About

The legal and compliance team at Swiss Federal Railways (known as SBB) has led numerous complex commercial settlements and international transactions which have gained global recognition. The team is currently made up of 69 lawyers and six non-lawyers. Merging different divisional legal departments, the team can effectively operate equally at both a group and divisional level. This structural change supports the team’s position to strive for excellent, integrated, business solutions and to take on responsibility for the success of the Swiss national rail system and Switzerland’s future mobility solutions. Due to the close interaction with senior management within strategic projects, the legal team is recognised as a vital part of the company’s value chain and is able to anticipate and address various challenges relating to the performance of the company. This applies to the field of data governance, an area which is crucial to the vision of the company, and anticorruption, where the department is leading in setting and implementing the ethical standards of the company. SBB is currently facing a transformational process from a classic railway company into a provider of mobility solutions. The legal and compliance department is proactively approaching this challenge by joining the business on this journey that contains various strategic legal questions and regulatory developments. Self-driving cars is an impending project that the legal team see as a fundamental development for the company, and an opportunity for the legal team to have an impact on the SBB’s transformation.