Daniel Leu

Bär & Karrer Ltd

Zurich www.baerkarrer.ch

daniel.leu@baerkarrer.ch Tel: +41 58 261 50 00

Biography

Daniel Leu is partner in the private client team of Bär & Karrer. He has more than 15 years of experience and is regarded as one of the outstanding Swiss experts in this field. He advises private clients and family offices on wealth and succession planning. He regularly represents heirs, trustees and executors in trust and estate disputes and related proceedings. Daniel Leu is a certified specialist SBA inheritance law and publishes regularly in the field of inheritance law. In addition to his practice, Daniel Leu is a lecturer at the University of Muenster, Germany (Master of Law in Inheritance Law & Corporate Succession).

What do you enjoy most about private client practice?

It is all about people: often, there is a longterm relationship with the clients, and they will contact us whenever there is a change in their life, and they need advice. Focusing on the long-term interests of the clients and being solution-oriented is a must, and much appreciated by the clients.

All families are different: it is important to understand the heritage, the history and the family dynamics in order to find sustainable solutions for the future. Finding such solutions is what I enjoy most.

Which case has been your most interesting to date, and why?

I like the broad range of cases and matters we deal with as private client lawyers. However, this makes it almost impossible to pick one single case. One of my most interesting and challenging cases concerned a dispute between a trustee (my client) and the beneficiaries of the trust. Ultimately, the counsel of the beneficiaries and I managed to re-establish enough trust to find an amicable solution that worked for both sides, thereby avoiding long and costly litigation.

What reforms would you like to see to Swiss law that pertain to private client practice?

I would like to see a more liberal and flexible approach to Swiss family foundations. Under current law, Swiss family foundations are subject to legal restrictions which make them unattractive. Consequently, foreign foundations or trusts are often used instead of a Swiss family foundation.

In addition, it should become easier to have such foundations treated as lookthrough entities for tax purposes so that their use as succession planning tools would essentially be tax neutral.

Are there any generational differences in the needs of private clients? If so, what are they and what do you think is driving them?

In general, I see that the millennials (ie, the generation of the 20–35-year olds) ask a lot more questions and take much less as a given than older generations. I guess there have always been cases where children did not want to become involved with the family company; however, nowadays the approach of the younger generation to wealth in general seems to have changed. The values of the next generation may well differ from the values of the older generation and increasing the family wealth is in many cases not always a top priority.

How do you expect the reform in Swiss inheritance law will impact private clients and practice itself?

As per 1 January 2023, the forced heirship rights of descendants will be reduced from three quarters to half of their intestate share. This reform will substantially increase the testamentary freedom and in many cases facilitate succession planning for entrepreneurs as well as for persons living in cohabitation or with a patchwork family situation.

You represent private clients in both their wealth planning and litigious matters. What is the key to successfully doing so?

The experience of attacking or defending a last will or inheritance contract in court certainly helps to avoid planning mistakes. Knowing the challenges of complex crossborder planning makes it on the other hand easier to represent a claimant in an inheritance dispute.

However, most important for wealth planning, and with regard to inheritance disputes, is to understand what the client really wants to achieve, to know the law, to cooperate with the right foreign counsel in cross-border cases and to be able to come up with a strategy that suits the long-term interests of the client.

What are the key challenges that the next generation of private client lawyers may face?

I fear that cheap propaganda against “the rich” and – in principle well meant – attempts to fight money laundering and tax evasion will make our work more difficult and burdensome, even if we represent the most compliant and reputable clients.

WWL says: Daniel Leu is “a very eloquent and intelligent lawyer” with extensive experience advising private clients on wealth and succession planning, estate handling and art law.