Swiss disputes set to fly

The reality is that when the world is in chaos, disputes lawyers tend to do very well,” says Domitille Baizeau, co-managing partner of LALIVE in Geneva. “We’ve noted that, as the world economic situation worsens, clients are less interested in maintaining commercial relationships; they’re interested in cash. They still need to be able to pay their bills however, so law firms may have to be more flexible with their fee structures, as we can be.”

If 2023 is a year in which recession makes an unwelcome return to parts of Europe, accelerated by international chaos, then a rise in legal disputes is inevitable. A perfect litigious storm is further guaranteed by the continued fallout from the Russia-Ukraine conflict: increased borrowing and energy costs, high inflation and a fall in consumer spending will make lenders more cautious, ultimately leading to a significant uptick in insolvencies as debt problems that emerged during the Covid-19 pandemic finally crystallise.