Philippe Pulfer

Philippe Pulfer

Partner
lic. iur., Attorney at Law, TEP

Location

Geneva

Contact

Direct phone: +41 58 658 30 10
philippe.pulfer@walderwyss.com

Curriculum Vitae

PDF download

Philippe Pulfer is co-head of the firm’s Private Client practice. He is widely recognised as one of Switzerland’s leading private client lawyers and, for more than 20 years, has been constantly top-ranked by all major professional directories. He is, according to Chambers HNW, ‘the go-to person in Switzerland’ in his area of practice and has been described by Legal 500 as 'one of the most knowledgeable trust and private client practitioners in Switzerland'. He has been included in the ALM Private Client Global Elite since the ranking’s inaugural edition in 2012 (under the Legal Week banner) and every year since its relaunch in 2017.

Philippe Pulfer specialises in wealth structuring and estate planning with an international focus and acts in complex, mostly multi-jurisdictional, succession and trust disputes. He advises charities and charity donors in all areas of philanthropy, with a particular focus on the arts and the support to cultural institutions, and serves as a board member of several charitable foundations. He has also significant experience in private banking disputes, in particular mismanagement of funds, fraud cases and international judicial assistance.

Philippe Pulfer is a member of the Geneva Bar Association, Swiss Bar Association, International Bar Association (IBA), Society of Trust and Estate Practitioners (STEP) and The International Academy of Estate and Trust Law (TIAETL), as well as an International Fellow of the American College of Estate and Trust Counsel (ACTEC). He is a long-serving committee member of STEP Geneva and sat for two terms on the STEP Worldwide Council. He is a frequent speaker at international conferences and the author of publications on Swiss succession law, the practice of trusts in Switzerland, charities and art law.

Philippe Pulfer graduated from the University of Geneva in 1992 and was admitted to the Bar in 1995.

Philippe Pulfer speaks French and English. He is registered with the Geneva Bar and admitted to practice in all Switzerland.

Private Client 2023: Chapter Switzerland

Position paper on the proposed draft bill for the introduction of a Swiss trust

Death and Taxes Are Absolute Certainties – But Litigation Doesn’t Need to Be

R.I.P. Swiss Trust?

Private Client 2022: Chapter Switzerland

Structures in Crisis

About elephants and other animals - Contrasting different entity types and how they drive litigation strategy

Private Client 2021: Chapter Switzerland

Private Wealth 2020 - Chapter Switzerland

Private Client 2020: Chapter Switzerland

Conseils pour collectionneurs en matière de planification

International Comparative Legal Guide to: Private Client 2019 - Chapter Switzerland

International Incompetence

Public registers under the EU’s 4th Anti-Money Laundering Directive – an excessive infringement of people’s rights?

Painting a clearer picture

Matrimonial Property Regimes, Settling assets in trusts

Is Hague Proving Harmonious?

The bad client: how to identify them, how to avoid them, what is the advisor’s potential liability for taking them on?

Estate planning at the extremes

Protectors: Solution for everything or recipe for disaster

Liability of advisors: civil and criminal

An overview of the Swiss philanthropic sector

Discovery: Perspectives from around the world

Chairman

Matrimonial Property Regimes

2. Impact in Switzerland of the European succession regulation

Estate and succession planning in Europe - Switzerland

Private Client – Switzerland chapter

Private Client – Switzerland chapter

Trustees: What Are the Risks and Responsibilities They Are Facing Today? Rights and Legal Remedies of Settlors and Beneficiaries with regard to Trustees: Risks and Recommendations

The Swiss Lump-Sum Taxation Regime: A Natural Evolution

Private Client – Switzerland chapter

Global technical updates, Switzerland

Acquiring domicile in Switzerland: consequences of the matrimonial property regime

Preventing erosion and attack

Banking secrecy: an endangered species

Jurisdiction overview, Switzerland

Evolution of bank confidentiality - Global planning for the future – An advisor’s guide to the international client

Latest planning techniques for international private clients, trust, tax, insurance, succession and other issues; the international will from a Swiss perspective

Residency permits / acquisition of real estate

Trust, tax, wealth and business planning for artists and sportspersons: Use of trusts

Getty Cultural (review of the Swiss Federal Act on the International Transfer of Cultural Property)

EU-Swiss Agreement on the taxation of savings income - Explanation of the rules

Recognitions