doc. dr. Konrad Plauštajner – In Memoriam
(1941 – 2022)
Konrad Plauštajner, born in 1941 in Trnovlje near Celje, continued his educational career by studying law at the Faculty of Law of the University of Ljubljana after graduating from the First Gymnasium in Celje. He began his professional career at the Municipal Social Insurance Institution in Celje (1965-1967) and continued it at the District Court in Celje (1967-1969). He entered the legal profession in 1970, first as a lawyer in Žalec, and in 1973 he took over the law office of Dr Milko Hrašovec in Celje, continuing the tradition of the Hrašovec family. After 34 years in Celje, he moved his office to Ljubljana in 2007 and opened a branch office in Celje a year later. He was active as an attorney at law for more than 50 years. As a specialised lawyer, his persistent work in Slovenia and beyond earned him a reputation as an undisputed professional authority in the field of civil and commercial law, with an emphasis on investment and contract law, FIDIC Contracts, and in representing clients before domestic and foreign arbitrations (AAA New York, ICC Paris, Moscow Arbitration Centre, VIAC Vienna, Prague Arbitration, Permanent Arbitration at the Chamber of Commerce and Industry).
In 1985, he obtained a Master’s degree in Civil Law from the Faculty of Law of the University of Ljubljana, a year later he obtained a Diploma in International Law from the Chamber of Commerce and Industry and the Faculty of Law of Ljubljana, and in 1990 he obtained a Doctorate in Civil Law from the Faculty of Law of the University of Ljubljana, under the mentorship of the late Prof. Dr. Stojan Cigoj and then Prof. Dr. Marko Ilešič. In 1992, he was granted the status of a specialist in civil and commercial law by the Slovenian Bar Association.
Konrad Plauštajner’s bibliographical opus comprises almost 200 professional and scientific articles published in domestic and foreign professional legal periodicals in the field of civil, commercial and contract law. He is also the co-author of a commentary on the Constitution of the Republic of Slovenia (edited by Prof. Dr. Lovro Šturm), and a commentary on the Public-Private Partnership Act – GV Založba Ljubljana 2009.
Dr. Plaustajner held prominent positions in the Slovenian Bar Association (OZS) as well as in other national and international institutions. From 1981 to 1987 he was the President of the Celje Regional Bar Association, then a member of the OZS Board of Lawyers (1990 – 2003), Vice President of the OZS (2000 – 2003), and from 1999 until 2018 the Head of the OZS Delegation to the CCBE (Council of Bar Associations of the EU) in Brussels. Among the more prominent positions, he was also listed as an arbitrator at the International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes – ICSID in Washington (2003 – 2009 and 2015 – 2021), as an arbitrator at a number of foreign arbitration institutions, as a national FIDIC auditor at the Chamber of Commerce and Industry – Association for Consulting Engineering (2011), and in the period from 2012 to 2022, he held the position of the Chairman of the Ljubljana Arbitration Centre at the Chamber of Commerce and Industry (2012 – 2022).
In 2015, the people of his native Celje awarded him the honourable title of “Best Celjan” for his lifetime achievements. In the same year, his fellow lawyers awarded him the Dr. Danilo Majaron Plaque, by which the members of the Slovenian Bar Association honour and thank the best among them for their outstanding contribution to the development of Slovenian advocacy. Last but not least, Dr Konrad Plauštajner was the recipient of the 2010 Lifetime Achievement Award of the Federation of Lawyers’ Associations of Slovenia.
He will be remembered as a modest, direct and honest interlocutor who shared his wealth of knowledge and practical experience without any reservations. We will never forget his sense of humour and his youthful energy.