Any doubts about your rights and the chances of success of your case? You are welcome to make an appointment with our firm’s lawyers by phone or by email at info@legalia-avocats.ch to discuss your case and obtain an initial analysis during a one-hour interview at the preferential rate of 350 fr. plus VAT, without any commitment from your part for any future dealings with our firm.
Practice Areas
Family Law
We assist our clients in all matters relating to family law, including marriage, registered partnership for same-sex couples, cohabitation of unmarried couples, judicial separation, divorce, protective measures, annulment of marriage, prenuptial and postnuptial agreements, matrimonial property regimes, recognition of foreign marriages, paternity suits, parental responsibility, child custody and support, child abduction and adoption.
Criminal Law
We handle all criminal cases, whether on the plaintiff’s side or on the defendant’s side, both as privately retained lawyers or court-appointed defenders.
Road Traffic Law
We handle all cases relating to road traffic. We help our clients apply for a Swiss driver’s license. In case of an accident, we assist the people involved, whether they were offenders or victims, before the court or in their dealings with authorities and insurers. We also assist drivers in case of penalty or disqualification from driving due to violation of traffic rules.
Labour and Employment Law
We assist our clients in securing a work permit in Switzerland for their staff or for themselves, in negotiating and drawing up employment agreements, in handling all aspect of legal or administrative work related to employment and in the resolution of any dispute arising from an employment agreement, whether as employer or employee.
Tenancy Law
We assist our clients, both as tenants or landlords, in renting premises for their business or for their family, in negotiating and drawing up rental agreements, in handling all aspect of legal or administrative work related to their rental agreements and in the resolution of any dispute arising from accessory charges, securities, rent increase, defects, sublease, early return of the premises or termination.
Corporate Law
We assist our clients in setting up all kinds of companies in Switzerland, in negotiating and drawing up articles of association as well as all sorts of agreements needed to run a company, in drafting, submitting and negotiating business plans, in handling all legal or administrative work relating to a company and in the resolution of any dispute involving shareholders, directors or third parties through amicable means or legal proceedings.
Insurance Law
Whether their insurance contract covers health, accident, fire, theft, damages, unemployment, loss of gain, vehicle, civil liability, legal protection, or any other insured risk, we assist our clients in the resolution of any dispute through amicable means or legal proceedings.
Inheritance Law
We provide help in all matters relating to wills, contracts of succession, right of inheritance, statutory entitlements, freely disposable parts or inheritance tax. We also assist our clients in the resolution of any dispute over inheritance, either through amicable means or legal proceedings.
Immigration Law
We provide help in all matters pertaining to immigration. We help our clients apply for residency status, whether it is for employment, family reunion, investment, retirement, healthcare, or other grounds. We also assist our clients in applying for Swiss citizenship, in securing lump-sum taxation or just in finding their way through governmental agencies and regulations at the communal, cantonal or federal level.
Administrative Law
We help our clients in their dealings with administrative authorities at all levels, whether it is to obtain a residency permit, a driving license, a building permit, an authorization to buy a holiday home, or a licence for running a hotel, a restaurant or a catering business. We also assist our clients in opposing building projects before the local authority or in challenging building permits before the relevant courts.
Condominium Ownership
Very popular in Switzerland, condominium ownership is a micro-democracy governed by complex rules with a high potential for conflict. We help our clients, whether on the manager’s or on the owner’s side, to resolve any dispute through negotiation or legal proceedings. We also draw up condominium bylaws and house regulations, and help our clients set up, chair and record annual meetings.
Debt Collection and Bankruptcy Law
We assist our clients in the enforcement of their claims, whether based on a Swiss or a foreign judgment, through the steps and before the agencies provided by law. When required, we also apply for recognition of foreign judgments so that they can be legally enforced in Switzerland. We follow up with the debt recovery proceedings before the local debt collection office and the civil courts all the way from the initial summons to pay to the liquidation of the assets of a bankrupt debtor.
Contract Law
Apart from employment or lease, we assist our clients in all matters pertaining to all the other contracts legally valid under Swiss law, including sale, exchange, work, commission, mandate, agency, brokerage, partnership, licence and technology transfer.
Child and Adult Protection
We assist our clients in all matters pertaining to the protection of people, namely parental rights, protective measures, supervisor designation, deputyship, guardianship and limitation or prohibition of contacts, both for children and adults.
Property Law
We assist our clients in all matters pertaining to property, including ownership of land and chattel, joint ownership, landowner’s liability, conflicts with neighbours, right of access, lost and found property, easements, usufructs, mortgages and entries in the Land Registry.
Practice Areas
Legal aid
Under certain conditions, you can apply for legal aid. In the canton of Vaud, legal aid will first of all save you from having to advance trial or expert costs, which can be significant. It will also allow you a preferential rate on fees (today CHF 180 per hour for lawyers and CHF 110 for trainees). Please not that legal is not free of charge, but refundable as soon as you can do so. During the proceedings you normally pay to the Legal Aid Office a monthly amount of CHF 50 of CHF 100. At the end of the case, the judge sets the compensation and the costs to be borne by you. You will then receive a final statement and an invoice. Your monthly instalments will be deducted from your legal costs. If they exceed such costs you will be refunded the overpayment.
Legal aid can be obtained on the conditions that you need legal counselling, that you do not have sufficient resources and that your case is not devoid of any chance of success.
Our partners will gladly give you a free indication of your chances of obtaining legal aid upon presentation of your dispute and your financial situation by email to info@legalia-avocats.ch. Your presentation will be treated confidentially. If your file is not processed by the firm, your files will be permanently erased and no data concerning you will be kept.
