Ruth Bloch-Riemer’s practice focuses on domestic and international tax law. She regularly advises Swiss and foreign high-net-worth individuals in all taxation matters. She particularly advises clients regarding wealth and succession planning, relocations to and from Switzerland, the structuring of charitable contributions, questions in the context of the taxation of art and artists, and questions within the field of the domestic and international structuring and coordination of their pension and social security.

On what types of interesting matters have you worked on recently?

I have been advising a number of entrepreneurs and HNW families on a more strategic level regarding their and their families' wealth and succession planning, typically including cross-border aspects and the coordination of workstreams abroad.

To what extent has the coronavirus pandemic brought about any new areas of concern among clients? How long lasting have these concerns been?

The pandemic raised awareness for many of my clients that the place of residence and also citizenship planning should not be driven by legal and tax planning concerns only but that also infrastructure, political and economic stability and quality of life elements are key to consider in the overall planning.

How has the role of a private client lawyer evolved since you first started practising?

In my view, a private client lawyer is, even more, a person of trust over a long span and ideally stretching over more than one generation in a family. The areas of focus have broadened from pure tax and estate planning to also considering, e.g., privacy topics, compliance work, etc.

What inspires you to publish and teach on tax and private client matters? What have you learned from these roles?

It is key to pass on know-how to the industry, especially to younger lawyers, and it is also important to contribute to the scientific discussion to feedback into the industry and further develop our practice. In particular teaching and lecturing is a great way to exchange ideas on concepts and to discuss areas where the law or its application should be amended. I personally learned and practice constantly to be very clear and concise on my inputs and to assess others' contributions critically and from many angles.

What are the common challenge in handling art and artist taxation matters? What key processes do you undertake?

Besides the more technical aspects such as, e.g., valuation and taxation questions, handling art matters and dealing with artists oftentimes includes a certain degree of explaining legal and tax rules to the clients. It often also means helping them structure their undertakings and to apply a technical, state-of-the-art and very factual approach to pieces close to their hearts and where they are not used to thinking in "legal" and "tax" terms and boxes. Last but not least, it sometimes also encompasses supporting collectors, heirs or artists to find and onboard persons they can trust; on certain occasions, we even have to help them terminate relationships with persons whom they involved to support with their artworks but who did not prove to be trustworthy.

Given the ageing population, do you see a potential decrease in wealth and succession work in the future?

Wealth and succession work for a client evolves over time, from planning a structure to handling and, at the very end, sometimes administering it in their estate. With the aging process of clients, other persons come into the picture such as, e.g., their spouses and descendants or foundations / trusts they establish, or persons they entrust their businesses in. Given this cycle, I tend to experience more an increase than a decrease in wealth and succession work. Interestingly, I see that the approach of younger generations tends, in many families, to be different to their parents', in that other aspects such as, e.g., sustainability and giving back to society, are more important to them.

To what extent would in-person communication and relationship-building with clients remain a key part of the practice given the sensitive nature of its work?

In my view, virtual meetings are a very useful tool to touch base with clients and other counsel on a more regular basis. Moreover, it is increasingly incumbent on us all to be more sustainable which current technology allows us to do. However, the in-person meeting will continue to be a key part of my work and interaction, in particular when it comes to personal topics, cornerstones in the strategy I define with my clients and longer, workshop-style meetings where we ponder ideas and discuss various options for a question my client may have. Also the selection of co-counsel and service providers usually is decided after experiencing at least the shortlisted candidates face-to-face. I appreciate and value that my clients put considerable trust in me as a person and certain discussions can only be fruitful and open when held in person, in an adequate setting.

What advice would you give to someone starting out in the private client sector?

Be open, interested and stay updated in a broad range of law, in your core jurisdiction but also when it comes to relevant other jurisdictions. Develop a reliable network amongst peers as early on as possible – as family advisor, you will need to be able to reach out to trusted colleagues abroad regularly. Invest in your team structure, technical skills and project management abilities, as these aspects often are as key to serving a client as being technically a top lawyer. And most importantly: there is not one client or one family like the other – always consider the specific situation and the "DNA" of a client and his family to understand their background and goals.