Civil Procedure Law
When is civil procedure needed?
Why do you need civil procedural law as a company, you may ask. Civil procedural law is "only" a technical vessel. But it helps you to get substantive law, should you ever need it. This is the case, for example, if the other party has taken a different view of a contractual performance or if you want to avert imminent damage to your company, for example through unlawful competition.
In einem vordefinierten, bestimmten Ablauf werden Streitigkeiten vor einem Gericht oder Schiedsgericht vorgetragen. Dieses fällt in den meisten Fällen nach Anhörung aller Parteien einen Entscheid. Im Rahmen von einstweiligem Rechtsschutz darf ein Gericht ausnahmsweise auch vor der Anhörung einer Partei einen Entscheid erlassen. Bevor aber ein solcher Entscheid ergeht, wird in den meisten Rechtsordnungen versucht, die Parteien zum Abschluss einer einvernehmlichen Lösung zu motivieren. Dies hat gegenüber dem Entscheid den Vorteil, dass die Parteien schneller und kostengünstiger zu einer Lösung kommen, wobei oftmals auch die Geschäftsbeziehung und der Ruf bewahrt werden können.
As a part-time commercial judge since 2013, I am used to working out the divergent party positions in settlement negotiations, bringing them together and seeking practicable and fair solutions. This technique can also be used in the legal profession and helps clients to reach pragmatic, cost-efficient out-of-court settlements without or with only marginal involvement of the judiciary.
When comparisons are not possible
Unfortunately, the opposing party is not always willing or able to adopt a comparative solution. It is then worthwhile to plan a lawsuit carefully and, in particular, to invoke the jurisdiction that is most favourable for the dispute. Depending on the applicable substantive law, this may well be abroad, provided this is permissible under the applicable civil procedure laws.
I work in the most important economic areas with correspondent barristers' offices which have proved successful in practice many times. As a solicitor for England and Wales, I am able to instruct barristers myself. This saves my clients time and money, as the instruction does not have to go via an English law firm, but directly from Switzerland. I litigate both before state civil courts (with the exception of the Commercial Court of Zurich) and before arbitration courts worldwide. With regard to the latter, I have the following concrete experience:
- Netherlands Arbitration Institute (NAI)
- The London Court of International Arbitration (LCIA)
- International Chambers of Commerce Arbitration (ICC)
- Swiss Arbitration Centre (Swiss Rules 2021)
- Swiss Stage Arbitration Court
- Ad hoc arbitration mit 3-er Schiedsgerichten in der Schweiz und in England
Our services
In detail, we offer the following services:
- Obtaining the instruction
- Create the facts of the case
- Preparation of opportunity and risk assessments
- Information on litigation opportunities (without guarantee) and provision of recommendations
- Creating a process strategy and implementing it
- Preparation of legal documents and compilation of evidence
- Analysis of the decision
- Initiation of legal remedies against an unfavourable decision
- Initiating and conducting settlement discussions
- Initiation of proceedings concerning interim relief (precautionary measures) before or during ordinary proceedings
- Instructing Correspondent Law Firms
- Selection of party arbitrators
Civil procedure law in practice
A professionally prepared civil case usually leads to success through a well-established and concisely presented set of facts. The adjudicating (arbitration) court bases its legal considerations on the facts presented. Within the evidentiary procedure, it assesses its truthfulness or plausibility. It is therefore extremely important to prepare the facts of the case comprehensively and in detail. In doing so, points that are unfavourable to the client must also be taken into account. In practice, this is where the weakness of many companies that work in teams on a project basis becomes apparent. It is not uncommon for one department not to know what the other has done and what has been communicated to the contracting party. Information is not stored centrally. There are several contact persons on the project. Staff are not trained to have legally relevant information checked by management or legal services beforehand. For fear of sanctions due to internal errors, legally relevant information is not disclosed to the lawyer, which can be very detrimental in a later process if such information is introduced into the process by the other party and leads to a surprise.
Due to my many years of experience in the internal legal service of internationally active companies, I know how to deal with and solve such problems. It takes empathy but also persistence as well as the support of the management to get the desired information. It is worthwhile to invest a little more time in establishing the facts at the beginning than to try to eliminate missed clarifications later in the process. I would be happy to support you in this task from the very beginning, also pre-trial when drafting the communication to the other party.