Biography: Arbitration

Georg von Segesser is a partner in Schellenberg Wittmer's litigation and arbitration group, and the private client and estate planning group in Zurich. He is mainly active in the field of international and domestic arbitration. He is on the panel of arbitrators of various arbitral institutions and has acted in numerous international arbitrations under a variety of applicable arbitration rules and substantive laws both as counsel, chairman, party-appointed, and sole arbitrator.

These arbitrations included a wide range of fields, such as engineering and constructions, trade and sales contracts, mergers and acquisitions, financial transactions, ship building contracts, exploration of natural resources, oil and gas pricing issues, design and management contracts for the entertainment industry, joint ventures, telecommunication and media, patents and trademarks, license agreements, distributorships, manufacturing agreements, agencies and shareholder agreements.

Georg von Segesser served as co-director of the Claims Resolution Tribunal for Dormant Accounts in Switzerland from 1998 to 1999. He is one of the chairpersons on the arbitration panels for domestic arbitration of the Zurich Chamber of Commerce and an arbitrator of the Court of Arbitrators for Sport. His practice area also includes private client, trust and estate matters, such as advising clients on planning and implementing various large estate and trust concepts, and acting as counsel in estate litigation and as an expert before foreign courts.

Georg von Segesser was admitted to the Bar in Switzerland in 1972, after graduating from the College of Lucerne and the University of Zurich (Dr iur) in 1972. He gained work experience as District Court clerk from 1971 to 1972. He then became an associate and partner in a large Zurich law firm, with a two-year intermission in New York as a foreign associate with one of the large international law firms. In 1982, he was one of the founding partners of Schellenberg von Segesser and Ronca, now Schellenberg Wittmer. He speaks German, English, French, and Dutch.

Georg von Segesser is a member of several professional associations and panels of arbitration, notably the Swiss Arbitration Association, the International Bar Association in the sections on arbitration and art law, the London Court of International Arbitration, the German Institution of Arbitration, the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators (Fellowship), the International Arbitration Centre of the Austrian Federal Economic Chamber, the International Centre for Dispute Resolution of the American Arbitration Association, Singapore International Arbitration Centre, the Regional Centre for Arbitration Kuala Lumpur, the Hong Kong International Arbitration Centre, the committee of patrons of the SICA-FICA Foundation, and the Society of Trust and Estate Practitioners (STEP). He is also the president of the International Academy of Estate and Trust Law (TIAETL).

Georg von Segesser has published extensively in the fields of international arbitration, property and trust law, the international transfer of cultural property, and issues under Swiss Law concerning artists, collectors and museums.

Schellenberg Wittmer is one of the leading business law firms in Switzerland. Over 130 lawyers in Zurich and Geneva advise domestic and international clients on all aspects of business law. The firm's areas of expertise include: banking and finance, competition and antitrust, dispute resolution and international arbitration, intellectual property/information technology, mergers and acquisitions, private equity and venture capital, private clients, trusts and estates, foundations, real estate and construction, restructuring and insolvency, taxation, white-collar crime and compliance.