FBT Attorneys at Law

FBT Avocats

Founded in 1993, FBT Avocats (FBT) is a multidisciplinary law firm, based in Geneva and Paris, which operates in the financial and commercial sectors as well as in niche activities, with a predominantly cross-border dimension.

FBT lawyers and tax advisers have worked in banks, multinational companies, international trust companies, family offices, notary offices and law firms, in Switzerland, in France and in other countries.

These French-Swiss teams routinely work at the most exacting level to assist their clients in their domestic and cross-border operations.

Owing to the quality of its network of lawyers outside Switzerland, FBT long ago developed a proven capacity for mobilizing and coordinating specialized teams in different countries.

This work has enabled FBT to distinguish itself in cross-border transactions.

Thus, the abilities and experience required by the ever more complex legal challenges facing our Swiss and foreign clients converge in a single law firm.

Six teams in Geneva and Paris

The firm’s organization comprises specialized and complementary legal teams working in two locations and focused on the following spheres of expertise:

Banking and Finance

Tax

Corporate and commercial

Litigaion and Arbitration

Labour

Family Estate

Team Specialisation and Specialised Group Synergies

Each group includes one or several partners, associates and legal specialists – lawyers, tax experts, economists – bringing extensive experience to the group’s area of activity.

Constant exchanges among these groups translates into continual sharing of up-to-date information in each area.

Depending on the case, FBT sets up a “multidisciplinary legal team” to:

• deal comprehensively and pragmatically with the various aspects of the case
• respond rapidly while maintaining a high level of legal security
• ensure optimal cost control

The banking and finance group advises:

· Banks and securities dealers

· Investment funds, fund managers, fund management companies, representatives and investor groups

· Distributors of funds, structured products and insurance products

· Commercial and industrial companies and international organisations in their financing problems

· Independent asset managers

· Trustees, audit companies and fiduciary companies

Team members : Frédérique Bensahel, Michel Abt, Jean-Louis Tsimaratos, Marco Villa, Jean-Marie Kiener, Jean de Skowronski, Julien Le Fort, Aurélie Moyal-Azra, Noémie Pauli, Véronique Chatelain Gomez, Colombe Jacob and Rodrigo Domingos Da Silva

Thetax groupadvises and assists its clients –in Switzerland and in France– in both domestic and international contexts, in the following areas:

·Tax advice for individuals: Swiss and French law and cross-border aspects

·Business tax advice

·Relations with tax authorities / Tax litigation

Team members : Michel Abt, Jean-Luc Bochatay, Alain Moreau, Stéphanie Barreira, Jérôme Bissardon, Louis Ballivet, Maximilien Dechamps, Camille Fournier, Alix Caillard, Clémence Jeulin, Ludovic Pallas and Corentin Pfeiffer

The corporate and commercial group assists companies and entrepreneurs in the following areas:

·Corporate affairs

·Entrepreneur legal framework

·Shareholder legal framework

·Contractual law

·Corporate asset protection

·Assistance to companies in critical financial situations

Team members : Marco Villa, Jérôme Bissardon, Jean-Luc Bochatay and Julien Le Fort

The litigation and arbitration group assists its Swiss and foreign clients within the framework of domestic and international litigation before judicial, administrative and arbitration courts, particularly in the following areas:

·Commercial litigation

·Banking and financial litigation

·Arbitration

·Employment litigation

·Forced execution (seizure, bankruptcy, concordat, receivership)

·Economic crime

·Mutual assistance in criminal and administrative matters

Team members : Serge Fasel, Olivia de Weck, Sara Pugliese-Charfadi, Matthieu Tkatch, Rodrigo Domingos Da Silva, Colombe Jacob and Corentin Pfeiffer

The labour law group advises, assists and represents business enterprises and entrepreneurs, both domestically and internationally, in the following areas:

·Individual litigation before labour tribunals

·Collective litigation before collective law tribunals

·Follow-up of all problematic situations with employees of the enterprise (pre-litigation management)

·Review of all contractual and regulatory documentation of the enterprise related to labour relations

·Negotiations related to the conclusion or renewal of collective labour agreements

·Company restructuring, collective redundancies, severance schemes

·Management of work contract transfers within the framework of a total or partial transfer of the enterprise

·Management of contractual documentation in the event of a relocation of the enterprise to Switzerland

·Obtention and/or renewal of work permits for key personnel of the enterprise

·Intra-group transfer of the company’s executives

·Litigation against supervisory authorities regarding public labour law provisions

·Obtention of authorizations for temporary employment and personnel placement service

Team members : Serge Fasel, Olivia de Weck and Sara Pugliese-Charfadi

The family estate law group advises individuals and families, entrepreneurs and executives, banking institutions, asset managers, family offices, trustees and charitable foundations in the following areas:

·Wealth structuring and estate planning

·Unions (marriage and partnerships)

·Philanthropy

·Residence transfer – expatriation and impatriation

Team members : Jean-Luc Bochatay, Pascale Cano, Michel Abt, Frédérique Bensahel, Jean-Louis Tsimaratos, Véronique Chatelain Gomez and Stéphanie Barreira