News & Publications

Since 1 July 2022, same-sex couples in Switzerland can get married or convert their registered partnership into a marriage. A joint declaration to the civil registry office is sufficient for this purpose. Alternatively, existing registered partnerships can be continued without special declaration. However, it is no longer possible to newly establish a registered partnership.

STAIGER has been awareded Law Firm of the Year 2022 in the Energy category by Legalcommunity. The awards ceremony was held on 5 May 2022 in Zurich.

We are very pleased to announce that the independent study conducted by the research institute Statista for BILANZ and Le Temps has again identified STAIGER among Switzerland's leading law firms in the following areas of practice.

We are delighted to announce that STAIGER has been shortlisted for the Citywealth Magic Circle Awards 2022 in the category Law Firm of the Year – Switzerland. The Citywealth Magic Circle Awards are the leading Awards for Wealth Management. For over 16 years the Magic Circle Awards have been attracting the leading professionals from the top firms, recognising the achievements of the industry during the past year.

Swiss in­her­it­ance law is being mod­ern­ized and ad­apted to today's social needs and changed family struc­tures. A central focus of the re­vised in­her­it­ance law is the re­duc­tion of the com­pulsory shares.

Switzer­land is an im­portant found­a­tion loc­a­tion with over 13,000 char­it­able found­a­tions with total assets of around 100 Bil­lion Swiss Francs. Within the frame­work of the mini-mod­ern­iz­a­tion, Switzer­land will be fur­ther strengthened as a found­a­tion loc­a­tion.

We are pleased to inform that Who's Who Legal selected our partner Marc Bernheim as Thought Leader- Restructuring & Insolvency 2021. Who's Who Legal awards only those lawyers as "Thought Leaders" who are held in the highest esteem by their clients and fellow practioners. In Switzerland, only seven lawyers are recognized as Thought Leaders for Restructuring & Insolvency 2021.

Global min­imum tax of 15% for com­panies and a shift in the right of tax­a­tion from the country of dom­i­cile to the place of turnover.

We are very pleased to announce that the independent study conducted by the research institute Statista for BILANZ and Le Temps has again identified STAIGER among Switzerland's leading law firms in the following 12 areas of practice.

The 2021 edition of The Legal 500 Europe, Middle East and Africa was released in April 2021. We are proud to inform that STAIGER has been recommended in six practice areas (Banking and Finance; Commercial, Corporate and M&A; Dispute Resolution; Insolvency and Corporate Recovery; Private Clients and Public Law/Energy Law). In addition, several of our lawyers are recommended in The Legal 500 Europe, Middle East and Africa editorial.

We are delighted to announce that Georgia Fotiou received the SILVER 2021 Citywealth Powerwomen award in the category Woman of the Year- Future Leaders – Partner.

We are delighted to announce that Georgia Fotiou has been shortlisted for the 2021 Citywealth Powerwomen awards under the category Woman of the Year - Future Leaders - Partner. A great success for our Private Clients Team.

STAIGER informs about selected legislative revisions and new regulations that will enter into effect in January 2021.

STAIGER At­tor­neys at Law is rated as a leading law firm in 10 areas of our prac­tice.

Sig­ni­ficant changes have been in­tro­duced with the latest amend­ment of the labour law pro­vi­sions of Ordin­ance on Meas­ures to Combat Coronavirus (COVID-19 Ordin­ance 2), which has been in force since 13 March 2020, mostly in favour of em­ployees. The new reg­u­la­tions even allow em­ployees to en­force their re­lease from work (garden leave) under cer­tain cir­cum­stances.

The coronavirus is also spreading in Switzer­land. Author­ities are con­stantly or­dering new meas­ures. This situ­ation also raises various ques­tions for em­ployers and em­ployees. STAIGER At­tor­neys at Law provide an update on fre­quent ques­tions on the ap­pro­priate con­duct at the work­place.

Der Stän­derat hat der Re­vi­sion des Erbrechts zu­ge­stimmt. Damit sollen die teil­weise über 100 Jahre alten Regeln an die neuen ge­sell­schaft­li­chen Rea­li­täten an­ge­passt werden; Er­b­lasser sollen neu über einen grös­seren Teil ihres Ver­mö­gens ver­fügen können. Folgt auch der Na­tio­nalrat der Re­vi­sion, könnte die Ge­set­zes­än­de­rung be­reits 2021 in Kraft treten.

STAIGER At­tor­neys at Law in­forms about the ef­fects of Brexit.

The 2019 edition of The Legal 500 Europe, Middle East and Africa was released on April 10, 2019. We are proud to inform that STAIGER has been recommended in six practice areas (Banking and Finance; Commercial, Corporate and M&A; Dispute Resolution; Insolvency and Corporate Recovery; Private Clients and Public Law/Energy Law). In addition, ten of our lawyers are recommended in The Legal 500 Europe, Middle East and Africa editorial.

We are pleased to inform that Who's Who Legal selected our partner Marc Bernheim as Thought Leader- Restructuring & Insolvency 2019. Who's Who Legal awards only those lawyers as "Thought Leaders" who are held in the highest esteem by their clients and fellow practioners. In Switzerland, only six lawyers are recognized as Thought Leaders for Restructuring & Insolvency 2019.

Since December 24 2018 we are loc­ated at Talacker 41, 8001 Zurich.

We are pleased to announce that Yasemin Varel has joined the partnership in October 2018.

On the occasion of the Annual Labour and Immigration Law Conference of AIJA (International Association of Young Lawyers) taking place in Turin from 4-6 October 2018, our partner Philipp Haymann will moderate a panel on current trends and legal developments in flexible work environments.

Lump-sum taxation: New Federal Circular Letter No. 44

We are pleased to inform you that, as of September, 2018, Georgia Fotiou joins STAIGER.

We are pleased to inform you that, as of July, 2018, Sascha Drobnjak joins STAIGER.

We are pleased to inform you that, as of May, 2018, Stefanie Meyenhofer-Peters joined STAIGER.

In its decision 4A_7/2018, the Federal Supreme Court (again) had to deal with the question to what extent claims from employment contracts are accessible to (domestic) arbitration.

Severine Vogel recently gave a presentation on the Swiss tax implications of cross-border employment and social security pitfalls at the STEP Lucerne/Zug Centre. In case of questions please feel free to contact Severine Vogel.

We are pleased to inform you that, as of January 1, 2018, Hay­mann von Erlach At­tor­neys at Law will join Staiger At­tor­neys at Law.

We are de­lighted to an­nounce that, as of January 1, 2018, our long-standing as­so­ci­ates Jonas Stüssi and Gaudenz Geiger have joined our part­ner­ship.

The legal re­la­tion­ship between part­ners en­gaged in cross-border trading activ­ities is fre­quently sub­ject to the Vienna Sales Con­ven­tion without the trading part­ners even being aware of this.

At the Finix Webinar dated 27 May 2021, our partner Georgia Fotiou speaks about the use of Trusts for Asset Protection.

We are pleased to inform that Who's Who Legal selected our partner Marc Bernheim as Thought Leader- Restructuring & Insolvency 2022. Who's Who Legal awards only those lawyers as "Thought Leaders" who are held in the highest esteem by their clients and fellow practioners. In Switzerland, only six lawyers are recognized as Thought Leaders for Restructuring & Insolvency 2022.

STAIGER informs about selected legislative revisions and new regulations that entered into effect in January 2023.

We are very pleased that the annual survey by the Swiss journals BILANZ and Le Temps has again identified STAIGER among Switzerland's leading law firms in the following areas of practice.

STAIGER informs about selected legislative revisions and new regulations that entered into effect in January 2024.

We are proud that STAIGER has been ranked by the The Legal 500 EMEA Guide 2024 in 7 practise areas.

The provisions of Swiss law concerning international arbitration can be found in the twelfth chapter of the Federal Private International Law Act (PILA). To the extent that the parties have not excluded this in their agreement to arbitrate, these provisions of law are applicable to all international arbitration proceedings before arbitral tribunals with their seat in Switzerland.

What happens with your Swiss or UK residence and work permits when Brexit comes into effect?

Following the United Kingdom’s exit from the EU, the Agreement on the Free Movement of Persons (FMOPA) with the EU will no longer apply between Switzerland and the United Kingdom (UK). Switzerland and the UK signed an Agreement on Acquired Citizens’ Rights on 25 February 2019 (new FMOPA). This agreement intends to protect the residence rights (and other rights) of Swiss and British citizens acquired under the FMOPA and covers – inter alia - the purchase and retention of real estate by UK citizens in Switzerland and vice versa. Therefore, the agreement applies only to those UK and Swiss citizens who acquired rights under the FMOPA; it does not apply to nationals from the UK wanting to immigrate into Switzerland and vice versa after the FMOPA no longer applies.

Every European Union (“EU”) member state has its own social security system. The same applies to Switzerland. The EU rules coordinate the national social security systems within the EU to ensure that people moving to another EU country or living in one EU country and working in another EU country do not lose their social security coverage (for example pension rights).

Following Boris Johnson’s election as new Prime Minister, the chances have increased that the UK is heading towards a No Deal Brexit.

The Lugano Convention is a multilateral treaty on jurisdiction, recognition and enforcement of judgments between the member states of the European Union, Switzerland, Norway and Iceland, which became effective at the end of 2007 and has since been revised. The Lugano Convention applies in civil and commercial law matters. Its purpose is to ensure that judgments handed down by courts in other member states are recognized and enforceable according to unified rules in other member states.

Im Januar 2017 ist das neue Kindesunterhaltsrecht in Kraft getreten, welches starke Neuerungen im Familienrecht brachte. Zwischenzeitlich konnte das Bundesgericht einige offenen Fragen klären. Zudem ist im internationalen Kontext ab Ende Januar 2019 die EU-Güterrechtsverordnung zu beachten.

Neuerungen im Steuerrecht.

Das vorliegende Werk behandelt aktuelle Rechtsfragen aus dem nationalen und internationalen Sportrecht.

Die Rechtsbeziehung zwischen grenzüberschreitend tätigen Handelspartnern untersteht regelmässig dem Wiener Kaufrecht, ohne dass die Handelspartner sich dessen bewusst sind. Das Wiener Kaufrecht kann die Rechtsposition der Vertragsparteien gegenüber dem nationalen Recht erheblich verbessern oder verschlechtern.

Die Schweiz ist seit Jahrzehnten ein Land der Holdinggesellschaften (insbesondere aufgrund des derzeit diskutierten Holdingprivilegs und des Beteiligungsabzugs). Die Steuerpfl icht dieser Gesellschaften unter dem Mehrwertsteuergesetz (MWSTG) wirft in der Praxis immer wieder Fragen auf.

Auch das Jahr 2017 wird in verschiedenen Bereichen der Gesetzgebung Neuerungen mit sich bringen. Im „Paragraph aktuell“ thematisiert und erläutert STAIGER einige der wichtigsten Gesetzesänderungen und Gesetzgebungsvorhaben.

Mit Urteil vom 11. November 2016 (2C_483/2016 und 2C_484/2016) bestätigte das Bundesgericht das Urteil der kantonalen Vorinstanz, welches den Ort der tatsächlichen Verwaltung einer liechtensteinischen Gesellschaft am Wohnsitz des Geschäftsführers bejahte. Massgebend waren insbesondere die bescheidene Grösse und der tiefe Mietzins am Sitz in Liechtenstein sowie die büroexterne Erledigung des Tagesgeschäfts, was den Anschein eines reinen Briefkastendomizils entstehen lasse. Zusätzlich berücksichtigte es die unvollständig erfüllte Mitwirkungspflicht der Steuerpflichtigen und die Ansässigkeit von weiteren Gesellschaften am Wohnsitz des Geschäftsführers.

Praxishandbuch Legal Operations Management, Roman P. Falta / Christian Düblin (Hrsg.), Berlin (erscheint erste Hälfte 2017).

Sportrecht, Band II, Jan Kleiner / Margareta Baddeley / Oliver Arter (Hrsg.), Bern (erscheint erste Hälfte 2017).

The Canton of Zurich amended its practice with regard to the taxation of start-up companies for the second time this year.

Mit Urteil 2C_916/2014 und 2C_917/2014, zur Publikation vorgesehen vom 26. September 2016 hält das Bundesgericht fest, dass Bussen und andere finanzielle Sanktionen grundsätzlich keinen geschäftsmässig begründeten Aufwand darstellen. Es verneint damit deren steuerliche Abzugsfähigkeit auch bei juristischen Personen. Eine Ausnahme sei indes bei Sanktionen möglich, welche beim betroffenen Unternehmen unrechtmässig erlangte Gewinne abschöpften, soweit das Unternehmen den diesbezüglichen Nachweis erbringen könne.

Die Schweiz stellt aus wirtschaftlicher Sicht einen attraktiven Standort für Startup-Unternehmen dar. Handlungsbedarf besteht jedoch bezüglich der steuerlichen Rahmenbedingungen. Die kürzlich vorgenommene Praxisanpassung des Kantonalen Steueramts Zürich im Rahmen der Vermögenssteuer hat bei vielen Startups zu Unsicherheiten geführt. Zahlreiche Publikationen und Kurzartikel sind in den Medien erschienen.

Während das Schweizer Bankgeheimnis im Zusammenhang mit der Fiskalpolitik für Schlagzeilen sorgt, wird anderweitig die Erwartung der Bankkunden an die Diskretion der Banken – ohne Wogen zu werfen – zunehmend relativiert. So haben neuere Gerichtsentscheide die Stellung der Erben gegenüber den Banken des Erblassers verstärkt und letztlich dafür gesorgt, dass Informationen an die Erben gelangen können, die der Erblasser vielleicht lieber mit ins Grab genommen hätte.

Asset Protection bezweckt, das Privatvermögen umfassend zu schützen und entspricht einem zunehmenden Bedürfnis. Will man das Privat- und Familienvermögen nachhaltig sichern, so sind früh die richtigen Entscheidungen zu treffen.

Die rechtskonforme Verwendung von Allgemeinen Geschäftsbedingungen („AGB“) im Geschäftsalltag ist für den AGB-Verwender in vielerlei Hinsicht vorteilhaft. Werden hingegen elementare Regeln bei der Verwendung von AGB unberücksichtigt gelassen, kann das Vertragsverhältnis schnell zur «Büchse der Pandora» werden. Der AGB-Verwender sieht sich dann vielfach mit einer wesentlich schlechteren Rechtsstellung konfrontiert, als wenn er bewusst auf den Einsatz von AGB verzichtet hätte.

2012 wurden die Empfehlungen der Group d’action financière (GAFI) zur Bekämpfung der Geldwäscherei revidiert. Der schweizerische Gesetzgeber folgte mit einer zügigen Umsetzung, die zahlreiche wichtige Änderungen für Finanzintermediäre und weitere Akteure mit sich bringt.

Das Jahr 2015 wird in verschiedenen Bereichen der Gesetz- und Verordnungsgebung Neuerungen mit sich bringen. Im „Paragraph aktuell“ thematisiert und erläutert Staiger, Schwald & Partner einige der wichtigsten Änderungen und Gesetzgebungsvorhaben.

Wohl kein anderes Rechtsgebiet ist gegenwärtig von einer derart hohen Reformaktivität geprägt wie das Finanzmarktrecht. Nach Abschluss von Rechtsetzungsprojekten im Bankensektor stehen weitere umfassende Regulierungsprojekte bevor. Der vorliegende "Paragraph thema" soll einen Überblick über den heutigen Stand der Regulierungsaktivitäten im Bereich des Finanzmarktrechts vermitteln.

In the area of Swiss civil procedural law, a handful of minor legislative changes will enter into effect as of January 1, 2021. Most novelties are of a technical nature or concern minor details. The following two practically relevant topics are briefly discussed in more detail.

As of January 1, 2021, the Supplementary Benefits Act will be revised, with the following direct effects on inheritance law.

Effective January 1, 2021, the Swiss Commercial Register will be revised and modernized. The main revisions include the following.

Am 1. Januar 2021 tritt die revidierte Quellensteuerverordnung in Kraft, welche fundamentale Auswirkungen sowohl auf Arbeitgeber als auch auf Arbeitnehmer hat.

The current Federal Act on the Reduction of CO2 Emissions (CO2 Act) and the associated CO2 Ordinance specify the reduction targets for greenhouse gas emissions and the instruments to achieve these targets by the end of 2020.

As of January 1, 2021, the Supplementary Benefits Act will be revised, with the following direct effects on inheritance law.

Contributions as of 2005 up to today (most recent ones still to be listed).

The Swiss legislator has reacted to the SwissairGrounding by partially revising the insolvency law with regard to rehabilitation as per 1 January 2014; its new rules also impact labour law. The revision’s purpose is to facilitate rehabilitation of financially distressed companies.

In the current issue of AJP (AJP 6/2023), our colleague, attorney Dr. Michael Lüdi, certified specialist SBA inheritance law, deals with the Federal Supreme Court decision BGer 5A_90/2022, dated November 11, 2022 (and the preceding cantonal case law).

On August 30, 2023, the Federal Council initiated the consultation on the draft law to strengthen the fight against money laundering. The implementation initially provides for a new Federal Law on the Transparency of Legal Entities and the Identification of Beneficial Owners (TJPG).