Our specialist Asset Protection team strives to protect the personal and financial interests of successful individuals on the full range of contentious and noncontentious issues faced by private clients, including estate planning and related disputes, succession of family businesses, relocation, philanthropy and art related legal advice, protection of assets against illegal actions of states, banks, financial institutions and asset managers.
Our clients include high net worth individuals (HNWIs) and families, owners, entrepreneurs and philanthropists, family offices, foundations, trust companies and fiduciary holding structures.
Our team of highly skilled specialists and litigators is particularly well versed in complex disputes involving businesses, investments and other valuable assets spread across the world, involving family members in various jurisdictions. We assist to protect and defend your interests and that of your family in particular by ensuring protection of your assets, smooth succession from one generation to the next, navigating family disputes and preserving key assets.
Given our international dimension, we are especially well placed to advise in complex cross-border matters and can coordinate multi-jurisdictional and multidisciplinary matters such as tax and corporate advisory, by drawing on the expertise of a wide, highly specialized network.
We offer particular expertise in the following:
International asset protection assistance: We assist individuals in complex administrative assistance proceedings in tax matters worldwide initiated at the request of foreign tax authorities aiming to obtain evidence of financial transactions, bank records and other assets located abroad.
Drawing on our team’s first-hand experience in the financial sector, we are uniquely positioned to handle complex cases requiring specialist knowledge in derivative instruments, hedge funds and other financial products. This enables us to hit the ground running when taking on a new case.
We help all clients facing contentious situations relating to banking and finance: corporates, financial institutions, insurance companies, pension funds, hedge funds, private equity firms, asset managers, broker-dealers, family offices, trustees and successful individuals.
Our clients typically retain us to act against banks. Compared to other law firms, we have no ties to the financial sector and are generally free to act against these institutions.
In line with the firm’s international focus, we routinely work on cross-border mandates and are well-versed in multi-jurisdictional matters. We call upon our network of specialist lawyers for support in other jurisdictions.
Our expertise is widespread, covering the full spectrum of banking and finance disputes:
Investment disputes: We regularly act for clients facing investment-related disputes. This will typically include fraud, mismanagement, improper execution of orders, valuation and margin call disputes, fraudulent transfer orders or undue kickback payments. Increasingly, banks tend to unilaterally freeze accounts of clients.
Recovery and resolution / Insolvency: We have built considerable expertise in representing clients and counterparties in bank insolvency proceedings and related claims to potential liable auditors, directors, and insurances.
Credit and structured finance: A considerable amount of disputes relate to credit and structured finance. Drawing on the unique track record of our experts in this area, we are able to provide expert advice in originating, structuring, securing and executing transactions.
Succession planning and executorship: We assist successful people looking to preserve the integrity and longevity of their business or the family’s assets without disruption and seek to avoid future disputes among the heirs. We can provide personalised matrimonial agreements, registered partnership agreements, last wills and inheritance agreements, helping them to protect private wealth and business assets, always applying the highest discretion and sensitivity. Members of the firm are also regularly appointed as executors of last wills and provide philanthropy advice to foundations and international charities.
Matrimonial Agreements: Private wealth requires careful examination and planning of the matrimonial regime, in particular in an international environment and in complex family situations. We advise on the legal options available and assist our clients to set up personalised matrimonial agreements, which not only become relevant in a divorce scenario but are an elementary tool for succession planning in Switzerland.
Elderly Protection: The incapacity of a person can disrupt the functioning of a family and the family business. The incapacity of a director or shareholder in particular can have serious consequences for companies and their advisors. We advise on how to anticipate, prepare and put in place potential solutions to mitigate the adverse impact of incapacity in the corporate context.
Media & reputation: We assist individuals and companies to navigate media crisis or to pro-actively manage and protect their reputation. Our focus is on providing practical and efficient solutions by persuasion, negotiation and litigation if needed.
Litigation & arbitration: We advise private clients in all domestic and cross border litigation and arbitration proceedings relating to their personal interests and assets. We also vigorously protect their assets against illegal government or bank actions.
Trust & estate litigation: We act for business owners, trustees, executors, settlors, or beneficiaries in helping to resolve or prevent disputes in relation to the ownership and structuring of privately held wealth.
Art as an asset: We advise collectors, dealers, galleries, museums, charitable organizations and auction houses on an array of legal issues connected with the buying and selling of fine art, antiques and other collectibles at private auction and privately. In addition, we advise on the broad range of transactions involving art as an asset or as a collateral in loans to museums or loan against the value of an artwork.