Aurélie Conrad Hari

Bär & Karrer Ltd

Geneva www.baerkarrer.ch

aurelie.conradhari@baerkarrer.ch Tel: +41 58 261 57 00

Biography

Aurélie Conrad Hari leads the civil litigation practice of Bär & Karrer in Geneva, where she has been a partner since 2017. She has a broad experience in handling complex multi-jurisdictional disputes in financial, banking and commercial disputes. She also specialises in private clients' assistance and representation. Her practice encompasses shareholders' and employment disputes, insolvency as well as asset recovery, with the recognition and enforcement of foreign judgments and arbitral awards.

What inspired you to pursue a legal career in private client law?

The interest in people. I have always been keen on getting to know people and assisting them. It is then probably naturally that I have come to be active in private client matters where empathy and a sense of psychology are key.

What is your philosophy for being an effective private client lawyer?

Being a good listener certainly is important not only for your clients to feel at ease with you and to build a trusted relationship but also to assess the proper needs of the clients and be able to guide them in the most efficient way. Availability and responsiveness also are key in this practice.

How does your broad practice in financial, banking and commercial disputes enhance your understanding of the problems faced by private clients?

Private clients generally also are business men or women. It is therefore of core importance to understand their priorities, needs and concerns. Obviously, having an expertise in those various areas such as banking and finance is a strong background to assist private clients efficiently as it provides key tools to understand their business but also assist in respect of their assets.

In your opinion, what legacy have you left behind at the litigation commission of International Association of Young Lawyers?

Difficult to assess what legacy I would have left to the commission but for sure I received a strong legacy from that association. I have now spent more than 10 years being active in it and building my career to which AIJA has certainly also been an important factor not only to get leadership skills but in particular by giving me the opportunity to meet people around the world, build friendships and share on our career path while all growing up in our respective firms at the same time. Such benefit is invaluable not only in terms of professional network but most importantly for personal friendship.

To what extent has the coronavirus pandemic brought about any new areas of concern among clients? Do you anticipate these concerns will have a long-lasting impact?

The sudden facing of death at a different scale demonstrated once again the necessity of planning. Also the relocation of various families while trying to find less restrictive jurisdictions called for global reassessment of matrimonial and estate planning. While such issues took a different angle with covid-19, they were known before already and private client lawyers have been insisting on those for decades. This will likely not change in the future as the sensitivity of the topic of addressing its own death and consequences will remain.

To what extent will in-person communication and relationship-building with clients remain a key part of the practice given the sensitive nature of its work?

While covid-19 has demonstrated that remote meetings are feasible and may even prove more efficient to some extent, I am a strong believer in the benefits of in-person relationships. Some discussions will remain necessary and be more efficient in-person. Same for relationship-building, which can in my view hardly be achieved entirely remotely. When we sometimes considered before covid-19 that we were getting very individualistic being stuck to our screen devices, covid-19 actually also demonstrated that when we were limited to remote relationships via our devices only, we missed in-person contacts terribly. I therefore do not think that in-person relationships will be affected, it proved absolutely essential to our lives and that is particularly true in the work with private clients.

What skills and values would you encourage the up-andcoming generation of private clients to develop?

Empathy and dedication. Private clients are particularly demanding, not only in terms of technical legal skills, but especially in terms of human skills. You need to give part of your person to this job, not only in terms of time but your personal involvement as a person and your values are key to building the trusted relationship private clients are seeking from their trusted adviser.

What is the best piece of advice you’ve ever received?

Always be yourself and trust yourself.

WWL says: Aurélie Conrad Hari is “an excellent practitioner” with a “very strong private client practice” encompassing complex multi-jurisdictional matters.