Pestalozzi

Alexandra C. Johnson

Alexandra Johnson is a partner and member of Pestalozzi's Litigation & Arbitration team in Geneva. She focuses on representing clients in international arbitrations and complex commercial disputes. She also frequently advises clients on Swiss contract law and represents parties in challenge proceedings against arbitral awards and in enforcement proceedings before Swiss courts. Besides her work as party counsel, Alexandra Johnson regularly sits as arbitrator under various arbitration rules. Alexandra Johnson has more than 20 years of experience in international arbitration. She has acted as counsel and arbitrator (either as sole, party-appointed or presiding arbitrator) in numerous arbitration proceedings, both ad hoc and institutional (e.g., ICC, LCIA, Swiss Rules, CAS) and in various sectors such as energy, life sciences, construction and infrastructure projects, distribution and licensing, post-M&A and shareholders agreements, as well as sport-related disputes. Alexandra Johnson also regularly appears before the Swiss Federal Supreme Court in challenge proceedings against arbitral awards, and is often retained to enforce arbitral awards in Switzerland.

Andrea Huber

Partner

Andreas Lienhard

Andreas Lienhard is a partner and member of Pestalozzi's Litigation & Arbitration Group as well as of the Employment & Pensions Group in Zurich. He specializes in national and international commercial law litigations, debt enforcement proceedings and arbitration. Andreas represents clients in disputes involving private international law, contract law, administrative law and, in particular, employment law, before state courts and in arbitrations, where he acts as both Counsel as well as arbitrator. He regularly litigates before commercial courts and, especially, labor courts. He has particular expertise in representing clients in disputes about, e.g., summary dismissals, unfair and/or invalid ordinary dismissals, bonuses, equity grants, overtime and extra-time, non-compete obligations and gender equality. Andreas is an expert on Swiss civil procedure law, Swiss private international law, arbitration law as well as Swiss contract and employment law. Apart from his professional work, Andreas gained his expertise through his studies in Zurich, especially his work as an assistant at the chair of Prof. Dr. Ulrich Haas in the field of domestic and international litigation and arbitration. Andreas completed his studies with a doctoral thesis on litigation law (2012; magna cum laude), an LL.M. in International Business Law at the London School of Economics and Political Science (2015; distinction) and the CAS in Arbitration offered by the Swiss Arbitration Academy AG (2017, excellent). He is the author of three bestseller textbooks in his field of expertise, where he also regularly publishes articles, contributes to well renowned commentaries and acts as speaker.

Beat Schwarz

Member of the Corporate / M&A group. Focuses on corporate and commercial law as well as on corporate and finance transactions, in particular M&A, private equity, joint ventures, restructurings and debt capital markets. His experience includes numerous transactions involving listed and non-listed companies in different industries. Regularly involved in insurance and other financial services regulatory work as well as in merger control proceedings.

Christian Leuenberger

Member of the Corporate / M&A group in Zurich. Specializes in domestic and international M&A transactions, with a focus on public takeovers, and advises clients in post M&A-disputes. Advises Swiss and foreign companies, investors and executives on stock exchange and capital market regulation, as well as on general corporate law and issues of corporate governance. A leading expert on insider trading regulation.

Christian Roos

Head Life Sciences

Christoph G Lang

Practice in corporate law with focus on corporate governance, M&A, Swiss and European antitrust law and insurance law, representing major Swiss and multinational clients in domestic and cross-border M&A transactions and joint ventures. Frequently advises clients on policy and governance issues.

Christophe Berclaz

Christophe Berclaz is counsel and a member of Pestalozzi’s Litigation & Arbitration group in Geneva. He has developed a strong practice in complex litigation that involves an international component and multi-jurisdictional aspects. He specialises in white-collar matters, including asset-tracing, recovery and international mutual assistance in criminal matters. In addition, Christophe Berclaz has broad experience in private banking, internal investigation, civil liabilities and enforcement of foreign decisions. After graduating from the University of Geneva School of Law, Christophe Berclaz was admitted to the Geneva bar in 2005. He obtained a Master of Science in Shipping Trade & Finance from the Bayes Business School (formerly Sir John Cass Business School) of London in 2007. He then worked four years as an associate in both the litigation and corporate departments of one of the leading business law firms in Switzerland before joining the legal department of the Swiss subsidiary of an English private bank. He became associate at Pestalozzi in June 2013. Christophe Berclaz is a member of different law associations such as the International Association of Young Lawyers (AIJA) and the Financial & Tax Committee of the Geneva Bar Association. He is also a member of the Committee of the Geneva Bar Personality Protection Scheme for members who are victims of conflicts at work, inappropriate behaviour or sexual harassment in the course of their profession.

Christophe Emonet

Head of Litigation ,Geneva

Fabian Martens

Partner

Florian Mohs

Member of the Litigation & Arbitration group in Zurich. Acts as counsel in international commercial arbitrations and in court proceedings in Switzerland. Handles a wide range of commercial and corporate disputes, having broad experience in advising trading companies in commodities disputes, industrial companies in engineering and construction disputes, and pharmaceutical companies in licensing matters.

Franz Schubiger

Member of Pestalozzi’s Corporate / M&A and Life Sciences groups in Zurich. Practice focuses on corporate law, M&A, corporate finance, private equity and venture capital, complex restructurings as well as general contract and commercial law. Regularly advises in the fields of life sciences, including pharma, consumer healthcare and medtech, as well as consumer goods and retailing industries, e-commerce and online business.

Franz J. Kessler

Franz J. Kessler is a partner and member of Pestalozzi’s Corporate / M&A Group as well as head of Pestalozzi’s Energy Law practice. He advises clients in corporate governance issues, private and public M&A transactions, energy law (including hydropower concessions and regulatory issues), public procedural law and real estate law. He is an authorized issuer’s representative at the SIX Swiss Exchange. Franz J. Kessler has broad experience in the legal advice for entrepreneurs, boards of directors, companies and joint ventures, both in the private and in the public sector. He has profound knowledge of the electricity production and transmission industry including hydropower concessions and regulatory issues. His special business expertise further includes healthcare and other supply institutions. He advises clients in corporate and commercial law matters also in other industry and service sectors, closely working together with all other practice groups of Pestalozzi.

Jakob Höhn

Practice in private and public M&A (including unsolicited takeovers). Also active in equity rights offerings and IPOs. Recognised representative for the listing of securities at the SIX. Provides also general corporate advise for listed and privately held companies.

Jonas Sigrist

Member of the Tax group in Zurich. Practice involves a wide range of international and domestic tax matters. Particular focus on tax planning and structuring of international M&A transactions and corporate restructurings. Broad experience in acquisitions, mergers, spin-offs, reorganizations, relocations, and tax reliefs. Practice also covers international employment and employee stock and option plans. His client portfolio varies from multinationals to small and medium-sized companies in life sciences, commodities, financial services, and other sectors.

Lara Dorigo

Partner

Laurent Killias

Long-standing expertise in international arbitration and commercial litigation in complex disputes. In addition to representing parties, frequently chosen as party-appointed arbitrator and chairman in international arbitrations. Focusing on contracts regarding construction, civil engineering, research and development, distribution and license agreements, joint ventures, financial services as well as M&A.

Ludivine Boisard

Member of the Financial Services, the Real Estate & Environment and the Corporate/M&A groups in Geneva. Practice covers all types of domestic and cross-border banking transactions, with an emphasis on financing transactions. Advises clients on financial services regulations, including regulatory and contractual issues relating to the establishment and the business of banks, securities dealers, asset managers and exchanges.

Lukas Rusch

Lukas Rusch is partner and member of Pestalozzi’s litigation and arbitration group in Zurich. He acts as counsel in commercial arbitrations, both institutional and ad hoc, as well as in court proceedings. His practice further covers setting aside proceedings against arbitral awards, enforcement of foreign judgments and arbitral awards, including attachment of assets, and contentious aspects of insolvency proceedings. Lukas handles a wide range of complex commercial and corporate disputes across different industries. He has particular experience in construction and infrastructure, energy, commodity and trade, post-M&A, banking and insurance, pharmaceutical, as well as investor-state disputes.

Martin L Müller

Member of Pestalozzi's Corporate/M&A as well as Employment & Pensions groups in Zurich. He advises clients on transactional employment, executive employment, pensions, corporate transactions and restructuring, and commercial contracts.

Michael Kramer

Head of Arbitration

Michael Lips

Head of Real Estate & Environment

Michèle Burnier

Co-Head of Pestalozzi&039;s IP & TMT Group

Nicolas C Herren

Partner

Nils Harbeke

Head of Tax

Oliver Widmer

Partner and co-head

Pascal Richard

Pascal Richard is a partner and member of the Corporate / M&A group in Zurich. He has broad experience in corporate transactions including acquisitions, mergers, divestitures, joint ventures and reorganisations in various industries with a particular focus on the financial services, fintech and technology sectors. Before joining Pestalozzi, Pascal Richard was a partner at a major international law firm in Zurich. He regularly conducts presentations in the fields of M&A and corporate law, inter alia, at the University of St. Gallen and Unternehmerforum Schweiz AG.

Petra Hanselmann

Partner

Sarah Drukarch

Sarah Drukarch is a partner and member of Pestalozzi’s IP & TMT, Life Sciences, as well as Corporate/M&A practice groups in Zurich. She specializes in intellectual property, with a particular focus on life sciences, and also frequently advises clients on matters of unfair competition, data protection, food and healthcare as well as IT and media law. Sarah's expertise has been recognized by her continued inclusion as Rising Star for Switzerland by IP Stars since 2020. Sarah Drukarch advises and represents domestic and foreign corporations in the life sciences sector as well as in a broad range of other industries, including foodstuffs, consumer goods, media, ICT, and automotive, with establishing and maintaining intellectual property rights and related licensing and transfer matters. Her broad IP experience covers both national and cross-border M&A transactions as well as contentious matters. In the field of life sciences, Sarah Drukarch is regularly involved in the negotiations for international research and development projects, covering all ranges and aspects of pre-clinical, clinical, and post-marketing set-ups. She advises manufacturers and service providers of regulated products comprehensively, for example in connection with supply chain and distribution arrangements for pharmaceutical products and medical devices, marketing authorizations, industry-specific permits, know-how protection, marketing, compliance and vigilance, sponsoring, compensation, rights in data, as well as other complex contract negotiations. In addition, Sarah handles disputes in the life sciences industry and represents clients in international arbitration proceedings, before domestic state courts, and administrative authorities.

Sébastien Roy

Partner and co-head of department

Severin Roelli

Member of the Corporate/M&A group in Zurich. Advises both foreign and domestic clients on private and public M&A transactions, corporate governance issues, acquisition finance, capital market, securities and stock exchange law, corporate reorganizations, joint venture and general corporate law. Authorized issuer’s representative at the SIX Swiss Exchange.

Tanja Planinic

Member of the Litigation & Arbitration group. Practice includes all aspects of domestic and international commercial litigation, arbitration and mediation. Has acted as counsel and arbitrator in numerous ad hoc and institutional arbitrations under various procedural and substantive laws. Particular experience with disputes relating to the international sale of goods, commodity sales and trading, joint ventures and distributorships as well as disputes in the energy, construction and pharma sectors. Member of the ICC International Court of Arbitration, Paris, since 1 July 2017.

Thomas Legler

Partner

Thomas Rohner

Partner and co-head

Urs Klöti

Practice is focused on regulatory matters, anti-money laundering, compliance, finance and all sorts of questions related to the banking and financial industry.