French firm Jeantet Associés has launched an office in Geneva, its third office outside Paris, in a bid to meet client demand from Swiss clients and those wanting to invest in the country. The office will be headed up by former DLA Piper partner Patrice Lefèvre-Péaron, who is relocating from Paris for the new venture. […]
As Swiss banks wait for the US authorities’ tax evasion spotlight to fall on them, law firms are drafting in extra staff to cope Since the recession, Swiss banks have come under regular and sustained fire from authorities around the world seeking to challenge banking secrecy. In particular, US authorities have used the global financial […]
Portuguese firm PLMJ has set up a Swiss desk and opened an office in Lausanne in response to increasing amounts of work involving private clients with assets in Switzerland. The initiative is led by partner Nuno Cunha Barnabé, who was recently admitted to practise in the canton of Vaud and is now spending several days a […]
Withers is to launch in Zurich in the next phase of the firm’s major investment in its international office network. Initially the firm will relocate three partners to the jurisdiction, with Geneva managing director Justine Markovitz becoming head of Swiss operations. Newly appointed Zurich office chief Judith Ingham said the ambition was to grow a […]
US firm Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld has gutted Hogan & Hartson’s Geneva office to launch its own Swiss practice. This is the latest defection from Hogan ahead of its 1 May agreed merger with Lovells. Charles Adams, Hogan’s Geneva office managing partner and co director of the firm’s international litigation and arbitration practice, […]
A London law firm that specialises in advising hedge funds has opened an office in Zurich amid the growing hostility from the City’s financial services sector towards UK tax rates.
With the laws governing Switzerland’s various cantons set to be made less distinct, James Swift looks at the possibilities for local, national and global firms
Switzerland is riding out the recession in style. Marcus Staff reports on the country’s innovative blend of the old and the new
The Madoff scandal may be bad news for Switzerland’s fraud record, but at least it’s providing plenty of work for Swiss lawyers. The familiar image of a grey-haired financier will be synonymous with a dire period in the history of the international financial markets. But whatever your own opinions of Bernie Madoff, some lawyers are […]
Speechly Bircham is to launch its first international offices, opening in Luxembourg and Zurich at the end of a year that saw turnover grow by 2 per cent. The firm’s foray overseas has seen it hire a two-partner team of local lawyers to launch in the Grand Duchy. Banking partner Françoise Pfeiffer, who was formerly […]
Appleby is set to launch in Dubai and Zurich – making it the largest offshore firm in terms of office numbers alongside Conyers Dill & Pearman. The Dubai office will be manned by global structured finance practice head Jeanne Bartlett, along with a second partner. It will focus on investment funds, private equity, securitisation, major […]
Manchester tax and estates firm Lane-Smith & Shindler is opening an office in Zurich in a bid to attract non-doms who may leave the UK as a result of future tax changes. The office will specialise exclusively in trust issues and will work with Swiss trust companies in particular. Managing partner and president of the […]