Daniel Leu

Daniel Leu

Partner  |  Bär & Karrer
JURISDICTION

TOP SPECIALISMS

Estates: Contentious

Estates: Planning

Relocation and Cross-Border Advisory

Office Location

Switzerland

Short Biography

Daniel Leu advises private clients and family offices on wealth and succession planning, on the handling of estates, in connection with foundations and trusts and on questions in connection with the place of residence. Other areas of work include advising clients who buy or sell real estate in Switzerland and art law. Daniel Leu is a Certified Specialist SBA Inheritance Law and publishes regularly in the field of inheritance law. He has published extensively and frequently lectures on trust and estate matters in Switzerland and abroad. In addition to his practice, Daniel Leu is a lecturer at the University of Muenster, Germany (Master of Law in Inheritance Law & Corporate Succession). Daniel Leu is recommended by Chambers and Partners, Who is Who Legal, Legal 500 as well as by the Legal Week Private Client Global Elite Directory.

What is your favorite restaurant to take a client or colleague to?

What is the best piece of advice you have ever received?

What was your first job?

What is the book you recommend to everyone?

What changes do you expect to see in your practice over the next year?


Daniel Bader

Daniel Bader

Partner  |  Bär & Karrer
JURISDICTION

Switzerland

TOP SPECIALISMS

Estates: Planning

Relocation and Cross-Border Advisory

Tax Advisory

Office Location

Switzerland

Short Biography

With years of experience in the field, he has become a sought-after consultant for Swiss and international clients seeking guidance on tax law and private client matters. Daniel Bader specializes in a range of tax and legal-related services, including inheritance tax matters, succession planning, and advising high net worth individuals on all aspects of their private and business activities. He also provides expertise in trusts, international estate planning, wealth structuring, private wealth planning, and navigating in relation to various jurisdictions.

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What is the best piece of advice you have ever received?

What was your first job?

What is the book you recommend to everyone?

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David W. Wilson

David W. Wilson

Partner - Head of Private Wealth (Geneva)  |  Schellenberg Wittmer
JURISDICTION

TOP SPECIALISMS

Estates: Contentious

Estates: Planning

Trusts: Planning

Office Location

Switzerland

Short Biography

David W. Wilson heads Schellenberg Wittmer's private wealth practice in Geneva. With over 20 years of experience, David is recognised as a top-tier practitioner: he is “worth every cent” for Chambers HNW guide, is “unrivalled according to his peers” (Who’s Who Legal) and has been included in the Private Client Global Elite since its 2012 inception. He further received the Swiss Leading Individual award (WealthBriefing, 2015) and STEP’s Founder’s Award (2021). Former chair of STEP Geneva, he is also a member of the International Academy of Estate and Trust Law (TIAETL). David advises Swiss and foreign clients on international wealth structuring, asset protection, tax and estate planning. He also acts in complex guardianship and inheritance disputes, including administering successions. His additional areas of expertise comprise of relocation and art law.

What is your favorite restaurant to take a client or colleague to?

Société Nautique de Genève

What is the best piece of advice you have ever received?

Find your Why

What was your first job?

sailing instructor

What is the book you recommend to everyone?

Information is Beautiful

What changes do you expect to see in your practice over the next year?

increase of cross-border succession disputes


Clare Usher-Wilson

Clare Usher-Wilson

Head Family Office Services  |  Summit Trust International SA
JURISDICTION

TOP SPECIALISMS

Trusts & Trusteeship

Trusts: Contentious

Office Location

Switzerland

Short Biography

Clare has a wide range of experience in trust and company management, including private trust companies, within which a wide range of assets are managed, including fine art and automobile collections, aviation and yachting assets, private equity and commercial and residential property. Clare manages an administration team that is focused on larger, more complex structures where often a family office or private investment office is involved. Clare speaks English and French.

What is your favorite restaurant to take a client or colleague to?

Mosimanns

What is the best piece of advice you have ever received?

If there is a difficult conversation to be had, have it directly and have it quickly.

What was your first job?

Junior trust administrator

What is the book you recommend to everyone?

Lampedusa's The Leopard

What changes do you expect to see in your practice over the next year?

Building out towards a more multinational offering


Céline Squaratti

Céline Squaratti

Senior Associate  |  Walder Wyss
JURISDICTION

TOP SPECIALISMS

Immigration

Employment

Office Location

Geneva, Switzerland

Short Biography

Céline Squaratti is a senior associate in our Geneva office. Her expertise includes immigration and labour law. She represents our clients before the courts, in particular in employment disputes. Céline Squaratti also advises our clients on social security and insurance matters.

What is your favorite restaurant to take a client or colleague to?

What is the best piece of advice you have ever received?

What was your first job?

What is the book you recommend to everyone?

What changes do you expect to see in your practice over the next year?


Catherine Kavadze

Catherine Kavadze

Counsel  |  MLL Legal
JURISDICTION

TOP SPECIALISMS

Estates: Planning

Family and Matrimonial

Guardianship and Mental Capacity

Office Location

Switzerland

Short Biography

I joined the Private clients group at MLL in 2016. I regularly advises international high-net-worth individuals on complex private client, family law and child related matters. My daily professional activities include cross border estate planning as well as guardianship and mental capacity matters. I specialise both in non-contentious cases and disputes raised before different Courts in Switzerland (Civil Court, Court of Protection or probate Court). Born in Georgia, I speak Georgian, French, English and Russian.

What is your favorite restaurant to take a client or colleague to?

Le Bologne Genève - perfect place for delicious food in a very pleasant atmosphere

What is the best piece of advice you have ever received?

Never give up

What was your first job?

School tutor when I was 16

What is the book you recommend to everyone?

Any book from Romain Gary

What changes do you expect to see in your practice over the next year?

More family law disputes resolved through mediation process


Caroline López Nagai

Caroline López Nagai

Counsel  |  Schellenberg Wittmer
JURISDICTION

TOP SPECIALISMS

Estates: Contentious

Office Location

Switzerland

Short Biography

Caroline Maria López Nagai is a Counsel in our Private Wealth Group in Geneva. She is specialized in cross-border estate / succession and wealth planning matters for individual clients as well as family enterprises including wills, lasting power of attorneys, guardianship. Her practice focuses also in advising and representing clients in matters related trusts, foundations, regulatory investigations (incl. administrative proceedings) and corporate transactions.

What is your favorite restaurant to take a client or colleague to?

What is the best piece of advice you have ever received?

What was your first job?

What is the book you recommend to everyone?

What changes do you expect to see in your practice over the next year?


Balz Hoesly

Balz Hoesly

Partner  |  MME Legal
JURISDICTION

TOP SPECIALISMS

Dispute Resolution or Arbitration

Estates: Planning

Family Governance and Business

Office Location

Switzerland

Short Biography

Balz Hoesly is a Cerified Specialist SBA, Mediator SBA and TEP and leads the Private Client Team of MME Legal Ltd. He focuses on international estate planning, family businesses and alternative dispute resolution. Balz is well known as a senior strategic legal advisor to companies. As Chairman, he leads two boards of directors.

What is your favorite restaurant to take a client or colleague to?

The Kronenhalle in Zurich - a very traditional Swiss Fine Dining Brasserie with a fabulous collection of (original!) paintings as interior decoration

What is the best piece of advice you have ever received?

Become an inheritance specialist - people will always pass away, so you will never be out of work.

What was your first job?

meet packer in a butchery

What is the book you recommend to everyone?

People Skills, by Robert Bolton Ph.D. - How to assert yourself, listen to others, and resolve conflicts

What changes do you expect to see in your practice over the next year?

AI as challenger and plausibility/completeness check


Aurelie Conrad-Hari

Aurelie Conrad-Hari

Partner  |  Bär & Karrer
JURISDICTION

TOP SPECIALISMS

Estates: Contentious

Office Location

Switzerland

Short Biography

Aurélie Conrad Hari co-heads the Litigation practice of Bär & Karrer. She has a broad experience in handling complex multi-jurisdictional disputes in financial, banking and commercial disputes. She also specializes in private clients' assistance and representation. Her practice encompasses shareholders' and employment disputes, insolvency as well as asset recovery, with the recognition and enforcement of foreign judgments and arbitral awards. She also frequently acts as counsel representing parties in commercial arbitration related to various industries, eg, sale, distribution, agency, construction (including power plants) and energy. Additionally, she conducts internal investigation on specific fact findings and compliance issues upon instructions from clients or supervisory authorities.

What is your favorite restaurant to take a client or colleague to?

What is the best piece of advice you have ever received?

What was your first job?

What is the book you recommend to everyone?

What changes do you expect to see in your practice over the next year?


Arnaud Cywie

Arnaud Cywie

Counsel  |  Borel & Barbey
JURISDICTION

TOP SPECIALISMS

Office Location

Switzerland

Short Biography

Arnaud Cywie operates in the field of Swiss and international taxation. He is specifically active in trusts and foundations, tax planning, wealth planning (personal and business assets), lump sum taxation and restructuring. Arnaud Cywie is on the board of several Swiss private trust companies acting for very high-end families. He also advises and represents private and institutional clients with an international profile, both in negotiations with tax authorities and in litigation.

What is your favorite restaurant to take a client or colleague to?

What is the best piece of advice you have ever received?

What was your first job?

What is the book you recommend to everyone?

What changes do you expect to see in your practice over the next year?