Commonly ranked as one of the top 10 places to live in the world, Switzerland has become one of the busiest recruitment hubs for our Europe legal practice @Cassie Williams@Florentina Oyelami. With over 2 million expatriates living there, legal teams continue to bolster their international reach and the demand from clients for highly skilled international and local lawyers continues to rise. We recently spent a week with existing and new clients/candidates in some of the most spectacular locations in Switzerland. Read on to hear more about our adventure…
A Tale of Two Cities *and several in between
Our trip began with a very early morning flight out of Gatwick to get us on the ground and ready for our first meeting at 10.00am. Over the course of 4 days we met with over 25 candidates and clients in a whistle-stop tour of Geneva, Lausanne, Lucerne, Nyon, Vernier and Zurich.
Straight off the plane from Geneva airport, we headed straight to UEFA's stunning campus set to the backdrop of Lake Geneva and spent the morning meeting with members of their legal function. Following a brief break for lunch on the Lake we continued north to Lausanne and met with IOC to be briefed on a very exciting new legal mandate which we are now helping them recruit! Day two started with another early rise and a quick ride to Vernier to meet with the Legal and HR team at the FIA. We headed back into downtown Geneva to meet with a number of local and international candidates, rounding off our evening and time in Geneva at popular restaurant, Alma, for ceviche!
The third leg of our trip happened to fall on Labour Day and for most places in Switzerland (Zurich included) this means a public holiday. For us, this meant that we could make a stop in to TEAM Marketing's offices in Lucerne (no public holiday there), where we have recently placed one of their Legal Counsels (headhunted from Singapore), before finally arriving in our last destination, Zurich. We spent the afternoon meeting candidates who had taken labour day as a moment to reflect on their current positions and aspirations for the future. On our fourth and final morning in Switzerland, we headed a little outside of central Zurich to meet with Takeda before high tailing it back into the city to meet with a few more candidates before just about making a late afternoon flight back to London.
Thinking about a move to Switzerland?
…….Here are answers to your top FAQs
Do I need any language skills?
Whilst English is not an official language in Switzerland, a number of our clients conduct the majority of their business matters in English. An ability to speak French, German or Italian depending on the region is an additional asset and being able to draft and negotiate in both English and any of these languages will set you apart from the rest.
Do I need to be admitted to practice in Switzerland?
Switzerland operates a civil law system, in order practice in a majority of the Swiss firms you will need to be admitted to the bar in one of their cantons. As an in-house lawyer, a Swiss bar admission is usually not a strict requirement; strong training and experience gained in common law jurisdictions are equally appreciated.
Posted about 4 years ago