Bär & Karrer

The Swiss practice is under new leadership after some senior figures left

Founded in 1969, Bär & Karrer began to develop an international arbitration practice in the early 1980s. A key member of the group was Marc Blessing, a highly regarded arbitrator who retired as partner in 2007 but carried on as of counsel at the firm until 2019.

Originating in Zurich, the firm opened offices in Lugano and Zug in the early 1990s and in Geneva in 2000. In arbitration terms, it has traditionally been seen as more of a force in the German-speaking part of Switzerland, with the majority of the team based in Zurich.

Daniel Hochstrasser in Zurich steered the arbitration practice from 2006 until 2022, when he stepped down to launch a solo arbitrator practice. Pierre-Yves Gunter joined with a team in Geneva in 2017 and served as co-head of the practice until he too left in early 2023 to set up his own shop.

Partner Nadja Jaisli Kull took over as practice co-head from Hochstrasser, while recently promoted partner Pascal Hachem has filled Gunter’s shoes as the other co-head. Both Jaisli Kull and Hachem are based in Zurich.

The team in Zurich also includes partners Michele Bernasconi, who often sits as arbitrator in cases at the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS).

The Geneva office remains home to Aurélie Conrad Hari, who co-heads the litigation practice, and Saverio Lembo, who does some arbitration alongside his white-collar crime practice.

There is a small team in Italian-speaking Lugano, including Cesare Jermini, a member of the Swiss Arbitration Centre’s arbitration court.

In addition to its own client base, the firm is popular with international law firms looking for local co-counsel in a Swiss-seated arbitration. It is regularly sought out as counsel in Swiss set-aside proceedings.

Who uses it?

Clients of note include Sandoz (the generics division of Novartis) and the Swiss Broadcasting Corporation. It has also acted for telecoms operator TeliaSonera; US chemicals company Huntsman Corporation; Italian clients such as Ansaldo Energia, Generali and pharma company Alfasigma; and, in Germany, Deutsche Telekom and power utility EnBW Energie Baden-Württemberg.

It has also advised the Israeli state-owned Israel Electric, the National Iranian Gas Company (NIGC) and the Kingdom of Spain.

Clients in the sports world include European football’s governing body, UEFA and the Olympic Council of Asia.

Track record

The firm has had some big wins. It helped French nuclear company Areva win more than US$920 million in a dispute with Siemens concerning a collapsed joint venture.

For TeliaSonera it secured an award of US$932 million against Turkey’s Çukurova Holdings in an ICC dispute over a share purchase agreement.

The firm helped German public utility EnBW Energie Baden-Württemberg prevail in an ad hoc arbitration worth US$1 billion brought by a German inventor in a dispute over waste gasification technology.

For Deutsche Telekom, the firm successfully defended an investment treaty award against India before the Swiss Federal Supreme Court, which held a rare public deliberation before ruling for the client.

Recent events

Bär & Karrer reports helping a Turkish subsidiary of a US chemicals manufacturer see off a US$21 million SCC claim over a joint venture. It then successfully defended the award in set-aside proceedings, defeating allegations the tribunal chair had a conflict of interests.

It has been acting for French sports marketing agency Lagardère in a Geneva-seated ICC dispute with the Confederation of African Football over the termination of a billion-dollar contract relating to the media and marketing rights for Africa’s biggest football competitions.

The firm represented NIGC In an unsuccessful challenge to a €1.5 billion ICC award in favour of Turkmenistan’s national gas company. The Swiss Federal Supreme Court rejected arguments that US sanctions made payment impossible.

It also helped London private equity group Actis see off a challenge to an LCIA award against UK businessman Rakesh Malhotra, with the Swiss courts rejecting arguments that the arbitrators should have postponed a hearing because of the covid-19 pandemic.

Zurich-based Cinzia Catelli was appointed to the arbitration court of the Swiss Arbitration Centre.

Alexandra Johnson, who joined the firm with Gunter in 2017, left the partnership in 2022 to join GAR 100 firm Pestalozzi in Geneva.

Client comment

Chinese technology and entertainment company Tencent says the firm represented it in a broadcasting dispute “very efficiently” using a small team led by Hachem. Another company says that a team led by Jaisli Kull provided “very commercial-orientated, very focused and to-the-point advice and support” in several Swiss arbitrations.