Private Wealth Law
High Net Worth Guide 2024 : Switzerland
Band 2
About
Provided by Lalive
LALIVE’s Private Client practice safeguards the personal financial interests of wealthy individuals in complex Swiss and cross-border matters, both contentious and non-contentious, involving trusts and estates, succession of family businesses, family issues, relocation, philanthropy and art law.
We are trusted by high-net-worth individuals (HNWIs), families, entrepreneurs, philanthropists, family offices, foundations, trust companies and fiduciary holding structures.
We not only ensure the smooth succession of key assets from one generation to the next, but also help resolve complex family disputes involving businesses and assets spread across the world. We represent clients before all the Swiss courts and routinely coordinate multi-jurisdictional court proceedings.
The firm’s team also advises HNWIs in complex administrative assistance matters, with a strong track record of favourable results. The practice is extremely active in the art world, providing advisory and dispute resolution services to UHNWIs and HNWIs, museums, foundations and art galleries worldwide.
Our areas of expertise include estate planning and family law services, family and succession disputes, trust and estate disputes, elderly protection and incapacity, art and cultural property, philanthropy, international assistance in tax matters, and media and protection of reputation.
Chambers Review
Lalive regularly advises private clients on contentious and non-contentious inheritance, family, trust law and administrative assistance matters from its offices in Zürich and Geneva. Its clients include affluent families, business owners, family offices and foundations, among others.
Strengths
Provided by Chambers
"Lalive has an outstanding team of lawyers that demonstrate remarkable depth and breadth of coverage, covering a vast spectrum of legal domains."
"Lalive are very diligent, hard working, fast and have excellent legal knowledge. They have excellent litigators and have excellent inheritance law knowledge."
"Lalive have great expertise in complex contentious matters."
"Lalive has an outstanding team of lawyers that demonstrate remarkable depth and breadth of coverage, covering a vast spectrum of legal domains."
"Lalive are very diligent, hard working, fast and have excellent legal knowledge. They have excellent litigators and have excellent inheritance law knowledge."
"Lalive have great expertise in complex contentious matters."
Notable Practitioners
Werner Jahnel is a co-head of Lalive's private client practice and has broad expertise. He is both a wealth planning and litigation specialist who is fluent in English, German, French, Spanish and Italian.
"Werner is an excellent private client lawyer with a strong litigation background. He is a true pleasure to work with."
"Werner is well-versed in various jurisdictions and is also multi-lingual. He has an in-depth knowledge of inheritance law and is an excellent litigator and arbitrator."
"Werner is a leading light for private client work, thanks to his ability to engage with clients, combined with a wealth of experience."
A co-head of Lalive's private client practice, Alexander Troller is an estate and inheritance litigation expert who is also sought after by private clients for his banking litigation experience.
"Alexander's extremely broad legal expertise paired with his extensive international experience make him a very effective and grounded professional."
