Swiss law firms Meyerlustenberger Lachenal and FRORIEP merge this month

PCGE: You mentioned that you're excited about having a broader international profile, can you explain that a little further?

Not only do the new team members have great legal experience, they also bring significant personal experience to the table. For example, someone joining us has a lot of experience in dealing with the Russian market; and we are gaining a number of people with Latin American and Hispanic backgrounds who will help enhance our international profile. Their legal, cultural and linguistic knowledge is invaluable. MLL always had a strong international focus, but with the addition of these new talents and backgrounds, it will be much easier to build a real connection with our clients internationally to deliver the trusted advice that they expect and deserve. 

Our international relevance and connection is supported by our new offices in London and Madrid. Of course our focus will be on Swiss law, but now we have the tools to better help and understand our clients on the international stage and expand. The size and scope of the merged firms allow us to focus on cross-border international clients and deal with complex matters to a degree that wasn't possible before, with much more emotional intelligence. In other words, we have a much better toolbox with which to carry out our services. 

This means that we will be more interdependent: most of our clients have international issues with children around the world, investments, properties, businesses and so on. We will be able to give the full scope of advice and expertise without having to reinvent the wheel every time. 

We also have a strong practice related to trusts and trustees with a presence or interests in Switzerland. Our merger comes at just the right time, as Switzerland looks to create its own Trust law for the first time. Having the support and specialisation of a bigger and more international team will be vital to find solutions for clients in an interconnected world. 

PCGE: You seem really excited about working with your new colleagues: do you foresee any teething issues? How are you handling the challenge of bringing together two teams?

We have been very lucky in that the two teams come from similar company cultures and simply get along well. Many of us knew one another in Geneva and Zurich already, and the focus from the offset has been to be a fully integrated merger. With full integration we really can be one team, with one set of values, powered by fully integrated and state of the art IT systems that mean we can focus on clients' objectives, with all of us pulling the same weight in the same direction. Many firms in Switzerland that are our size look cohesive on the outside but do not benefit from an integrated firm backbone and culture. This full integration means we can really be on the same level, and we are lucky that we get along, are good at communication, and have the same values, namely to offer the best services to clients within a one-stop shop firm. 

This is also beneficial when we look to our relationships with our peers and other lawyers. So much of the private client world is based on referrals and relationships, and we are so looking forward to connecting with our new colleagues and their own networks and contacts. This is why we participate in groups like the Private Client Global Elite: it's so important to have contact with our peers around the world. It's one thing to know that a law firm is good and what specific expertise it offers, but it is another to have met and spoken to the individuals, to get a feeling about them and know who would be a good fit for which client. With more lawyers, we have more scope to build these relationships. 

Any issues we might have had are on the technical side: real and potential conflicts of interest, for example, but we had a careful pre-check on this and there are always solutions. The other is always system integration, but we were 'lucky' with the pandemic in that this was an urgent matter given that many of us need to work from home, and so the changes have been seamless and (touch wood!) painless. 

PCGE: What combined services will you be able to provide to private client? Will your jurisdictional reach change?

Our services will not change too much, as we focus on top-quality advisory embedded in Swiss law, but we can identify four adjustments:

1. We will have a bigger reach, with an expanded team and additional offices in Madrid and London which will make it easier to meet clients on Swiss matters;
2. Enhanced practice in certain areas, such as cross-border and Swiss estate litigation, philanthropy, corporate law, compliance and regulatory matters, matrimonial property rights, divorce law, and more.
3. Our services will be generally improved, because we will simply be able to understand our clients better: a bigger team with different perspectives and different nationalities to bridge these cultural gaps is so key, and so exciting;
4. As soon as we can travel again, you can expect us to visit our friends abroad in the UK and Continental Europe. We will then also be able to support our  expansion into the Latin American and Hispanic world, both as a result of our new office in Madrid, and because we have lawyers who speak the languages. While we won't be giving Spanish or Argentinian advice, we have a platform, a network and the tools with which to meet them to discuss Swiss law.