Lalive: Switzerland - Geneva

LALIVE is an international law firm with offices in Geneva, Zurich, and London, renowned for its expertise in international dispute resolution, but whose practice areas include:

Corporate and Commercial

The firm has an established corporate and commercial practice advising on setting up, acquiring and selling companies in Switzerland, structuring joint ventures, and the drafting of commercial agreements in a variety of contexts.

Employment and Immigration

The firm has extensive experience in labour law and provides full assistance in the prevention and resolution of employment disputes, including representation before employment courts and domestic and international administrative authorities. The firm maintains close ties with Swiss authorities and has a proven track record in the application for work and residence permits.

Private Clients

The firm provides advisory and litigation services to high net worth individuals, families, entrepreneurs and philanthropists, family offices, foundations, trust companies and fiduciary holding structures. The firm’s private client practice includes trust and estate litigation, inheritance disputes, succession planning and executorship, protection of the elderly and persons with capacity issues, matrimonial agreements, and divorce proceedings. LALIVE also has longstanding expertise in art and cultural heritage law.

Civil and Criminal Litigation

The firm’s litigators represent clients in proceedings before all Swiss civil, commercial and administrative courts, including the Swiss Federal Supreme Court, and provide advice and assistance in cross-border proceedings.

LALIVE is renowned for its experience in commercial, corporate and shareholder disputes, and is one of the few larger Swiss firms acting against banks. The firm also represents clients in employment, family and inheritance, intellectual property and art law disputes.

The firm has long-standing experience in white-collar crime and complex, cross-border, criminal proceedings. It is recognised for its expertise in asset recovery and insolvency, including the recovery of misappropriated assets and debts for governments, legal entities, and individuals. It also advises and represents clients in foreign mutual judicial assistance requests whose aim is to obtain evidence of financial transactions and bank records and/or confiscation of assets located in Switzerland.

Investigations and Compliance

LALIVE has a successful investigations, regulatory and compliance practice, advising multinationals, governments, and NGOs in internal and external criminal and administrative investigations across the globe. The firm’s partners are strong advocates of best practice risk and compliance management systems and experts in assessing the maturity of prevention mechanisms and the exposure to regulatory enforcement action.

Intellectual Property

The firm provides both advisory and dispute resolution services on trademarks, designs, domain names, copyright, patents and unfair competition. The firm’s expertise extends to advising on data protection matters, e-commerce and the protection of the image, and reputation of companies and individuals.

International Arbitration

LALIVE is renowned for its expertise in both international commercial and investment treaty arbitration and is consistently ranked among the leading firms worldwide in this field. Its arbitration specialists conduct proceedings in Switzerland and all the major arbitration venues worldwide, under all the main international arbitration rules including the ICC Rules and the Swiss Rules. The firm is regularly involved in high profile, complex international arbitrations, but also represents clients in smaller value disputes in a variety of sectors and industries.

LALIVE is the only firm in Switzerland to have a significant investment treaty arbitration practice, representing both States and investors. It also has long-standing experience in public international law and matters involving States and international organisations, including governmental and non-governmental organisations headquartered in Geneva.

• Art and Cultural Property
• Asset Recovery & Insolvency
• Banking & Finance
• Business Advisory
• Business & Human Rights
• Construction & Infrastructure
• Corporate & Commercial
• Employment
• Energy & Mining
• Intellectual Property & Data Protection
• International Commercial Arbitration
• Investigations, Regulatory & Compliance
• Investment Arbitration
• Litigation
• Pharma & Biotechnology
• Public International Law
• Private Client
• Sports
• Technology & Telecom
• White Collar Crime