. He looks for attorneys who share his performance expectations.
“I’d rather stop my colleagues and teammates than have to push them,” he says. “They are all determined and eager to work. You can win the title and be number one, but the art is in keeping the level and being top 10 for years. That’s the challenge.”
T H E P R I M E R U S P A R A D I G M™
As part of establishing the firm’s long-term viability, Oblin became a Primerus™ member in 2021. He says he “clicked” with the Primerus™ membership at his first conference, which was held in Hamburg. He later hosted a conference in Vienna and attended last year’s Global Conference in San Diego — “that was a no-brainer,” he says. He enjoyed taking his wife, Angelika, on a tour of the USD campus and showing her where he used to live.
Oblin says that while he is pleased with the Primerus™ mission, he would like to see the addition of more non-U.S. members.
“There is a lot of room to truly become international,” he says. “Lots of work is still ahead of us.”