Edgar Paltzer
Attorney-at-law
Edgar Paltzer is an attorney-at-law with over 25 years of experience in legal counsel. In 2013, he founded specialised law firm Paltzer Private Clients Law with the objective of providing tailor-made assistance to help private clients solve their legal problems in and out of court within Switzerland and worldwide. The firm’s services cover personal, legal and strategic aspects.
For Mr Paltzer, empathetically helping his clients to navigate the difficulties associated with family, business and wealth is paramount. His main focus is on providing coaching in legal matters and litigation, giving strategic and tactical negotiation support in disputes, and offering a second opinion on legal advice from banks, family offices and other law firms. Mr Paltzer also provides crisis management and troubleshooting, as well as estate planning and management services.
Career History
Mr Paltzer’s passion for providing attorney-at-law services to private individuals surfaced early in his career when he advised high-profile personalities, including the humanitarian and violinist Yehudi Menuhin.
From 1987 to 1988, Mr Paltzer was a foreign associate with the law firm White & Case in New York before moving to the law firm CMS von Erlach Poncet (formerly von Erlach Klainguti Stettler Wille & Partner) as a partner in 1989. Mr Paltzer remained in this post until 1998, when he became a partner in the law firm Niederer Kraft & Frey AG in Zurich.
Mr Paltzer served on the International Wealth Advisors Forum as a steering committee member from 2007 to 2011, was a member of the International Academy of Estate and Trust Law’s executive council from 2008 to 2012, and was a member of the Swiss Association of Trust Companies’ advisory board from 2011 to 2013. He also sat on the International Bar Association as an LPC council member from 2009 to 2012.
Public Speaking
A regular attendee of the International Wealth Transfer Practice Conference, Mr Paltzer won the Speaker Award in 2001, the Outstanding Performance Award in 2002 and the Special Appreciation Award in 2003 and 2007. He is an in-demand speaker, frequently delivering speeches at a variety of conferences, seminars and other events. These have included speeches at the British Swiss Chamber of Commerce and STEP Seminar in 2009, the International Tax Planning Association in 2009 and the Fiduciary Risk Conference in 2010, all of which were held in Geneva, Switzerland. In 2012, Mr Paltzer served as special consultant to the organiser of the International Wealth Transfer Conference held in London and was a lecturer for the University of Geneva’s LL.M. Banking and Finance/Tax programme, delivering the three-hour module ‘Civil Law Foundations as Estate Planning Device’ in June 2012.
Publications
Mr Paltzer is the co-author of many publications including Banking and the Law – Report on Switzerland in 1993, Registered Partnership from Same-Gender Couples in Switzerland in 2004, Charitable Giving – A Swiss Tradition? in 2006, The Swiss Business Foundation – A Suitable Estate Planning Vehicle for Entrepreneurs? in 2007, Are Charitable Trusts an Alternative to Swiss Charitable Foundations? in 2008, and Switzerland: Estate Planning with Foreign Family Foundations – an Assessment of the Conflict of Law and Tax Issues Arising in 2009.
Education
Mr Paltzer was awarded a bachelor’s degree in law in 1980. He is a graduate of the law schools of the University of Zurich and the University of Geneva, earning his LL.M. master’s degree in New York in 1987 and his Juris Doctoris degree in 1989. He holds a Certificate of Advanced Studies in Inheritance Law from the University of Zurich, awarded in 2008, and has been certified by the Swiss Bar Association as a specialist in SBA inheritance law since 2008. He is fluent in German, English and French.