Lawyers
Sonja Maeder Morvant
Partner
+41(0)22 320 42 42
smm@reiser.law
Expertise
White Collar Crime, Banking law and financial services
Languages
French English German Italian
News
Professional experience
Sonja Maeder Morvant is specialised in business crime, international mutual assistance in criminal matters, assets recovery and internal investigations.
Who’s who says: “Sonja Maeder Morvant of Reiser Avocats is revered for her deep understanding of money-laundering, cybercrime and corruption-related matters.”
She assists individuals and businesses as part of complex transnational proceedings, in particular in cases involving corruption, breach of fiduciary duties, money laundering and cybercrime. She also coordinates and litigates transnational asset recovery proceedings for her clients. She has extensiv experience in international criminal assistance, having had the opportunity to assist companies, individuals, as well as States in this field. She advises clients both on legal aspects and litigation strategy. She further advises clients on Swiss sanction regimes.
Sonja Maeder Morvant is a co-founder of Reiser Avocats. She practised at the Geneva Bar at various prestigious law firms for many years. She also worked as a judicial assistant at the Office of the Attorney general, which enables her to assess her criminal cases from the perspective of public authorities.
For several years now, she has been teaching criminal business law as a guest lecturer at the University of Geneva as part of the University’s MBA programme.
She has been listed as one of the best lawyers in business crime and investigations by Who’s Who Legal International since 2014. She has also been listed as one of the best investigation lawyers under 40 and amongst the top 100 women specialised in investigations by the Global Investigations Review. She is ranked in Chambers&Partners.
Sonja is particularly sensitive to the situation of victims of armed conflicts. She dedicates part of her time to Trial International, an NGO fighting against impunity for international crimes and supporting victims in obtaining justice. She is a member of the committee of Trial International.
Education
2007 Admitted to practice at the Geneva Bar
2005 LL.M. in Humanitarian Law, University of Geneva
2003 Master degree in Law, University of Geneva and University of Bern
Professional Membership
- Former Co-chair and member of the advisory board of the Business Crime Committee of the International Bar Association (IBA)
- Member of the American Bar Association (ABA)
- Member of the Women’s White Collar Defense Association (WWCDA)
- Member of the Geneva Bar Association and the Swiss Federation of Lawyers (SAV/FSA)
Publications
Conferences
European Fraud and Compliance Lawyers (EFCL), « Crytpocurrency», London, 10.06.22
International Bar Association (IBA) Transnational Crime Conference, « Cyber-attacks and ransomware», London, 19.05.22
American Bar Association (ABA) and the German association of lawyers in white collar defence (Wistev), « Where are my foreign currency reserves?”: Financial sanctions, the banking sector, and restrictions on access to financial and capital markets», Frankfurt, 13.05.22
FIRE Starters, « Political Manoeuvrings of Acting Against States», Dublin, 23.02.2022
Union Internationale des Avocats (UIA), « Breaches of legal privilege caused by the authorities’ investigations» Geneva, 11.02.22
Women’s White Collar Defense Association (WWCDA), « Internal Investigations», webinar, 09.12.21
Geneva Bar Association, « Business and Human rights – Practical issues for the lawyer», webinar, 19.11.20
Geneva Bar Association, « Recusal of prosecutors and judges in criminal proceedings», webinar, 10.11.20
American Bar Association, Section for International Law, « European Hard-Line Enforcement: Threats to the U.S. Monopoly on International Prosecutions», Washington DC, 10.04.19.
CCIG and Geneva Bar Association, « Go East – Your business project in the CIS – Legal Aspects – protecting your project», Geneva, 30.10.18.
International Bar Association (IBA), Annual Conference, «Stolen, looted, sold: organised crime, terror financing and money laundering in the art world», Rome, 7 – 12.10.18.
International Bar Association (IBA), Transnational crime conference, « Cybercrime – challenges for the criminal law practitioners in 2018», Krakow, 16-18.05.18.
American Bar Association, White Collar Crime Institute, « Tax prosecution and money laundering », London, 12-13.10.15.
International Bar Association (IBA), Transnational crime conference, «Alternative resolutions to criminal matters – DPAs, NPAs, and other resolutions – are they a blessing or a curse? », Istanbul, 2-4.04.14.
International Bar Association (IBA), « Tax fraud – causes and cures », Boston, 10.10.13.
Conference « Freezing and Restitution of Illicit Assets of Politically Exposed Persons: A Swiss Solution? », Geneva, 03.09.13.
American Bar Association International White Collar Internal Investigations Conference, « Interacting with Employees, Internal Counsel, and Investigators in an International Setting » Frankfurt, 07.12.12.
American Bar Association Rule of Law, Workshop for Court of cassation judges on Appellate Corruption cases, Cairo, 13-17.10.12.
International Bar Association (IBA), Transnational Crime Conference: « Hot topics in international complex criminal investigations – Issues in multi-jurisdictional criminal investigations», Amsterdam, 9-11.06.12.
Conference « The real exposure of Politically Exposed Persons and the associated risks for financial operators », Geneva, 07.04.11.
International Bar Association (IBA), « Tax and Criminal Law Committees “Tax crimes : cross boarder cases – evasion or avoidance, cross-border sharing of information on tax cases, defence of cross-border criminal tax cases », Vancouver, 3-8.10.10.