Practice Expertise

  • Art, Entertainment & Sports
  • Private Clients
  • Litigation
  • Tax

Areas of Practice

  • Art, Entertainment & Sports
  • Litigation
  • Private Clients
  • Tax
  • Art & Entertainment
  • Taxes and Expenses
  • View More

Profile

Philippe Pulfer is co-head of the firm’s Private Client practice. He is widely recognised as one of Switzerland’s leading private client lawyers and, for more than 20 years, has been constantly top-ranked by all major professional directories. He is, according to Chambers HNW, ‘the go-to person in Switzerland’ in his area of practice and has been described by Legal 500 as 'one of the most knowledgeable trust and private client practitioners in Switzerland'. He has been included in the ALM Private Client Global Elite since the ranking’s inaugural edition in 2012 (under the Legal Week banner) and every year since its relaunch in 2017.

Philippe Pulfer specialises in wealth structuring and estate planning with an international focus and acts in complex, mostly multi-jurisdictional, succession and trust disputes. He advises charities and charity donors in all areas of philanthropy, with a particular focus on the arts and the support to cultural institutions, and serves as a board member of several charitable foundations. He has also significant experience in private banking disputes, in particular mismanagement of funds, fraud cases and international judicial assistance.

Philippe Pulfer is a member of the Geneva Bar Association, Swiss Bar Association, International Bar Association (IBA), Society of Trust and Estate Practitioners (STEP) and The International Academy of Estate and Trust Law (TIAETL), as well as an International Fellow of the American College of Estate and Trust Counsel (ACTEC). He is a long-serving committee member of STEP Geneva and sat for two terms on the STEP Worldwide Council. He is a frequent speaker at international conferences and the author of publications on Swiss succession law, the practice of trusts in Switzerland, charities and art law.

Philippe Pulfer graduated from the University of Geneva in 1992 and was admitted to the Bar in 1995.

Philippe Pulfer speaks French and English. He is registered with the Geneva Bar and admitted to practice in all Switzerland.

Areas of Practice

  • Art, Entertainment & Sports
  • Litigation
  • Private Clients
  • Tax
  • Art & Entertainment
  • Taxes and Expenses

Professional Career

Significant Accomplishments

The Best Lawyers Awards 2024

Bei den WealthBriefing Swiss Awards 2018 wird Philippe Pulfer als «Leading Individual Advisor» ausgezeichnet

Walder Wyss eröffnet neue Standorte in Genf und Lausanne





Articles


Private Client 2023: Chapter Switzerland
Position paper on the proposed draft bill for the introduction of a Swiss trust
Death and Taxes Are Absolute Certainties – But Litigation Doesn’t Need to Be
R.I.P. Swiss Trust?
Private Client 2022: Chapter Switzerland
Structures in Crisis
About elephants and other animals - Contrasting different entity types and how they drive litigation strategy
Private Client 2021: Chapter Switzerland
Private Wealth 2020 - Chapter Switzerland
Private Client 2020: Chapter Switzerland
Conseils pour collectionneurs en matière de planification
International Comparative Legal Guide to: Private Client 2019 - Chapter Switzerland
Internationale Inkompetenz
Öffentliche Verzeichnisse gemäss der vierten EU-Geldwäscherichtlinie – Eine exzessive Beeinträchtigung persönlicher Rechte?
Ein klareres Bild
Ehegüterrecht, Einbringung von Vermögenswerten in Trusts
Sorgt Den Haag für Harmonie?
Der schlechte Klient: Wie man ihn identifiziert, wie man ihn vermeidet und inwiefern der Rechtsberater verantwortlich ist, wenn er ihn annimmt
Extreme der Nachlassplanung
Protektoren: Allzwecklösung oder vorprogrammierte Katastrophe
Zivil- und strafrechtliche Verantwortlichkeit von Rechtsberatern
Ein Überblick über das Schweizer Stiftungswesen
Ausforschungsbeweise: Perspektiven aus aller Welt
Vorsitzender
Ehegüterrecht
Auswirkungen der EU-Erbrechtsverordnung auf die Schweiz
Nachlass- und Nachfolgeplanung in Europa – Schweiz
Private Client – Switzerland chapter
Private Client – Switzerland chapter
Treuhänder: Welchen Risiken und welcher Verantwortung sehen sie sich heute gegenüber? Rechte und Rechtsmittel für Treugeber und Begünstigte gegenüber dem Treuhänder: Risiken und Empfehlungen
Das neue Schweizer Pauschalbesteuerungsreglement: Eine natürliche Entwicklung
Private Client – Switzerland chapter
Globale technische Updates, Schweiz
Eigenheimkauf in der Schweiz: Die Folgen des Ehegüterrechts
Erosions- und Angriffsverhütung
Das Bankgeheimnis: Vom Aussterben bedroht?
Überblick über die Rechtsprechung, Schweiz
Die Entwicklung des Bankgeheimnisses Weltweite Zukunftsplanung – Beratertipps zu internationalen Klienten
Die neuesten Planungsmethoden für internationale Privatklienten, Trusts sowie Steuer-, Versicherungs-, Nachfolge- und andere Fragen; das internationale Testament aus Schweizer Sicht
Aufenthaltserlaubnis und Immobilienerwerb
Trusts sowie Steuer-, Vermögens- und Geschäftsplanung für Künstler und Sportler: Wie man Trusts nutzt
Getty Cultural (review of the Swiss Federal Act on the International Transfer of Cultural Property)
EU-Schweizer Abkommen zur Besteuerung von Spareinkünften – Erklärung der Regeln

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