OBERSON ABELS SA

Number of partners : 17

Number of counsels : 9

Number of lawyers : 13

Number of associates : 5

Languages : French, English, German, Italian, Spanish, Russian, Albanian, Swiss-German, Romanian, Dutch, Portuguese, Turkish, Ukranian

OBERSON ABELS is a Swiss law firm with offices in four French-speaking cantons: Geneva, Lausanne, Sion and Neuchâtel.

It has over 85 employees, more than half of whom are lawyers. With their varied backgrounds, their experts have in-depth knowledge of cantonal and federal public administrations, courts, the private sector, and academia, all of which are considerable assets for their clients. As we have grown, so too has our extensive network of correspondents throughout Switzerland and internationally.

The best of both worlds: It offers their clients the bespoke advice and assistance they expect from a ’boutique’ law firm with an exceptional level of quality provided by large-scale firms.

Its expertise is built around four Groups: Tax, Corporate /M&A, Banking and Litigation.

Tax Group: With over fifty years' experience, its established Tax Group team assists individual and legal entity clients in all areas of Swiss and international taxation. Their areas of expertise include:

• Personal tax,
• Corporate tax,
• Consumption and transaction taxes,
• And specific fields of taxation such as property taxes, taxation of investment funds and financial products, venture capital taxation, taxation of intellectual property rights, local taxes and environmental taxes.

With an in-house team including former members of tax authorities and courts, it also partners with a broad network of correspondents in Switzerland and abroad to ensure unrivalled confidence in the international aspects of the cases it manages. The extensive academic involvement of its team guarantees an approach based on the latest field knowledge and legal insight.

Corporate Group: For over twenty years, its Corporate/M&A and Contracts Group team has developed a reputation for their expertise across corporate and contract law, as well as corporate restructuring. Continuously evolving, the team also complements the firm's fields of expertise in data protection law. Their areas of expertise include:

• Corporate/M/A and contract law
• Distressed company restructuring
• Data protection

Banking Group: Their banking and financial law expertise includes:

• Advice on financial services and products
• Authorization of banks, securities firms, asset managers, and trustees by the competent authority
• Advice regarding stock exchange rules and the Swiss regulatory framework applicable to listed companies
• Advice on all types of collective investment schemes
• Registration of Swiss and foreign collective investment schemes
• Outsourcing projects in the financial sector
• Management of international mutual assistance procedures
• Negotiation of derivatives contracts in accordance with the ISDA Master Agreement or the Swiss Master Agreement
• Drafting of Netting Opinions and Collateral Opinions

Litigation Group: It assists institutional and private clients in all civil, administrative, and criminal disputes before the Swiss authorities and courts. Its experts manage complex cases that often have inter-cantonal or international ramifications. They have built a solid network of correspondents in German-speaking Switzerland, Italian-speaking Switzerland, and abroad. Their areas of expertise includes:

• Litigation
• White-collar crime and administrative criminal law
• Investigations

It has as well cross-disciplinary practice in: Estate planning and Inheritance law, Immigration, Employment and Pension Law. Foundations, Associations and NGOs and Art Law.

Estate planning and inheritance law practice: They have extensive experience in inheritance law and family property law in both Swiss and international contexts. They advise private clients on how to structure their assets, and organize their matrimonial and estate planning, to offer them tailored solutions that provide absolute peace of mind. As trusted partners, members of the team are regularly appointed as executors, estate administrators, attorneys in case of incapacity or guardians. Working closely with the Litigation Group, they also assist and represent their clients in inheritance disputes.

Immigration practice: The Immigration team houses the specialist skills to manage the obtention of work permits, including those for posted workers, residence permits (including residence on grounds of significant public interest), training permits, and family reunification. They also advise on permit changes in the event of a change of circumstances, as well as on exceptionally serious individual cases. They can assist their clients with the registration procedure for short-term gainful employment, including obtaining or renouncing Swiss nationality, with services also provided for certain foreign nationalities.

Employment and Pension Law practice: With extensive interdisciplinary skills, they can assist their clients with all types of employment law, occupational pension schemes, and social security issues, including:

• Advice on employment law and occupational benefits
• Drafting employment contracts, company regulations, and termination agreements
• Drawing up incentive plans
• Transferring employees as part of mergers and acquisitions
• Implementation and review of pension fund regulations
• Assistance with the restructuring of pension funds, such as asset transfers, mergers or liquidations
• Assistance in coordinating social security schemes in complex cross-border situations
• Representation before the courts in labour disputes, occupational benefits, and social insurance disputes

Foundations, Associations and NGOs practice: Their specialist sector team has extensive experience in the analysis and application of regulations concerning national and international non-profit organisations, associations, and foundations. They offer comprehensive and holistic legal services from setting up their legal structure, legal advice on compliance and facilitating the successful implementation of associative projects, to obtaining tax exemption and organizing VAT affiliation.

Art Law practice: They provide cross-sector advice and support to individuals and companies in the field of art law, helping them navigate the complexities of contractual issues (e.g., sale, art-secured loans), tax issues (e.g., classification as an art professional for tax purposes), the transfer of cultural goods, customs duties and VAT (e.g., storage in a bonded warehouse), and civil and criminal litigation.

Their interdisciplinary teams work closely to provide comprehensive advice and trusted solutions for their clients' projects, fully tailored to their specific situations at both the advisory and procedural stages.