The Legal 500 > Europe, Middle East & Africa > Switzerland > Fintech

‘They’re a “can do” team with the intellectual strength to make you feel confident about everything they tell you.‘

‘Peter Hsu is the most user-friendly lawyer I have met in Switzerland – down-to-earth, ready to roll up his sleeves, but also experienced and sage in his advice.‘

‘This practice is well connected within the Swiss legal, regulatory and financial communities and is able to provide excellent advice in navigating the complexities of the new and evolving financial technology ecosystems that are emerging.‘

‘We have worked extensively with Eric Stupp, Martin Peyer, and Gadi Winter at this firm. They have demonstrated deep knowledge of the Swiss financial regulatory landscape particularly in connection with the rapidly evolving world of blockchain, distributed ledger technologies and cryptocurrencies. In addition they are able to advise across the intricacies of the different legal aspects pertaining to organisational structures. The team makes themselves available on short notice and are always extremely responsive as well as pro-active.‘

‘I was interacting with Eric Stupp and Gadi Winter when negotiating a funding round of an insurance industry-wide tech start-up based in Switzerland (and jointly owned by many big industry players). Eric and Gadi both have been a great pleasure to work with. I particularly liked the highly pragmatic approach the team displayed throughout the funding process. The team has in-depth knowledge in all relevant legal areas and a lot of experience with fintech start-ups. Their advice was very professional, highly responsive and always pragmatic and to-the-point.‘

‘Eric in particular has always applied a strong commercial mindset and agility as the investment structures (wishes by the clients) changes overtime. While Eric’s legal advice was always to-the-point, he went much beyond that and helped solving challenges outside of the legal sphere. Very impressed by his experience and great support. Gadi is a talent. He is just in his second year as associate but you would never guess so. He has good legal knowledge and links it with a commercial mindset. Definitely a talent to watch out for.‘

‘We have found the MME team to be very professional, knowledgeable, and well co-ordinated among themselves.‘

‘The individuals we have worked with are true experts in their fields, and consistently very responsive. We have had a positive experience working with Andreas Glarner and Michael Kunz.‘

‘Very knowledgeable and skilful team.‘

‘High knowledge about industry, all relevant skills, timely delivery.‘

‘So far I have always been very happy with the work of MME. Quality is always very high and they deliver often further inputs which were not expected but help a lot. High quality, pleasant co-operation and very satisfactory. They know more than many players in the market and deliver really good quality.‘

‘Andreas Glarner and Thomas Linder: both are very exceptionally good partners if it comes to the work they deliver. Very reliable. Very high quality standards. Huge know-how.‘

‘First player globally in the domain of blockchain-based investments.‘

‘Very entrepreneurial spirit, willing to explore new territories which is rare for lawyers.‘

‘I do not have a large breadth of experience with law firms generally; however, I have been very positively impressed by the lawyers we work with at Wenger & Vieli (W&V). As a firm, W&V includes all the requisite competencies under one “company roof”, making it very easy to access reliable expertise in new areas as it becomes necessary. For example, we wanted to embark on a new equity raise but did not have the necessary Swiss expertise in house. With one phone call, I got a recommendation to work with someone in their corporate law department and could establish a meeting within just a couple of days. So helpful! While remaining very polished and professional, the team is always positive, friendly and down to earth.‘

‘Our main contact at W&V is Martin Hess. His passion for the FINMA application he curated on our behalf is noteworthy. When combined with his DLT expertise and personal network, he and Stephanie Lienhard are unbeatable assets for our company. We expanded our contact to include the corporate law competency. In that area, we’ve very much enjoyed the pragmatism and immediacy of Beat Speck’s support.‘

‘Experience with Wenger & Vieli was positive, and most importantly we achieved the set goal (approval from a financial authority).‘

‘Urs Landolf was truly interested to understand our (unusual) business situation and needs.‘

‘Great know-how and many years of experience.‘

‘Martin Hess: leading personality in this area.‘

‘Deep understanding of new technologies allow for equally deep legal analysis, down to the very fundamental issues. Responsive and “no BS” legal advice relevant to commercial realities.‘

‘Martin Hess has shown consistency over many years. He digs into both the tech and the law. Strong contributions to the legal as well as regulatory community. My Chau Bachelard is clearly up and coming, equally motivated as consistently responsive.‘

‘FRORIEP Legal are the most innovative legal counsellors in the blockchain sector I know. Their views and deep understanding of the changes in business and society, combined with their sector-wide knowledge of solutions and opportunities, make FRORIEP the ideal legal extension of our team.‘

‘Dr. Catrina Luchsinger Gaehwiler and Ronald Kogens are excellent and top professional legal counsels. They are able to put themselves in the position of disruptive start-ups and provide top-notch expert advice in their best interest. They are a pleasure to work with.‘

‘Excellent skills in blockchain and strong senior leadership.‘

‘Ronald Kogens was knowledgeable and excellent to work with.‘

‘The team covered all legal aspects of a security token offering.‘

‘We highly valued the profound IT understanding of the team members.‘

‘The team is highly-skilled in legal topics regarding the fintech industry. At the same time they show extremely high flexibility and are very fast at responding to new requests. The synergy and teamwork between team members of different legal areas has delivered very satisfying results and teamwork within the company seems to be working very efficiently.‘

‘Individuals do not only react to given problems and tasks, but also think out of the box and come up with very creative and new solutions.‘

‘Very well-informed team, at the heart of key topics and today’s preoccupations in this sector. One of the leading teams in Switzerland re: fintech.‘

‘Fedor Poskriakov: excellent network, very good understanding of the laws/regulations re: fintech, has an international view and understanding. Above all else, he is passionate about the topic and able to understand the underlying technologies (which is very rare among lawyers) which makes his advice even more useful.‘

‘The team is combining a very large expertise, combined with a unique ability and willingness to challenge the status quo. This is a key requirement, especially in the fintech area.‘

‘Some individuals are distinctive, because they are truly interested in understanding how the technology works and how it could improve status quo.‘

‘The team displays a great sense of customer orientation; in addition, they have a good understanding of how to find the balance of pragmatic approach and compliance with legal regulation.‘

‘Excellent experience.‘

‘The firm is more efficient than most others I have worked with. The result is a very good quality work for a fair price.‘

‘I have long-time experience working with Mr Urs Kloeti who is the partner, attorney-at-law. I would like to highlight a few of the following strong qualities of the company, for which I am grateful to this co-operation. The first is that despite rich legal experience, Mr Kloeti retained interest in new approaches that are especially important for fintech companies, when non-standard solutions are proposed that contribute to the growth of business opportunities, this becomes a factor in the rapid development of business. Often in conditions of uncertainty in the position of the law, working with the Pestalozzi team begins with a clear statement of the problem and possible areas of study. Another advantage of working with Mr Kloeti is that he always gives a reliable assessment of the probability of a positive result, without over promise. And finally, it gives great comfort in working with the team that we get a clear result, without blurring the meaning of the legal opinion that we have often met in other law firms.‘

‘Clear structure and high transparency within the teams. At any time responsive and fast as well as high quality answers to our questions.‘

‘Highest professional combination, coupled with entrepreneurial sensitivity and assertiveness.‘

‘Always willing to support and find a practical solution, legal with business know-how and attitude.‘

‘I truly appreciate working with Schellenberg Wittmer, they are highly-qualified professionals proving tailor-made support to our company. I appreciate their capacity to understand what is important to us, their pragmatic approach, high-quality work, diligent management of deadlines and availability. They are very well-organized to ensure a lawyer or paralegal is available whenever an urgent request comes up.‘

‘As we are a start-up, a dynamic and fast-paced approach is important to us, with which the team could always keep up. The availability of the team, including the partners, was outstanding.‘

‘From the partners, Caroline Clemetson as well as Pascal Hubli are both outstanding in their availability for us as well as their know-how and solution-oriented thinking. Compared to competitors, they could keep up with our fast pace and delivered the requirements in a fast way and with exceptional quality.‘

‘The speed and quality of the work from Manuel Meyer and his team is remarkable. Over our 20 years of private equity experience, we have worked with hundreds of lawyers from leading law firms but rarely have we met a lawyer with the same dedication and quality of work.‘

‘Speedy delivery, with a quality of work, creative solutions and pragmatism.‘

‘We worked with the BMK team on a complex cryptocurrency project and we felt very confident in the way all critical aspects were tackled. The strengths of BMK compared to other firms are for me the holistic view they provide on issues (corporate/tax/regulatory/personal aspects) and their ability to quickly mobilise experts in other countries whenever relevant or necessary.‘

‘I worked in particular with Manuel Meyer – he is always available and contributes to actively push our projects fast forward. I also had great experiences with Alexander Wyss in the past, as well as with Samuel Marbacher.‘

‘If I were to qualify the persons we work with at Baker McKenzie Zurich, I would use the following adjectives: smart, fast learners, easy to work with; reactive and supportive; getting stuff done attitude; and multilingual capability.‘