About us – Swiss Legaltech Association

Executive Board

The founding board consists of individuals representing the various stakeholder
groups of the Swiss Legaltech ecosystem.

Christoph Küng

Co-Founder & President
Corporate Memberships / Mapping

Chris holds a Bachelor of Finance from the University of Applied Sciences Northwestern Switzerland and a Master of Law from the University of Zurich. He is a Swiss Certified Tax Expert. He is Chief LegalTech Officer at Kellerhals Carrard, one of the biggest law firms in Switzerland and CEO of SKUANI Ltd., an E-Procurement platform for legal services.

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He is actively involved in LegalTech since 2014. Previously, he worked for Zurich Cantonal Bank in the group tax department and as a tax advisor for a Big4 company and a BigLaw company.

Michael Burkart

Vice-President
Co-Head Zurich Chapter

Michael graduated from the University of Lucerne, where he obtained a Master of Law and is also a PhD Candidate in the field of Domestic as well as International Commercial and Sports Arbitration. Currently, he is a Junior Associate at Schellenberg Wittmer Attorneys at Law. Prior to his current position, he worked as a Senior Legal Counsel in the Corporate Legal Department of Fédération Internationale de Football Association (FIFA) as well as a lecturer and research assistant at the chair of Prof. Dr. Daniel Girsberger.

Christian Steinmetz

Assistant to Executive Board

Christian is currently doing his Bachelor of Law at the University of Zurich. In addition to his studies he is working at de la cruz beranek Attorneys at Law which is an ICT specialised law firm.

Marc Bloch Sommer

Executive Board Member
LegalTech Startup-Coaching

Marc has a law degree (lic.iur.) from the University of Zurich. He has been admitted to the bar in 2001. Since 2009 he is CEO of SWISSLEX AG, the leading legal research platform in Switzerland. Prior to his current position, he worked as an attorney for a mid-sized Zurich law firm and almost ten years as a solo practitioner. For more than a decade, Marc has been involved in several projects in the field of digitization and law.

Nils Harbeke

Executive Board Member
Individual Memberships

Nils qualified both as an attorney-at-law and a Swiss Certified Tax Expert, and is head of the Tax practice group of Pestalozzi Attorneys at Law Ltd. Nils was awarded for outstanding academic achievements – "Best 3" Swiss Certified Tax Experts graduates award; "Best 10 achieving law students" in his year of graduation. Before Nils became a partner with Pestalozzi, he worked in the Financial Services practice of PwC.

David Lüscher

Executive Board Member
Think Tank / White Papers

David holds a Bachelor’s degree with a Major in Business Administration from the University of St.Gallen. Previously in the position of Chief Strategy Officer at Knip, a Swiss-based InsurTech startup, he created and executed market-entry and growth strategies for North America and Europe. Curious by nature, he aims to examine and illuminate changes in the legal field arising from the use of technology.

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David currently works as a Business Engineer at a Swiss Cantonal Bank. Furthermore, he is studying Computer Science at the ZHAW School of Engineering.

Rolf W. Guenter

Executive Board Member
Head Zurich Chapter / SLTA Breakfast Talks

Rolf is an Attorney at Law and holds an Executive MBA of the University of Rochester (New York) and the University of Bern. He is Co-Founder of LAWSHIFT LLC, Blockchain and LegalTech Advisory, a joint venture with Suter Howald Attorneys at Law. Rolf is a TechLawyer, Entrepreneur, Advisor and Board Member with a focus on Blockchain, Technology and Corporate Law.

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He worked for 16 years as a director in the insurance business in Switzerland, has a long lasting experience as Chief Executive of SME and in management positions in corporates. Since many years he works at the intersection of economics, technology and law with an in-depth knowledge of technology related business models and ecosystems. In addition, Rolf is senior lecturer a the ZHAW Zurich University of Applied Sciences since 2016.

Dominique Gottret

Executive Board Member
Head Berne Chapter

Dominique is an Attorney at law, partner with the law firm ambralaw and regularly advices clients in ICT and new technology law. He holds a Master of Law from the University of Berne and Stockholm completed his post-graduate education with an LLM Degree (New York). Furthermore, he regularly assists Entrepreneurs and Startups and acts as an expert with various Startup organisations.

Nicolas Torrent

Executive Board Member
Head Geneva Chapter / Co-Head International Relations

Nicolas is a Swiss qualified lawyer and holds a bachelor and a master of laws from the University of Geneva, and a Master in International Dispute Settlement from the University of Geneva and the GIIDS. He is one of the creators of the eJust eArbitration software, where he notably focused on the legal aspects, the digitization of dispute settlement proceedings, sales and information security.

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Nicolas currently heads the eLex.ioassociation to facilitate law studies and contribute to the renewal of the legal offer and he manages the iLaw Swiss legal news feed on Facebook.

Adrien Tharin

Executive Board Member
Co-Head Geneva Chapter

Adrien is a partner of PBM Law, Geneva. He specializes in corporate matters, data protection, intellectual property, privacy law and all matters related to the new technologies, internet and media industries. He holds a LL.M. from the University of California, Los Angeles and a LL.M. from the Institute for European Studies of the Université libre de Bruxelles. Adrien has also made many publications, notably in Le Temps.

Eleonor Gyr

Executive Board Member
Co-Head Basel Chapter

Eleonor works as a lawyer and mainly provides counsel to her clients in the fields of blockchain technology, data protection and financial market regulation. After completing her law studies at the University of Basel and Paris II (Panthéon-Assas), she worked for the Swiss Bankers Association, Raiffeisen Bank Switzerland and as an academic assistant at the Institute of Banking Law. She wrote a doctoral thesis at the University of Bern on the implications of blockchain technology on contract law.

Christian Wyss

Executive Board Member
Co-Head Basel Chapter

Christian is a partner with the law firm VISCHER and specializes in drafting and negotiating contracts for clients in Information Technology and Life Sciences. Christian further advises on all data protection aspects of his clients' business. Christian also works with clients in financing rounds and assists with intellectual property related issues in M&A transactions. Christian received his law degree from the University of Basel, and his LL.M. from Wake Forest University School of Law.

Lars Schlichting

Executive Board Member
Head Ticino Chapter

Lars is attorney at law and holds a bilingual Master of Law at the Universities of Fribourg. He also concluded the LL.M. Program of the University of Zürich in international business law. He is Partner at Kellerhals Carrard where he advises clients in the blockchain field, especially in the issuing of token in the company business model, the establishment of crypto exchangers or crypto funds and the use of digital identity for AML/KYC purposes.

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He is also the CEO of the Poseidon Group AG, an entity holding different participation active in the crypto/blockchain field like Eidoo, Nexex and Bitmax. He previously worked for a big four company and for the Swiss financial markets supervisory authority FINMA. Lars Schlichting has issued numerous publications, among other concerning the consolidate supervision of financial groups and the comments of the financial laws as well as a comment of the automatic exchange of information.

Roman Elsener

Executive Board Member
Head Central Switzerland Chapter

Roman is attorney at law and notary public with a Master of Law degree from the University of Lucerne. He is an Associate with de la cruz beranek Attorneys at Law Ltd., specialised in information and communication technology. He counsels and litigates on all matters relating to information, communication, data protection, and technology law. Before moving into the legal world, he completed an apprenticeship and worked as an IT specialist in a tourism corporate group.

Lukas Abegg-Vaterlaus

Executive Board Member
Head Eastern Switzerland Chapter

Lukas Abegg-Vaterlaus is a law clerk with the Swiss Federal Administrative Court, where he is concerned with appeals against ordinances of the Swiss Federal Institute of Intellectual Property. He is also part of the project on the digital transformation of the FAC. Previously, Lukas worked as an attorney in two leading law firms in Zürich, mainly in the field of IP and IT law. He holds a PhD ("Patent infringement by 3D Printers") and a Master's degree (lic. iur.) from the University of Basel and a LL.M. degree with focus on IP Law from the George Washington School of Law, Washington DC.

Luis Soares

Executive Board Member
Head International Relations

Luis is a Attorney-At-Law, specialized in Litigation and Bankruptcy Law as both In-House and single practice Lawyer, he has developed a relevant professional background as a Legal Operations and Legal Project Manager. With an MBA in Management, his roles quickly extended far from being just In-House Counsel and Manager to become a Process Expert for the implementation of several projects that led to an efficiency increase in processes and practices in all sectors of the multinational Groups he has worked for.