Natalie Peter heads the private clients practice and tax practice of Blum&Grob. She has extensive experience in advising clients and their families typically on their cross-border matters, including estate and tax planning; immigration to/emigration from Switzerland; and analysing and setting up tax-efficient structures. She has a particularly extensive knowledge in matters relating to the taxation of trusts and foundations as well as the setting-up of tax-exempt charitable organisations. She is recognised as a top professional in various directories.

What inspired you to pursue a legal career?

I don’t quite remember why I actually decided to go to law school. I started my career in one of the big accounting firms but soon realised that I missed the legal touch to the cases. I then decided to move to a law firm and appreciated working with individuals rather than corporate clients from the beginning.

What did you find most challenging about entering the private client market?

As a young lawyer it is challenging to find your clients. The typical private client is looking for a lawyer with some years of experience, having seen similar cases and dealt with equal matters. Success seems to start at a later age than in other fields of law.

What qualities make for a successful private client lawyer?

A private client lawyer needs a good portion of empathy and needs to be able to listen to his or her clients and their needs. Sometimes an issue can be resolved by giving some good advice on how to handle a matter rather than coming up with complicated legal strategies.

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

It is important to speak to a client and to understand not only his or her needs but also to understand the family relationship. It is not only the current situation that counts but also what intentions the children might have. If they already know that they will be moving to a different jurisdiction soon, this needs to be taken into account as well.

What are the advantages of having a diverse geographic work/education background?

It is of a benefit to have a work/education background in civil and common law jurisdictions. The approaches are to a certain extent different and it is good for me as a civil law lawyer to understand how a common law lawyer understands a situation and tries to resolve it.

Looking back over your career, what is the most interesting case you have been a part of?

There have been so many interesting cases that I could not chose one over the other. The most interesting cases to me are the ones where various jurisdictions are involved.

What has been your greatest professional achievement to date?

Whenever a client is happy and expresses his happiness I am grateful and consider this as a professional achievement.