Impact of Covid-19 on criminal proceedings
Marc Henzelin, Deborah Hondius, Simine Sheybani, Adam El-Hakim, 2020LALIVE Blog, April 2020
White Collar Crime
“Highly active practice with an impressive white-collar crime offering”
LALIVE’s White Collar Crime practice is considered to be among the leading practices in Switzerland.
Our team of highly skilled defence lawyers is particularly well-known for its expertise and routinely represents States, companies and individuals in high profile, complex and multi-jurisdictional white collar crime cases as well as in mutual judicial assistance proceedings (including extradition) and sanctions work.
A large volume of our work focuses on the search and recovery of assets as well as on the effective representation all over Switzerland in cases of corruption, fraud, money laundering, embezzlement, disloyal management and cybercrime.
Our international team is composed Swiss, American, Brazilian and Russian speaking lawyers and includes former members of the judiciary, the Office of the Attorney General and the Swiss Federal Criminal Police. With this skillset and experience, we believe that our team is a winning combination. We can provide a rounded strategic assessment and understand the challenges faced by all the parties involved.
We routinely work across borders and are well-versed in multi-jurisdictional matters, calling upon our network of specialist lawyers for support in other jurisdictions.
Our acclaimed investigations practice handles sophisticated cross-border government-led and internal investigations.
- Advising a major Middle Eastern group and individuals in relation to criminal and civil proceedings in Switzerland regarding a worldwide dispute between clients of the group and another Middle-Eastern group for allegations of fraud in the amount of USD 9 billion. The firm successfully conducted attachment proceedings of a promissory note of USD 1.4 billion in Switzerland against the assets of partners of the defendant
- Being a member of The Independent Review Panel of Tennis, undertaking an exhaustive review and report of the appropriateness and effectiveness of the tennis practice and rules related to combatting match-fixing, with the purpose of elaborating a list of binding recommendations for the sport’s governing bodies
- Representing a whistleblower in a multinational company whose information triggered a major investigation for corruption, involving suspected bribery of foreign officials. The investigation into the allegations led to a number of arrests, in cooperation with the Swiss Prosecution Service, the US DOJ, FCPA and SEC
- Representing an individual targeted by a criminal investigation pending in another European country for conspiracy to commit large scale money laundering and fraud for Chinese organisations, as well as laundering money on a large scale for a Swiss bank’s clients who evaded taxes, with ramifications in several European countries
- Acting for the administrator of an insolvent foreign bank claiming damages in excess of EUR 400 million in a major fraud case involving various Swiss banks
- Acting as lead counsel to an international group victim of to an international cybercrime attack involving the transfer of significant funds to false accounts
Swiss Blocking Statute: update on do’s and don’ts under the threat of criminal sanctions
Sandrine Giroud, Valentine Bagnoud, Deborah Hondius, 2019LALIVE Blog, December 2019
Preventive approach to incapacity issues
Werner Jahnel, Sandrine Giroud, Sébastien Zulian, 2020International Law Office (ILO), Private Client & Offshore Services, 28 May 2020
Droit Suisse des sanctions et de la confiscation internationales
Sandrine Giroud, Héloïse Rordorf-Braun 2020Helbing Lichtenhahn, 1st Edition, 2020
La restitution pénale
Benoît Arthur Mauron, 2020In: S. Giroud & H. Rordorf (eds), Droit suisse des sanctions et de la confiscation internationales,
Bâle 2020, pp. 143-169
Art-secured lending: maximizing liquidities opportunities for private art collectors
Sandrine Giroud, Simine Sheybani, 2020International Law Office (ILO), Private Client & Offshore Services, 9 April 2020
Sandrine Giroud Exclusive Interview for Rosemont Art Advisory
Sandrine Giroud, 2020Rosemont Art Advisory Newsletter (www.rosemont-int.com), 27 March 2020
État de santé apte à faire échec à une demande d’extradition
Sandrine Giroud, 2020In: LawInside (www.lawinside.ch), 21 March 2020
Swiss free ports: still a safe house for private clients' trophy assets?
Sandrine Giroud, Tatiana Jullier, 2020International Law Office (ILO), Private Client & Offshore Services, 5 March 2020
Asset Recovery 2020
Marc Henzelin, Sandrine Giroud, Deborah Hondius, 2019In: William Christopher, Fiona Simpson, Mary Young, Alun Milford and Melinka Berridge (Contributing Eds.), Getting the Deal Through - Asset Recovery 2020, pp. 103-111
Selbstanzeige von Unternehmen in internationalen Wirtschaftsstraffällen (Corporate self-reporting in international white collar crime cases)
Daniel Lucien Bühr, 2018In: schulthess manager handbuch 2018/2019, Schulthess Management, pp. 179-185
Art collectors' alert – landmark Swiss Supreme Court ruling on returning artworks illicitly exported to country of origin
Sandrine Giroud, Tatiana Jullier, 2019International Law Office (ILO), Private Client & Offshore Services, 29 August 2019
Promoting responsible practices: lessons learnt from the responsible art market initiative
Sandrine Giroud, Justine Ferland, 2019Deloitte and ArtTactic Art & Finance Report 2019, 6th Edition, 2019, pp. 244-245
The Legal Picture
Teresa Giovannini, Werner Jahnel, Sandrine Giroud, 2019Arts and Collections Magazine, Vol. 2, 2019, pp. 70-71
Swiss Legal Issues with Regards to the US Program for Swiss Banks
Alexander Troller, 2014Newsletter-Terralex Connections, 26 June 2014
07 May 2020
LALIVE associate Deborah Hondius elected in the Women’s White Collar Defense Association
07 May 2020
Press coverage: Marc Henzelin interview on the case of the Geneva executive council expense accounts
07 Feb 2019
Simone Nadelhofer appointed Regional Representative Europe of the IBA’s Business Crime Committee
05 Nov 2018
LALIVE’s Investigations practice ranked among top 100 worldwide for fourth consecutive year
04 Sep 2018
LALIVE opens in London
27 Apr 2018
Marc Henzelin plays key role in Tennis Anti-corruption Report
23 Mar 2018
Simone Nadelhofer appointed Chair of IPBA Anti-Corruption and the Rule of Law Committee
01 Feb 2018
Marc Henzelin and Sonja Maeder Morvant earn recognition as Thought Leaders in Investigations
09 Jan 2018
LALIVE’s Investigations practice again ranked among top 100 worldwide
16 Aug 2017
Sophie Stählin to blog on Swissblawg
10 Jul 2017
Press coverage: Sandrine Giroud quoted on the Responsible Art Market Initiative and money laundering in the art market
06 Jul 2017
LALIVE edits new international guide on Risk and Compliance Management
18 Apr 2017
LALIVE strengthens its Litigation team with the appointment of Matthias Gstoehl to the partnership
05 Jan 2017
Press coverage: Marc Henzelin’s role in the Independent Review Panel of tennis mentioned in article on match fixing
04 Oct 2016
LALIVE’s Investigations practice ranked among top 100 worldwide
LALIVE has built an outstanding reputation and market position for handling top-flight contentious work, both in litigation or arbitration. It has been active in high-profile matters involving bribery and corruption, both for corporates on self-reporting issues and on independent reviews. It is unusual in the top end of the Swiss market for having built a litigation practice for both corporate and high-net-worth individuals acting against banks.
The Lawyer, 2019
Clients applaud the firm's extensive capabilities: "They know how to work with multinationals, can handle matters that have international implications, are responsive and reactive, and have local law expertise." Others are quick to praise the team's dedication and attention to detail: "They do their homework and are always clear in their analysis."
Chambers Europe, White Collar Crime, 2019
Lalive provides ‘a heavy-weight contentious offering’, including a ‘specialisation in white-collar crime’.
Legal 500, Switzerland, Dispute resolution: Litigation, 2018
Acclaimed team with impressive white-collar crime expertise, particularly in the area of cross-border investigations and whistle-blowing cases. Areas of particular expertise include multi-jurisdictional fraud and corruption cases, asset recovery and corporate compliance. Has experience representing states, high net worth individuals and companies active in the banking, business consultancy, transport and sports sectors. One impressed source enthuses that the team possesses "talented lawyers who represent clients and their profession in superb fashion," while also noting that "they are excellent in dealing with the international components of negotiations and representation." One client highlights the ability of the team to "focus on the main important topics," and praises its lawyers for being able to "handle complex and sensitive investigation matters."
Chambers Europe, White Collar Crime, 2018
"Highly active practice with an impressive white-collar crime offering. Areas of expertise include multi-jurisdictional fraud and corruption cases, asset recovery and corporate compliance. Boasts experience representing states, individuals and companies. Has an expanding footprint in Zürich as a result of recent hires. Active in the banking, oil and gas, and sports sectors". "LALIVE are renowned experts in this field". The team is described as "thoughtful, strategic and responsive".
Chambers Europe, White Collar Crime, 2017
"Top-drawer multi-disciplinary team that benefits from offices in Geneva, Zürich and Doha. Standout expertise in banking, energy, asset recovery and white-collar crime disputes. Advises on litigation but is best known for a focus on arbitration, where it acts for sovereign entities and companies. Additional expertise in high-profile investor-state disputes. Possesses particular knowledge of representing clients from the MENA region." One client praises the team's "dedication, expertise and responsiveness". One client states that LALIVE "were more creative and came up with better ideas than the other firm we worked with."
Chambers Europe, Dispute Resolution, 2017
"It is one of the best firms in Switzerland, and our relationship is very smooth, clear and transparent. The lawyers are always available and respond within the hour.” “I have the highest impression of the firm. The lawyers do terrific work, are very thorough, efficient, direct and to the point.”
Chambers Europe, Switzerland, White Collar Crime, 2016
"Lalive has become one of Switzerland’s leading white-collar firms, with a host of major banks as clients.”
Chambers Europe, Switzerland: Dispute Resolution, White Collar Crime, 2013
"This firm has years of experience representing clients in really complicated cases."
"The team is very experienced, clear, available, and realistic. The lawyers inspire confidence."
Chambers Europe, Switzerland: Dispute Resolution, White Collar Crime, 2013
Lalive has an impressive list of clients that it advises on white-collar crime and compliance matters. (...) The team is also adept at the search and recovery of assets and is developing its investigatory capacity.
Chambers Europe, Switzerland: Dispute Resolution, White Collar Crime, 2013
At Lalive, Marc Henzelin focuses on the economic aspect of business crime and is included for his skills as a litigator. He also wins praise for his 'practical' approach to cases.
Who's Who Legal, Switzerland, Business Crime Defence, 2013
"Two 'excellent' names from Lalive feature in this chapter. The 'superb' Marc Henzelin receives recognition for his 'professional manner' and 'depth of expertise'. He is joined by Alexander Troller, a 'true expert'."
Who's Who Legal, Switzerland, Asset Recovery, 2013
"The firm excels at civil arbitration and litigation, as well as white-collar crime cases. Fields of expertise include corporate, private client, TMT and real estate disputes".
Legal 500, Switzerland: Leading firms, Geneva, 2013, Tier 3