About us – Swiss LegalTech Association

Executive Board

The Executive Board consists of an entrepreneurial management team.

Christoph Küng

Co-Founder & President

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 & Innovation Officer at Kellerhals Carrard, one of the biggest law firms in Switzerland. He has been 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
Members & LegalTech Survey

Michael graduated from the University of Lucerne, where he obtained a Master (MLaw) as well as a Doctor of Law (PhD). Currently, Michael is the Global Head of Legal Operations at Implenia, a multi-national innovative leading construction and construction services company. 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 Junior Associate with Schellenberg Wittmer, a leading Swiss business law firm.

Nicolas Torrent

Vice-President
Marketing & Communication

Nicolas is a Swiss qualified lawyer and holds a Bachelor and a Master of Law from the University of Geneva, and a Master in International Dispute Settlement from the University of Geneva / GIIDS and an HBS Online certificate in Disruption Strategy. Nicolas is currently the executive director of the LegalTech Digilegal, an online legal advice platform. He is one of the co-creators of the eJust eArbitration software, where he focused on eArbitration rules, digitization of proceedings, sales and information security. Nicolas created eLex.io to facilitate law studies and he manages the iLaw case-law news feed.

Rolf W. Guenter

Executive Board Member
SLTA Breakfast Talks

Rolf is an attorney at law and holds an Executive MBA from 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 tech lawyer, entrepreneur, advisor and board member with a focus on blockchain, technology and corporate law. Rolf worked for 16 years as a director in the insurance industry in Switzerland, has extensive experience as Chief Executive of SMEs and in management positions in corporates. For many years he has worked at the intersection of economics, technology and law and possesses with an in-depth knowledge of technology related business models and ecosystems. In addition, Rolf is a current senior lecturer at the ZHAW Zurich University of Applied Sciences since 2016.

Luis Soares

Executive Board Member
Cooperations & Partners

Luis is an attorney at law, specialized in litigation and bankruptcy law. As both an 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.

Caroline Danner

Executive Board Member
LegalInnovation

Caroline is an attorney at law with a law degree (lic. iur.) from the University of Berne and a post-graduated Master in Information Law (LL.M.) of the University of Oldenburg. Since 2005 she has been working in the technology field. After working more than 15 years as an in-house legal counsel and legal director for IT and ICT companies as well for a big Swiss law firm, she advises today with her own company and law firm ONLAW clients mostly in IT, technology and data protection law.

Ioannis Martinis

Executive Board Member
LegalInnovation

Ioannis holds a master's degree in Digital Business from the University of Applied Sciences of Zurich and a Master of Law from the University of Basel. As Head of legal tech and member of the management of Coop Rechtsschutz AG, he leads the company's artificial intelligence and legal tech projects. Furthermore, Ioannis lectures at the University of Applied Sciences on law in the digital age and on the impact of technology on the legal industry.

Lukas Abegg-Vaterlaus

Executive Board Member
Mapping

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.

Stefano Perucchi

Executive Board Member
Chapters & Events

Stefano is an attorney at law, who holds a bilingual law degree (lic. iur.) from the University of Fribourg (Switzerland) and a post-graduated LL.M. degree from the University of Minnesota (USA). He is a Partner at Kellerhals Carrard, where he practices as legal counsel in the area of commercial law, assisting clients in drafting and reviewing contracts, with special expertise in licensing, distribution, franchising, and sponsorship agreements. His activity also extends to intellectual and industrial property rights, with particular expertise in matters of brand protection and brand development. In this context he provides legal advices to both Swiss and international clients particularly from the sports (mainly motorsports and sailing) and fashion branches.

Peter Stieger

Executive Board Member
Co-Head LegalTech Startup Coaching

Peter is an attorney at law and partner with the law firm Stieger + Schütt. He holds a PhD and a Master's degree (lic.iur.) from the university of Zurich and is a certified specialist SBA employment law. Peter has been involved in LegalTech for a few years and has a sepecial interest in the development of LegalTech-solutions for smaller law firms and legal departments. Before starting his own law firm 12 years ago he worked as an attorney and as a law clerk with a district court in the Zurich area.

Alexander Göbel

Executive Board Member
Co-Head LegalTech Startup Coaching & IT

Alexander studied law and business administration in Germany and the US. His interest in LegalTech and the startup environment is especially founded on his practical experience and keen interest in technology as well as on his previous work as a co-founder of an IoT startup. Alexander is currently a Junior Associate in the Corporate/M&A team of Niederer Kraft Frey (NKF) in Zurich. Before joining NKF he was a researcher at the University of St.Gallen and a visiting researcher at Harvard Law School.

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. Furthermore, Christian is Co-Founder & President of the SLTA Student Chapter Zurich.

Extended Executive Board

The extended Executive Board consists of individuals representing the various stakeholder
groups of the Swiss LegalTech ecosystem and represents the legal tech community throughout Switzerland.

Nils Harbeke

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 department of PwC.

Michael Burkart

Corporate Memberships

Rolf W. Guenter

Head Chapter Zurich

Ioannis Martinis

Co-Head Chapter Zurich

Stefano Perucchi

Head Chapter Ticino

Caroline Danner

Head Chapter Berne

Caroline is an attorney at law with a law degree (lic. iur.) from the University of Berne and a post-graduated Master in Information Law (LL.M.) of the University of Oldenburg. Since 2005 she has been working in the technology field. Caroline worked for 13 years as an in-house legal counsel and legal director for IT and ICT companies. Since 2017 she has worked for the law firm Kellerhals Carrard and currently advises clients mostly in IT, technology and data protection law.

Dominique Gottret

Co-Head Chapter Berne

Dominique is an attorney at law, partner with the law firm Ambralaw and regularly advises clients in ICT and new technology law. He holds a Master of Law from the University of Berne and Stockholm and 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.

Eleonor Gyr

Head Chapter Basel

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

Co-Head Chapter Basel

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.

Lukas Abegg-Vaterlaus

Co-Head Chapter Eastern Switzerland

Melinda Lohmann

Co-Head Chapter Eastern Switzerland

Melinda is an Assistant Professor of Business Law with a focus on Information Law and Director of the Research Center for Information Law at the University of St. Gallen. She holds a PhD and a Master’s degree in Law from the University of St. Gallen. Melinda is passionate about technology, especially self-driving cars, robots and Artificial Intelligence, and investigates both how the law should deal with technological innovations as well as how technology changes the legal market.

Roman Elsener

Co-Head Chapter Central Switzerland

Roman is Legal Counsel at Sunrise, the second largest telecommunications company in Switzerland. Prior to this, he worked as an attorney and notary public in a law firm specializing in information and communication technology. He has experience in counseling and litigation in the field of information, communications, data protection and technology law. Roman holds a Master of Law from the University of Lucerne. Before entering the legal world, he completed an IT apprenticeship and worked as an IT specialist in a tourism company.

Katharina Lasota Heller

Co-Head Chapter Central Switzerland

Katharina is an attorney at law admitted to the bar in Switzerland and in Poland. She obtained her Ph.D. from Ludwig-Maxmilians-University in Munich as a scholar of the Max-Planck-Institute for Innovation and Competition in Munich, and earned her LL.M. in Transnational Business Transactions in Sacramento in the USA. She is a visiting professor at the University of Kozminski in Warsaw where she teaches about laws of modern technologies. Katharina is the Managing Partner of boutique law firm LEXcellence in Zug, and is passionate about data processing, competition, the digital economy, and disruption.

Nicolas Torrent

Co-Head Chapter Geneva

Thomas Hua

Co-Head Chapter Geneva

Thomas is a partner with gbf Attorneys-at-law and a tech lawyer, frequently advising clients on a large range of technology-related issues. He also works with clients on financing rounds, contract law and complex commercial transactions. Thomas holds a law degree from the University of Geneva as well as a bilingual masters degree in law from the Universities of Geneva and Basel.

Ema Bolomey

Head Chapter Lausanne

Ema is an attorney-at-law with a Master's degree in Law from the Universities of Fribourg and Southampton. Previously holding the position of General Secretary of the Vaud Bar Association, she is still an active member of its Modernization Commission and works on several legal tech projects for the Bar. She is very familiar with the compliance of the professional and ethical rules of the French-speaking cantons and in this context, attentive to the evolution of the profession in relation to legal technologies and the challenges they create. She now works for the law firm WILHELM Avocats in Lausanne and currently advises clients in administrative law.

Moritz Stuker

Co-Head Chapter Lausanne

Moritz Stuker is a qualified swiss lawyer currently working in Lausanne. He has previously worked as a paralegal for Carrard Consulting SA, during which he developed business intelligence and legal analysis tools to automate the processing of over 3500 claims in the liquidation proceedings of a private bank. He then interned at the Lausanne branch of the law firm Kellerhals Carrard Lausanne/Sion SA before becoming a lawyer. Moritz has studied both at the University of Fribourg and Heidelberg (D), graduating with a bilingual Master of Law.

Christian Steinmetz

Co-Head Chapter NextGen

Mirco Eigenmann

Co-Head Chapter NextGen

Mirco Eigenmann is currently doing his Master of Law at the University of St. Gall. Originally, however, he trained as a public administration clerk. During his studies he works as an accounting clerk in a SME, is involved in the GPK of a local community and presides the SLTA Student Chapter St. Gall. He completed internships in a major business law firm in Zurich and at a court in St. Gall.