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

Vcards        CV pdf

News

Congratulations to Sonja Maeder Morvant for her nomination as an anti-money laundering auditor for the Swiss Bar Association’s  Self-Regulatory Organisation. In this capacity she will conduct anti-money laundering audits and investigations .
Sonja Maeder Morvant co-chaired this years IBA Transnational crime conference in Boston and spoke about building and managing a financial crime practice.
Sonja Maeder Morvant, partner, has been recognised again  by Chambers Europe 2023 amongst the best lawyers in the field of White Collar Crime.
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.

She is also an an anti-money laundering auditor for the Swiss Bar Association’s  Self-Regulatory Organisation and conducts anti-money laundering audits and investigations in this capacity.

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
International Liability of Corporate Directors: Switzerland, in: International Liability of Corporate Directors, co-author with Dimitri Iafaev, 2nd Ed., 2022, Juris Publishing, Inc., Denis Campbell and Christian Campbell (Eds.), Sonja Maeder Morvant, 2022  
Commentaire romand du Code de procédure pénale suisse, art. 12-21 CPP, co-auteur avec Marc Henzelin, in: Kuhn/Jeanneret (Eds.), Code de procédure pénale suisse, Basel, Helbing & Lichtenhahn, 2019. Sonja Maeder Morvant, 2019  

Switzerland: can foreign states shortcut mutual legal assistance by becoming a civil party? IBA Criminal Law Section News, Vol. 7 N° 1, April 2014, pp. 14-16. Sonja Maeder Morvant, 2014

International Liability of Corporate Directors: Switzerland, in: International Liability of Corporate Directors, co-author with Dimitri Iafaev, 2nd Ed., Release II, 2013, Juris Publishing, Inc., Denis Campbell and Christian Campbell (Eds.), pp. SW 1-34 Sonja Maeder Morvant, 2014

Switzerland and United-States exchange of information in tax matters – Where do we stand? IBA Criminal Law Section News, Vol. 4, No. 1, April 2011, pp. 12-15. Sonja Maeder Morvant, 2011

Regulation of Mutual Legal Assistance and Administrative Assistance in Tax Matters: Switzerland, co-author with Ekaterina Butler, International criminal law and international justice (Moscow), No. 4, 2011, pp. 18-23. Sonja Maeder Morvant, 2011

Commentaire romand du Code de procédure pénale suisse, art. 12-21 CPP, co-auteur avec Marc Henzelin, in: Kuhn/Jeanneret (Eds.), Code de procédure pénale suisse, Basel, Helbing & Lichtenhahn, 2011, pp. 79-109. Sonja Maeder Morvant, 2011

International Liability of Corporate Directors: Switzerland, in: International Liability of Corporate Directors, co-author with Dimitri Iafaev, 2nd Ed., 2011, Juris Publishing, Inc., Denis Campbell and Christian Campbell (Eds.), pp. 1-39 Sonja Maeder Morvant, 2011

Mutual legal assistance in tax matters – a Swiss revolution, New Journal of European Criminal Law – Special Edition, 2010, Vol. 0, pp. 17-23 Sonja Maeder Morvant, 2010

Mutual judicial assistance between Switzerland and the EU States, co-author with Marc Henzelin, Journal of European Criminal Law, 2008, Vol. 3, pp. 49-62. Sonja Maeder, 2008

Conferences

Women Lawyers Day (FSA), Challenges and Opportunities in working as an In-house Counsel, Bern, 5.02.2024

International Bar Association (IBA) Annual Conference « Corporate criminal liability for war crimes», Paris, 31.10.2023

International Bar Association (IBA) Transnational crime conference «Building and managing a financial crime practice», Boston, 4.05.2023

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.