Sandrine represents individuals, companies and sovereign entities in the recovery or protection of their assets. In addition to fraud and commercial litigation expertise, she is particularly skilled in complex cross-border matters involving criminal and civil proceedings and crisis situations. She is also recognised for her expertise in art law, public international law and human rights. Sandrine is ranked by the leading directories and in 2021 received WWL’s Asset Recovery Lawyer of the Year Switzerland Award.

What do you enjoy most about working in asset recovery?

I find the chase and strategic aspects intellectually challenging, as well as helping victims of fraud recover their assets. It’s important to my sense of justice that committing crime does not pay off.

What are the main considerations when developing strategies for the international search and recovery of assets?

The first step is to locate the assets and then identify the best jurisdictions to obtain the relevant data, as well as identifying the most appropriate investigators. The second step is setting up a winning team of international colleagues, who will be able to work together collaboratively without pursuing individual strategies.

How do you establish a detailed understanding of a client’s business to advise them effectively?

Listening and asking the right questions to various stakeholders involved is key. It is also essential to do due diligence of the client and research their industry.

What is the most challenging aspect about working on cross-border asset recovery cases?

Understanding the legal specificities of each jurisdiction to best leverage them and navigate possible legal and procedural obstacles.

To what extent are civil remedies a more effective way of recovering assets than criminal remedies?

Civil attachments can be quite effective if the conditions are met. This said, Swiss law does not provide for discovery, so criminal proceedings are still a very powerful route to trace and freeze assets.

What are the key challenges that the next generation of asset recovery lawyers may face?

Competition is already fierce and the time pressure immense. One of the main challenges will be being able to find the right balance to stay at the top of your game at all times as client expectations, cost management and technology increase pressure on performance.

How would you like to see your practice develop over the next five years?

I look forward to continuing to work on interesting cases and mentor younger colleagues - and in particular female colleagues, to help them progress to the top of our profession.

Looking back over your career, what has been your proudest achievement?

I hope it is still to come. But being elected by my peers as vice-president of the Geneva Bar is an achievement I cherish particularly.