Charles Russell Speechlys AG

charlesrussellspeechlys.com

Alice offers cross-border estate planning to international families and their professional advisers, with a particular focus on clients in the Arts and creative industries. Alice’s clients are wealthy families and the trustees, family offices and advisers who support them. Many of Alice’s clients are in the Arts and creative industries. Clients come to her for sound advice on cross-border succession planning, combined with UK tax advice, and Alice encourages her clients to see that the family wealth is much more than just the numbers on the balance sheet. International clients often have assets and family members across multiple jurisdictions, so the advice must balance multi-jurisdiction taxation issues with family dynamics. Alice has a particular focus on clients in the arts, media and digital industries. Her clients include performers, writers, games creators, art collectors, app developers and music industry leaders. Before qualifying as a lawyer, Alice studied theatre. Early in her career she also worked at an international auction house, advising on arts and heritage taxation. Alice is very tuned into the estate planning needs of creative clients. She also advises trustees and families with art collections. Many of Alice’s clients have US connections, including Brits moving to the US; and US families with UK connections. Alice also advises on issues of mental capacity. This is an issue of increasing importance professionally, and as Alice’s mother was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s in 2013, it is something she also understands first-hand. Alice helps families, money managers and trustees when a family member has mental capacity issues. Alice is admitted to practise in England and Wales and as a foreign lawyer to the EU list of the supervisory commission of lawyers for the canton of Zurich and the Swiss Federation.

Benoît Pasquier

Benoît is a partner in the sports group of Charles Russell Speechlys in Zurich, specialising in commercial sports law (sponsorship, media rights and merchandising agreements), disciplinary & ethics proceedings, good governance and sports integrity issues (competition and match manipulation, age cheating and anti-doping). He also has experience in sports politics since he played a key role in the electoral campaign of AFC President, Shaikh Salman Bin Ebrahim Al Khalifa, for the FIFA Presidential election in 2016. He is also an arbitrator at the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) in Lausanne, Switzerland, since 2019. His name appears on two Lists of Arbitrators (General and Football) and he is regularly appointed.

Bruno Ledrappier

Bruno is a Partner in our Geneva office. He specialises in criminal law in both national and international matters with a special focus on white collar crime. Bruno also has a strong experience in civil cases, such as commercial and financial matters, trust litigation, family law and probate matters. Bruno is admitted to practise in Switzerland.

Grégoire Uldry

Grégoire advises families, entrepreneurs, financial intermediaries and sport individuals on cross-border private client, family law, philanthropy and sports matters. Grégoire acts as executor of high-net worth estates. He also advises clients who are living in, or looking to relocate to, Switzerland. Grégoire specialises in asset structuring and estate planning, charitable trusts and foundations, as well as commercial law for family-owned businesses. He has particular expertise working with international families who are looking for effective governance structures through which to organise the long-term transition of wealth, including family businesses. Grégoire's clients include wealthy families, boards of trustees, trust companies, business owners, sports individuals and agents. Grégoire is admitted to practise in Switzerland.

Mark advises global wealthy families, their businesses and wealth holding structures, and the institutions that service them. He is most noted advising families resident or investing in multiple highly taxed and regulated jurisdictions such as the US or EU where they are affected by complex multi-jurisdictional tax and legal issues. Mark’s practice includes advising on matters of automatic exchange of tax information (including CRS and FATCA), anti-money laundering regimes and information registers (including 4 and 5AMLD), and requirements to report cross border transactions and tax schemes (including DAC6 and CRS Mandatory Disclosure Rules). It also includes the regularisation of untaxed assets particularly where there is a multi-jurisdictional dimension. Mark also advises on matters of UK taxation including the remittance basis of taxation for non-domiciliaries, matters of UK tax residency and the taxation of UK real estate. Mark is admitted to practise in England and Wales and as a foreign lawyer to the EU list of the supervisory commission of lawyers for the canton of Zurich and the Swiss Federation. Mark is a member of the IBA and the vice-chair of the STEP Public Policy Committee. He is a permanent Swiss resident with his family in the canton of Zug.

Michael Wells-Greco

Michael advises on cross-border private client and international family and child law matters. Able to approach both common law and civil law issues from a practical perspective, Michael advises on international succession planning and mental capacity matters, with a particular focus on advising on asset protection aspects and resolving cross-border inheritance disputes. Michael deals with a wide range of cross-border family work including nuptial agreements, financial claims, and cohabitation issues. He advises trustees and beneficiaries caught up in divorce proceedings. He has considerable experience in disputes relating to children (custody, child abduction (Hague and non–Hague)), both within and outside of the Court forum. Michael is highly sought after to advise on international surrogacy arrangements, co-parenting agreements and adoption matters. His work usually has an international perspective, often involving inherited wealth, tax and trust implications, substantial assets or income.

Pierre Bydzovsky

Pierre is a partner in the litigation group of Charles Russell Speechlys in Geneva, specialising in white-collar crime cases and mutual assistance proceedings, banking litigation, disputes relating to foundations and estates and insolvency. Pierre also advises companies on employment law and in the implementation of good governance rules in the field of data protection, as well as in sports law where he notably advises the Swiss Basketball Federation on all legal aspects including the organisation of competitions, players’ statutes and disciplinary matters since 2016. Pierre is also a certified Data Protection Officer (University of Geneva – 2020). Pierre is admitted to practice in Switzerland.

Simon Hofstetter

Simon has extensive experience in domestic and international commercial litigation, asset recovery and bankruptcy proceedings as well Swiss corporate law. Simon is a Partner in the dispute resolution group of Charles Russell Speechlys in Zurich, specialising in domestic and international commercial litigation and arbitration, with focus on commercial, banking and corporate (liability) disputes, asset recovery and white-collar crime. Simon represents clients before courts and authorities of both German and Italian speaking part of Switzerland as he has extensive experience in the legal environment of both regions. He also regularly assists companies and acts as an external legal counsel on corporate law matters, including M&A, changes in equities, corporate housekeeping, shareholders matters and corporate governance. He is a graduate from the University of Fribourg i.Ue. with bilingual and European Law distinctions, holds a Certificate of Advanced Studies in Forensics from the Lucerne University of Applied Sciences and Arts (Competence Centre Forensics and Economic Crimes) and holds an LL.M. degree in business law from UCLA (University of California Los Angeles). Simon is a member of the Swiss Bar Association (SAV), the Zurich Bar Association (ZAV) and the ASA below 40 – Swiss Arbitration Association. He is also an active member of various networks, such as AIGLI (Associazione internazionale giuristi di lingua italiana), IBLC (International Business Law Consortium) and has been a board member since 2017 of the JCA International (Jurist Consult Alliance). Simon speaks German, English, Italian, French and Spanish.

Sirin is a lawyer advising on separation, divorce, finances, and children matters, as well as nuptial agreements. She is a Certified Specialist SBA Family Law. Sirin has established experience in family law advising clients on arrangements for their children and finances whether they are separating, divorcing or dissolving a registered partnership. She advises those who are planning to marry or enter into a registered partnership on family agreements. She has both significant experience in acting in challenging international children matters and dealing with complex finances on separation. Sirin acts for and against individuals across a broad range of industries and backgrounds. The majority of Sirin’s cases have an international element and involve high-net worth, high profile individuals. Sirin is highly sought after, and has extensive experience in, court work. Sirin is admitted to practise in Switzerland. She is ranked in Chambers High Net Worth Switzerland Family/Matrimonial with her clients saying: "Sirin is an excellent lawyer and is easy to deal with, since she has a good approach. She is always available and has deep knowledge of family law." Sirin is a member of: IAFL (International Academy of Family Lawyers) ODA (Geneva Bar association) SBA (Swiss Bar Association) Sirin is fluent in French, English and Turkish.