Elias Schönborn

White-Collar Crime & Criminal Defence, Corporate Criminal Liability & Compliance, Internal Investigations, Medical Criminal Law

Founder of Schönborn Rechtsanwalt GmbH (es.law) and admitted to the Austrian Bar, Dr Elias Schönborn has built a specialised white-collar crime practice around one central principle: complex criminal matters should be shaped as early as possible, rather than merely defended at a later stage of the proceedings. Before establishing es.law in 2023, he practised at DORDA Rechtsanwälte GmbH, where he was a Senior Associate in the firm’s Dispute Resolution and White-Collar Crime practice.

At es.law, Dr Schönborn leads a focused and highly integrated criminal-law team comprising associates Mag. Jan Uwe Thiel, LL.M., Philipp Meinhart, LL.M. (WU), and Mag. Franziska Mühlbauer, supported by legal assistants Lukas Jakes, LL.B. (WU), Bettina Fent, LL.B. (WU), and Jil Pastner. The team handles demanding mandates for senior executives, board members, public officials, physicians and companies and is deliberately structured around close partner involvement combined with substantive associate responsibility. Associates are directly involved in analysing extensive case files and financial records, developing defence strategies, preparing written submissions and evidentiary applications, researching complex legal and technical issues and preparing procedural remedies, while the legal assistants support the team with legal research, document review and case preparation. This enables the firm to deploy a compact but highly effective team capable of handling document-heavy, technically demanding and time-sensitive proceedings without the layers of delegation often associated with larger practices.

Dr Schönborn’s practice extends beyond individual criminal defence to corporate criminal liability, criminal compliance and internal investigations. He advises companies both preventively on criminal-law risks and reactively when potential misconduct has already been identified, and conducts internal investigations aimed at establishing the relevant facts, assessing individual and corporate exposure and enabling targeted remedial measures. Medical criminal law is another distinctive area of his practice, in which he regularly represents physicians and healthcare-sector clients in proceedings involving allegations of negligent homicide, bodily injury and other forms of potential criminal liability.

His approach combines detailed written advocacy with rigorous analysis of both the factual record and the legal issues at stake. Recent outcomes include the discontinuation without indictment of an almost eight-year white-collar investigation against the managing director of an international group, the swift discontinuation of criminal breach of trust proceedings against the chairman of an Austrian bank within a matter of weeks, and a diversionary resolution in proceedings concerning approximately 130 acts of fraud affecting the EU’s financial interests, which was upheld on appeal by the Vienna Higher Regional Court. In several matters, prosecuting authorities expressly adopted the factual and legal analysis advanced in the firm’s defence submissions.

His practice is reinforced by substantial academic work. Dr Schönborn has authored more than 30 publications on criminal law and criminal procedure, is co-author of the 700-page handbook Criminal Compliance and co-editor of the 2026 Handbuch Medizinstrafrecht, the first comprehensive Austrian handbook dedicated to medical criminal law, comprising more than 1,400 pages.

Association of Austrian Defense Lawyers (VÖStV), Austrian White Collar Crime Association (AWCCA), Association for Commercial Criminal Law (Wistev), European Criminal Bar Association (ECBA), Vienna Bar Association (RAK Vienna)

Handbook of Medical Criminal Law (2026), 1408 pages, published by Linde-Verlag, co-edited with Kern

Zur Anwendbarkeit der Beschlagnahmebestimmungen bei freiwillig übergebenen Datenträgern – Zugleich eine Besprechung von OLG Linz 23. 10. 2025, 8 Bs 152/25x (2026), Zeitschrift für Wirtschafts- und Finanzstrafrecht (ZWF) 1. Mai 2026 (together with Thiel)

Interne Untersuchungen und Strafrecht – Risiken, Pflichten und Handlungsmöglichkeiten (2026), Zeitschrift für Wirtschaftsrecht (ecolex) 27. März 2026 (together with Travica/Thiel)

Strafrechtliche Verantwortlichkeit von Ärzten und sonstigen Heilberufsangehörigen beim Einsatz von Künstlicher Intelligenz, Recht der Medizin (RdM) 2026 (together with Thiel)

Die IP-Adresse als »Smoking Gun« der Strafverfolgung? Zeitschrift für Cyberstrafrecht (CyberStR) 2026 (together with Thiel)

Das Rechtsschutzregime bei der neuen Beschlagnahme von Datenträgern und Daten – (neue) Rechtsschutzmöglichkeiten für Betroffene und (grund-)rechtliche Bedenken zur Neuregelung (2025), Österreichisches Anwaltsblatt (AnwBl) (together with Thiel)

Kapitel „KI und Strafrecht“ in Geuer/Geuer (Hrsg), KI und Recht (2025), Grundlagen der Künstlichen Intelligenz, published at Linde (together with Thiel)

Kapitel „Strafverfahren und Ermittlungsbefugnisse“ in Royer/Brewi (Hrsg), Praxishandbuch Cybercrime (2025), publsihed at Linde (together with Ghazanfari/Thiel)

Beschlagnahme von Datenträgern und Daten: Neue Rechtslage, alte Bedenken? (2025), Journal für Strafrecht 21.5.2025 (together with Thiel)

Neue Datenbeschlagnahme wirft erneut Grundrechtsfragen auf (2025), Die Presse Rechtspanorama 13.1.2025 (together with Thiel)

Strafrechtliche Compliance und Umgang mit Whistleblowing (2024), RFG – Schriftenreihe Recht und Finanzen für Gemeinden (MANZ-Verlag), 104 pages(together with Morwitzer)

Verhältnismäßigkeit und Datenschutz bei der Sicherstellung von Daten(trägern) – Zwischen effizienter Strafverfolgung und effektivem Grundrechtsschutz (2024), Zeitschrift für Wirtschafts- und Finanzstrafrecht (ZWF) · 15.07.2024 (together with Thiel)

Gesetzliche Regelungen zur Handy-Sicherstellung sind verfassungswidrig (Austria) (2024), WiJ – Journal der Wirtschaftsstrafrechtlichen Vereinigung e.V. (WisteV) 15.06.2024 (together with Thiel)

Stampiglienbeschluss als rechtsstaatliches Feigenblatt (2024), Die Presse Rechtspanorama vom 29.1.2024 (together with Seidl)

Ausgewählte strafrechtliche Schwachpunkte des HSchG (2024), ecolex 2024/1, 13

Praxishandbuch Criminal Compliance (2023)

Wie Unternehmen strafrechtliche Risiken vermeiden und auf Verdachtsfälle richtig reagieren können, 700 Seiten, published at MANZ (together with Morwitzer), Das strafrechtliche Nachspiel zu den Corona-Förderungen (2023)

Die Presse Rechtspanorama vom 10.7.2023 (together with Dondras), Kapitel “Einbindung der Polizei” und “strafrechtliche Zulässigkeit von Lösegeldzahlungen” in Anderl (Hrsg), Cybercrime (2023) (together with Steinhofer), Handbuch für die Praxis, published at LexisNexis

How to implement an effective Criminal Compliance Management System (2023), CEJ 2023, Volume 9 No 1, 36

HinweisgeberInnenschutzgesetz (HSchG) (2023), Kurzkommentar zum österreichischen HSchG, 232 Seiten, published at Linde (together with Kudrna/Karpf/Kitzberger)

Criminal Compliance mit System meistern (2023), ZWF 2023, 11 (together with Keimelmayr)

Effektive Rechtsausübung und prozesstaktische Erwägungen für Privatbeteiligte (2023), ÖJZ 2023, 86

Buchbesprechung – Korruption im Krankenhaus – effektiv vermeiden, gegensteuern und aufklären (2022), RdM 2022, 236

Dürfen Strafverfolgungsbehörden Beschuldigte zur (biometrischen) Entschlüsselung von Endgeräten zwingen? (2022), JBl 2022, 361 (together with Seidl)

Haftung & Prävention: Aktuelle Antworten zum “Fake President Fraud” (2022), Compliance Praxis 1/2022, 31 (together with Spadinger)

Keine Geschäftsführerhaftung bei Cyber-Attacke – Zugleich eine Besprechung von OGH 8 ObA 109/20t (2022), ecolex 2022, 144 (together with Löw)

Behördenzugriff auf Handys gehört gesetzlich geregelt – und begrenzt (2022), Die Presse – Rechtspanorama vom 10.1.2022 (together with Seidl)

Anti-corruption compliance in times of the covid-19 pandemic – criminal law risks and incentives for compliance-management-systems in the healthcare sector (2021), CEJ 2021, Vol 7 No 1, 5

Antikorruptions-Compliance in Zeiten der COVID-19-Pandemie (2020), RdM 2020, 268

Korruption im Gesundheitswesen (2020), Strafrechtliche Beurteilung korruptiven Verhaltens im Medizinsekor – (Monographie, 296 Pages, published at Linde)

Offene Fragen zur Korruption im privaten Sektor nach § 309 StGB (2019), JSt 2019, 419

Aktive Korruption als Untreue? (2019), ZWF 2019, 174

Die Verursachung von Prozessrisiken aus strafrechtlicher Sicht (2019), JSt 2019, 228

Der rechtlich begründete Anspruch im Korruptionsstrafrecht (2019)m JSt 2019, 9

Die Richtlinie zur Europäischen Ermittlungsanordnung – Kernfragen zu strafprozessualen Effizienzbestrebungen im Unionsrecht und Szenarien möglicher Rechtsschutzdefizite nach nationalem Recht (2017), juridikum 2017, 58

Zur strafrechtlichen Beurteilung des konzerninternen Cash Pooling (2016), JSt 2016, 421

Successful defense of a managing director of an international group in an eight-year white-collar crime investigation concerning allegations of breach of trust, insolvency-related offences and falsification of evidence, involving an alleged loss of EUR 5.5 million – discontinuation of the criminal investigation without indictment.

Successful defense of the chairman of the management board of an Austrian bank in criminal proceedings concerning alleged breach of trust – discontinuation of the investigation within a matter of weeks.

Representation of an international pharmaceutical group as victim of a sophisticated cross-border fake-president fraud involving losses exceeding EUR 1.5 million – rapid initiation of criminal proceedings and bank-account tracing measures.

Successful defense of an individual in proceedings concerning approximately 130 acts of fraud within a criminal association affecting the EU’s financial interests, involving an alleged aggregate loss exceeding EUR 300,000 – diversion without conviction, upheld by the Vienna Higher Regional Court.

Representation of shareholders of an insolvent technology group as private parties in complex cross-border breach-of-trust proceedings involving losses exceeding EUR 1 million and extensive tracing of payment flows to foreign accounts.

Successful defense of a managing director in cross-border proceedings concerning alleged industrial espionage and data damage – successful appellate challenge to the scope of data analysis and subsequent discontinuation of the criminal investigation.

Representation of family members in criminal proceedings concerning suspected will forgery involving an estate valued at approximately EUR 2 million – successful application for continuation of the investigation before the Vienna Regional Court.

Advised a physician in connection with billing irregularities amounting to approximately EUR 500,000 – full restitution and successful reliance on active repentance before any criminal investigation was initiated.

Successful defense of a physician in a medical criminal-law investigation concerning alleged negligent homicide following a home visit – immediate discontinuation after the prosecution-appointed expert confirmed the defence analysis.

Successful defense of a former ambassador in an investigation concerning allegations of aggravated fraud – discontinuation of the criminal investigation following a detailed written defence submission.

Successful defense of a leading global technology company in the healthcare sector in a criminal case as an accused association, achieving the termination of the investigation within a few months.