Regarded for its ‘honesty and strong dedication to the client’s interests’, Pestalozzi demonstrates particular strengths in the remit of commodities and banking-related disputes, alongside notable expertise regarding internal investigations; the team consistently assists financial providers and various global corporations. The group is recommended for being ’clever, inventive, user friendly and pragmatic’. Co-lead Christophe Emonet is geared to handle a breadth of asset recovery and cross-border bankruptcies, while fellow co-lead Thomas Rohner frequently handles matters pertaining to asset tracing, insolvency, and inheritance law issues. Michael Kramer is routinely active in the sectors of banking, telecoms, and insurance, and Florian Mohs handles a myriad commercial and corporate rankings. Other names to note include Nicolas Herren, who is regularly sought out for his banking and commercial knowledge, and Lukas Rusch, who is highly capable of enforcing an array of foreign judgments and awards and insolvency disputes.

Legal 500 Editorial commentary

Testimonials

Collated independently by Legal 500 research team.

  • ‘They are very present and helpful. The team is solution orientated.’

  • ‘Nicolas Herren has immense knowledge.’

  • ‘The litigation team at Pestalozzi are excellent - clever, inventive, user friendly and pragmatic.'

  • 'They would always be my first choice when instructing litigation lawyers in Geneva.’

  • ‘The team is led by Christophe Emonet, a litigation powerhouse who gives his all to his clients and is an extremely gifted lawyer.’

  • 'What sets them apart from other renowned lawyers is their honesty and strong dedication to the client's interests.'
  • 'If there is no chance of success, they will tell you straight away, without artificially inflating invoices. This has saved us a fortune in legal costs.’
  • ‘Christoph Emonet's advice is always first-class. He develops strong strategies on white-collar crime cases and, more importantly, predicts what will happen next, allowing us to implement countermeasures in advance.'

Key clients

  • Advance Magazine Publishers Inc.
  • Conde Nast Publications SA
  • Bank of America
  • Banque Cantonale de Genève
  • City of Almaty
  • Coop
  • Credit Suisse
  • Deutsche Bank
  • The Estate of Fahad Al Rajaan
  • Late Fahad Al Rajaan
  • Glencore
  • Trafigura
  • Vitol
  • Glencore
  • Johnson & Johnson
  • National Oil Corporation of Libya
  • Olivier Maus
  • Swiss Life AG
  • Turkmengas

Work highlights

  • Representing the Estate of the late Fahad Al Rajaan in cross-border investigations and civil claims in Switzerland and in the UK related to his work as former CEO of the Public Institution of Social Security of Kuwait.
  • Representing Johnson & Johnson in a $55m dispute (claims and counterclaims) brought by a leading Saudi company before the state courts in Switzerland, for alleged breach of contracts in connection with the delivery of medical goods to hospitals in Saudi Arabia, as well other countries in the Emirates.
  • Represented the City of Almaty in a very large cross-border investigation and recovery claims against the Khrapunov clan.

Lawyers

Leading partners
The strongest partners in their field, leading on market-leading deals and endorsed by peers and clients alike.

Practice head

The lawyer(s) leading their teams.

Christophe Emonet, Thomas Rohner

Other key lawyers

Michael Kramer, Florian Mohs, Nicolas Herren, Lukas Rusch