International Matters

Overview

A matter becomes international as soon as it touches more than one legal system. For a Swiss company that may mean a customer abroad, a supplier in another country, a subsidiary held through a foreign entity, or an agreement signed in Zug but performed in Milan. The legal questions that follow are rarely confined to Swiss law. They concern which courts may hear a dispute, which law will be applied to it, whether a judgment or arbitral award obtained abroad will be recognised in Switzerland, and whether a decision obtained in Switzerland can be enforced elsewhere.

Swiss private international law, together with the international conventions to which Switzerland is party, determines most of these questions. The answers are often settled at the drafting stage, long before any dispute arises. The choice of forum, the choice of law, the language of the contract and the way documents are served and kept all have consequences that surface only years later.

Matters we handle

Typical instructions in this practice area include:

• International contracts — distribution, agency, supply, licence, services and cooperation agreements — drafted or reviewed with attention to the governing law, the forum, dispute resolution and the allocation of risk between parties in different legal systems.
• Jurisdiction questions, including whether a Swiss court may or must hear a given dispute, whether a foreign court has accepted jurisdiction, and how competing proceedings in two countries should be approached.
• Applicable law, including the identification of the law governing a contract or a non-contractual claim, and the limits on the parties' freedom to choose that law.
• Recognition and enforcement, covering the conditions under which a foreign judgment or arbitral award may be relied upon in Switzerland, and the steps required to obtain a declaration of enforceability.
• Enforcement abroad, where a Swiss judgment or award must be pursued against assets or parties outside Switzerland, working with counsel in the relevant jurisdiction.
• Cross-border transactions and structures, including company formations, acquisitions and reorganisations in which the parties, the assets or the documents are situated in more than one country.
• Service of documents and evidence, where material must be transmitted across borders in a form that a foreign authority will accept.
• Coordination with foreign counsel, where a matter requires representation or advice in another jurisdiction alongside the Swiss proceedings.

How we approach the work

We first establish the legal geography of the matter: which countries are involved, where the parties and their assets are, which courts or tribunals might take jurisdiction, and how each of those systems treats the question at issue. That assessment shapes everything that follows, including whether a Swiss forum is desirable and on what basis proceedings should be commenced.

We then define the firm's role and coordinate the rest. Cross-border matters are rarely handled by one adviser alone. Where advice or representation is required in another jurisdiction, we work with counsel admitted there and act as the Swiss point of contact, keeping the local and foreign strands of the matter consistent rather than allowing them to develop independently.

Attention to form matters as much as substance. Contractual clauses on jurisdiction and governing law are drafted with the enforcement question in mind, so that the clause will be effective where it is likely to be tested. Documents are prepared in the language and form required for use abroad. Correspondence, translations and evidence are kept in a state that will stand up if the matter later comes before a court or tribunal.

Who the work is for

We act for Swiss companies trading or expanding abroad and for foreign companies, investors and private individuals whose affairs touch Switzerland. Some clients are encountering a cross-border question for the first time — an agreement to be signed with a counterparty in another country, or a claim received from a foreign party. Others have an established international presence and require ongoing coordination between Swiss and foreign advisers.

Instructions are equally likely to arise in a transaction, where the structure must accommodate several legal systems at once, and in a dispute, where the immediate question is which court or tribunal will decide and on what basis. We set out the position clearly, distinguish what is determined from what remains open, and indicate the practical consequences of each available course.

Getting in touch

If you face a matter involving Switzerland and another jurisdiction, we would be pleased to discuss how we may assist.

Related practice areas: Corporate & Commercial · Banking & Finance · Private Clients