Switzerland report: Mutual appreciation
At The Lawyer’s recent Global Collaboration Summit, law firms of all sizes expressed the growing strategic importance of referrals within their own firms as well as with other law firms in the region.
Credit Suisse wealth management GC Leistner joins rival UBS
UBS has hired Credit Suisse lawyer Maria Leistner to be its wealth management general counsel in Zurich.
US and Swiss duo win top roles on ChemChina’s $43bn Syngenta purchase
Davis Polk & Wardwell and Simpson Thacher & Bartlett have won top roles, alongside Bär & Karrer and Homburger, on China National Chemical Corporation’s (ChemChina) $43bn acquisition of Syngenta. Davis Polk & Wardwell represented the target, Syngenta, on US matters, with a team led by New York partner Louis Goldberg. As a Swiss-headquartered agrochemical and […]
Latham joins Swiss duo in Kuoni’s £1bn sale to EQT
Bär & Karrer, Homburger and Latham & Watkins have all won roles on private equity house EQT’s acquisition of Swiss-listed Kuoni Travel Holdings. Tourism company Kuoni turned to Swiss firm Homburger for advice, with Zurich-based managing partner Daniel Daeniker and corporate partner Daniel Hasler leading the team. They were assisted by partner Marcel Dietrich, who […]
GSK, Novartis and Crédit Suisse put Switzerland on a high
Swiss firms have bagged major business from global brands such as GSK, Novartis and Crédit Suisse this year, while their Asia ventures have come good.
Winston & Strawn to close Geneva office
Winston & Strawn is to shut its Geneva office at the end of September, putting London and Paris at the heart of its international arbitration practice. Since the Geneva office was established in 1993, it has acted as one of the firm’s main international arbitration hubs. However, in a statement the firm revealed it had […]
Orrick joins handful of international firms with Geneva office
Orrick Herrington & Sutcliffe has become one of only a few international firms to open in Geneva with the hire of Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld partner Vanessa Liborio Garrido de Sousa. Liborio is the second partner to leave Akin Gump in recent months. Former office head Charles Adams left the firm recently following […]
Former Akin Gump Geneva head confirmed as US Ambassador to Finland
The former head of Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld’s Geneva office, Charles Adams, has been confirmed as the next US Ambassador to Finland. Adams’ nomination by president Barack Obama was confirmed by the US Senate on Wednesday (24 June) and he will take up his new duties at the end of July. Arbitration partner […]
Switzerland – Shaken then spurred
Tax evasion allegations and the uncapping of the Swiss franc have kept the country in the headlines recently, but it’s all good for lawyers. How would you sum up 2014 for the firm? What were your major highlights? Eric Stupp, partner, Bär & Karrer: Bär & Karrer had a positive 2014. Highlights were our involvement […]
Quinn Emanuel and Niederer Kraft & Frey seal first US settlement for Swiss bank BSI
Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan and Swiss firm Niederer Kraft & Frey have advised BSI, the first Swiss bank to reach a deal with the US Department of Justice (DoJ) over allegations of helping clients evade tax. The DoJ announced yesterday (30 March) that the private bank had become the first to reach a resolution […]
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Another arbitration boutique is born as HFW Geneva partner quits with team
Holman Fenwick Willan (HFW) Geneva partner Matthew Parish has left the firm with a team of four lawyers to establish arbitration boutique Gentium Law. Parish joined HFW from Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld in 2011 (30 September 2011) and was one of two partners based permanently in Geneva. The other, office head Jeremy Davies, remains at […]
Switzerland: Peaked performance?
An innovative labour market and sophisticated business sector make Switzerland inviting to investors, but developments could diminish its appeal In April this year, two of the world’s largest cement manufacturers – Switzerland’s Holcim and France’s Lafarge – announced a €40bn (£31bn) mega-merger that gifted roles to a host of top-notch firms such as Cleary Gottlieb […]