We rely on highly qualified and motivated team members to meet the standards of excellence that we strive to deliver to our clients. We hire outstanding lawyers and other professionals such as tax experts and accountants. All of our professionals master several languages and we expect them to not only possess exceptional professional know-how but also excellent problem solving and communication skills. Finally, all of our professionals and support staff need to be team players with the ability to successfully integrate into our practice teams.
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We provide talented and motivated students insight into our activities by offering internships during academic training. We train a number of interns as attorneys and tax experts in both offices, and offer a broad and varied training program for continuous professional development, with opportunities to attend external professional events. This enables our staff to keep abreast of the latest developments, gain additional experience and be recognised as successful practitioners in their chosen areas of practice.
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Associate Lawyers
Associate lawyers with excellent degrees may join us after the bar exam or after a year of study abroad.
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During the first two years at VISCHER, the new team member will work in different areas and in different teams with various of our lawyers. Afterwards, VISCHER and the associate will discuss an appropriate specialisation within our practice groups.
Our career model is transparent: Every associate is coached by a partner who – together with our hiring committee - offers regular feedback on his/her performance. Once a year, a formal assessment takes place. After working with VISCHER for six years, the associate may ask for a preliminary decision regarding a future partnership position. To become a partner, the associate must furnish evidence of outstanding proficiency as a lawyer and possess charismatic personality. Furthermore, the associate must have demonstrate competence in commercial and business development matters. The formal partnership decision is taken after the associate has worked for eight years for VISCHER and has spent a professional stay abroad.
Support staff
VISCHER also offers various possibilities for professional development: Some members of our support staff completed further training in the field of personnel management, bookkeeping, IT support, or paralegal work. Any such possibilities are usually discussed during the application procedure.
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If you are interested in a position with VISCHER please take a look at our short videos and read our interviews illustrating the daily life of our trainees, assistants and attorneys.
Michael Pfeifer, Partner
Michael Pfeifer was born in 1947. He has worked for VISCHER in Basel (formerly Schiess Schmid Gloor) since 1975. Michael Pfeifer completed his undergraduate and doctoral studies in Basel.
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What is a partner's job at a firm like VISCHER?
A partner ensures that the firm does not run out of work. As a partner, one bears commercial responsibility for the firm. New clients are acquired mainly in three ways: first, you search actively for new clients; second, you are recommended by existing clients; and third – after you have been in the legal profession for a while – you get clients because of your good reputation or even because you are the only one who handles a specialised area.
Law firms are a dime a dozen. What makes VISCHER special?
We are better, faster, and less expensive. What makes us special is our excellent cost-performance ratio. For example, we have offices in Zurich and Basel. Zurich has the official notary system, while in Basel you can be a civil-law notary as well as an attorney. Thus, we can offer notarial services to Zurich clients. In that way they save costs, because they do not have to pay a civil-law notary in addition to their attorney.
What should young lawyers keep in mind when applying for a job at VISCHER?
Our main expectation of lawyers is that they have very good professional qualifications and that they be able to set priorities in practice. In addition, they must fit in with our firm in terms of personality. VISCHER is the result of a merger between traditional Basel firms and a young Zurich firm. We have a traditional base with a young and courageous senior staff and important specialists. A VISCHER attorney must bring with him this combination of respect, courage, and specialisation.
You have been an attorney for many years. Have you not yet had enough of your job?
No. Human exchange is very important to me. I get that exchange as an attorney, thanks to the dedication and independence needed to work in this dream profession. I enjoy every new day in my job!
VISCHER in three words?
Home, livelihood, future.
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Cathrin Hürlimann, Operator/Receptionist
Cathrin Hürlimann was born in 1962. She has worked in reception for VISCHER Basel (formerly Christ Löw Brückner and Staehelin) since 1992. Before that Cathrin Hürlimann worked in sales and radio.
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What are your duties at VISCHER?
We receive clients and answer the phone. We also do a large number of other things. For example, we make reservations for business trips or do Internet searches. I am also happy to help with minor computer problems so that our computer department is not bothered with every little thing. We are familiar with almost every nook and cranny in the office and know where things are kept. And we are probably the only ones who know the entire staff, since we maintain the address and telephone lists – no easy thing with 100 employees at the Basel office!
So being a receptionist means more than greeting guests and making coffee?
Absolutely. We have a quite diverse set of responsibilities, and, to a certain extent, we are "jacks-of-all trades". Moreover, we are the link between the office and the outside world. Working in the service sector is a good background for reception work. There, as in reception for a law firm, you encounter people in all situations – not only the pleasant ones. We also have to maintain our composure in critical situations, and we cannot take it personally if we have to deal with unpleasant phone calls. But the vast majority of VISCHER's clients are very friendly and accommodating, and they often have time for a little "chat" too.
Why do you like this job?
I like human contact and enjoy being a service-provider. I would like to give our clients the feeling that they are welcome here, to let them feel comfortable and in good hands – after all, not everyone enjoys consulting an attorney. I am also a person with many interests who likes to learn and get to know many different things. In that sense the varied work in reception and the contact with clients suits me very well.
VISCHER in three words?
Reliable, respectable, generous.
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