Manuel Werder

Markus Pfenninger is a partner in the Transactions Team. His fields of expertise include capital market transactions, mergers & acquisitions, finance, restructurings, collective investment schemes as well as banking and insurance regulatory matters. He is a member of the International Bar Association’s (IBA) Task Force on the Financial Crisis and a past chair of the IBA’s Subcommittee on Legal Opinions as well as a past co-chair of the IBA’s Banking Law Committee. Born i...

Reto Jacobs heads the Antitrust and Competition Team. He advises domestic and foreign companies with respect to all competition law issues, represents them before competition authorities and courts, and assists them in complex merger filings. Reto Jacobs advises also with respect to distribution systems and he supports various companies with respect to their antitrust compliance programs. He is lecturer at the University of St. Gall. Born in 1964, Reto Jacobs was educated at the University of...

Manuel Bigler is a managing associate in the firms’ practice area Intellectual Property (IP). He advises and represents clients in all aspects of IP law with a particular focus on trademark, patent and copyright law. His practice also includes unfair competition, media and advertising law. He regularly advises clients in negotiating IP and technology-related agreements, such as license agreements. Manuel Bigler is further specialized in representing clients in disputes before courts and...

Counsel Simone Brauchbar Birkhäuser advises and represents clients in connection with contentious and non-contentious issues relating to trademarks, designs, copyrights, patents, data protection, unfair competition and advertisement. She has substantial experience in the drafting and enforcement of contracts for the transfer of intellectual property rights, especially license agreements. She further regularly deals with all due diligence relevant IP/IT and data protection aspects of corp...

Partner Stephan Werlen focuses on M&A and corporate law, joint ventures, MBOs, acquisition finance, venture capital transactions, corporate restructuring and corporate relocation. He has broad experience both in domestic and international mergers and acquisitions (including auction processes) and the financing of such transactions. In addition, he is an expert in W&I insurance transactions (M&A insurance) with a long track record in this area. Stephan Werlen also regularly advises...

Thomas Meister is a partner in the Tax Team. He is working in the fields of domestic and international corporate tax, including tax optimization, corporate and real estate finance, structured finance, corporate reorganizations, transaction structuring and M&A. Since 2004 he is an adjunct professor for tax law at the University of St. Gall. Born in 1963, Thomas Meister was educated at the Universities of Lausanne and St. Gall (lic. iur. 1989, Dr. iur. 1995), New York University (LL.M. 1998...

Alex Nikitine is head of the Corporate/M&A team at Walder Wyss. His practice focuses on domestic and international M&A transactions, public tender offers, IPOs and other public (ECM/DCM) offerings, private equity and venture capital transactions, corporate governance and general corporate, stock exchange and capital markets laws. His experience for the last 15 years includes numerous transactions in these areas of expertise, in particular with companies in the Life Sciences, Banking o...

Partner Dr Patrick Sommer is Co-Head of the CMS Competition & EU Group. In this position, he jointly leads an international team of more than 170 competition lawyers. Patrick Sommer focuses on competition law, corporate law and M&A. Patrick Sommer has graduated from the University of St.Gallen in 1987 and was admitted to the bar in 1989. He has written his doctoral thesis on the relationship of Switzerland to the European Union and completed postgraduate studies at the Collège ...

Andrea Meier is a top attorney recognized by Best Lawyers in the practice area(s) of Litigation. Andrea, who practices law in Zürich, Switzerland, has been recognized since 2025. This recognition is based on an exhaustive peer-review survey, reflecting the high esteem in which Andrea is held by other top lawyers in the same geographic and legal practice area.

Partner Mark Cagienard specialises in tax law, covering individual and corporate taxation both on a domestic and international level with a particular focus on corporate finance, M&A and VAT. Mark Cagienard assists clients frequently in obtaining tax rulings and represents them in front of courts and tax authorities. Mark Cagienard graduated from the University of Zurich in 2006 (magna cum laude) and was admitted to the bar in 2008. In 2012 he qualified as a Swiss Certified Tax Expert. In...