Lukas Rusch, LL.M.
Partner | Attorney at law
T. +41 58 510 92 70
lukas.rusch@advestra.ch
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Lukas Rusch supports clients in corporate and commercial disputes and investigations. He provides strategic counsel in critical negotiations and represents clients before all Swiss courts and in domestic and international arbitration proceedings. His practice includes setting-aside proceedings and the enforcement of foreign judgments and arbitral awards. He also serves as arbitrator in selected cases.
Lukas advises clients across various industries, including pharmaceuticals and medtech, banking, insurance, construction, energy and automotive.
He has many years of experience in disputes involving distribution, supply chains, infrastructure, post-M&A, and joint venture – among other complex commercial conflicts. . He also regularly represents athletes, clubs, and sports organizations.
Lukas frequently speaks and publishes in his area of expertise. He is recognized in major legal directories as one of Switzerland's leading dispute resolution lawyers of his generation.
- Partner at Advestra (since 2025)
- Partner at Pestalozzi (2021 - 2025)
- President / Vice-President of AIJA International Arbitration Commission (2019-2024)
- Regional Coordinator DIS40 Zürich (German Arbitration Institution) (2021-2023)
- Associate at Pestalozzi (2013 - 2020)
- Lecturer at University of St. Gallen (2013-2019)
- Bar admission: Switzerland (2013)
- Secondment at a leading global medical device company (2012)
- Queen Mary, University of London: LL.M. (2010)
- Junior Associate at Pestalozzi (2010 - 2012)
- Legal Trainee at WilmerHale, London (2009)
- University St. Gallen: M.A. HSG in Law (2009)
- Swiss Bar Association (SAV)
- Zurich Bar Association (ZAV)
- International Bar Association (IBA)
- International Association of Young Lawyers (AIJA)
- Swiss Arbitration Association (ASA)
- Deutsche Institution für Schiedsgerichtsbarkeit (DIS)
- Early Case Assessment and Investigantions: Reducing Cost and Risk (Switzerland)
- Arbitration clauses in insurance contracts: is this a (good) thing? Panelist at AIJA 13th Annual Arbitration Conference, Athen, 15 September 2023
- The View From Europe: What's New in European Arbitration? Dispute Resolution Journal, Vol 76 No 3, 2023 (with Björn P. Ebert, Stephan Wilske)
- Price mechanism: How to minimize litigation risk, Panelist at AIJA Joint M&A and Arbitration Winter Seminar, Post M&A Disputes – when the deal becomes the target, Davos, 26 January 2023
- Der Werkvertrag (contract for work and services), Kommentar zu Art. 363-379 OR, in Jolanta Kren Kostkiewicz, Stephan Wolf, Marc Amstutz, Roland Fankhauser (Hrsg.), Kommentar zum Schweizerischen Obligationenrecht, Orell Füssli Kommentar (OFK), Zürich 2023
- Introduction Arbitration, Kolloquium Privatrecht, University of St. Gallen, 17 October 2022
- Drafting and negotiating R&W and liability clauses (disputes perspective), Panelist at AIJA Seminar, Criminal and civil liability in M&A transactions, Krakow, 30 September 2022
- Impact of the Global Pandemic on Construction Disputes, Moderator at AIJA Half-Year November Conference, Dubai, 18 November 2021
- Umgang mit Komplexität in Baustreitigkeiten (handling complexity in construction disputes), DIS40 Webinar, 25 November 2020
- Co-author Basler Commentary on Swiss Private International Law Act, article 179 (appointment of arbitral tribunal), Grolimund/Loacker/Schnyder (eds.), 4th ed., Basel 2020
- Parallel proceedings and third party claims in post-M&A disputes, panelist at ASA below 40 Fall Seminar, The deal is closed – let the dispute begin! Post‐M&A disputes, 25 October 2019
- Who pays the bill? Separate deposits, security for costs and allocation of costs, 11th AIJA Annual Arbitration Conference, Zurich, 29 June 2019
- Commentary on Articles 53-60 CISG, Commentary on the UN Sales Law (CISG), Kluwer Law International, 2019 (with Christoph Brunner, Matthias Lerch)
- Challenges to Arbitrators – Recent Trends and Practice, panelist at X Belgrade Arbitration Conference, Belgrade, March 2018
- Lecture on CISG (Suspension, Anticipatory Breach, Installment Contracts, Effects of Avoidance), Vis Moot School Switzerland, University of Zurich, 3 October 2017
- Enforcement of Annulled Arbitral Awards, panelist at the 9th AIJA Annual Arbitration Conference, Stockholm, June 2017
- Buyer's Obligations, Seller's Remedies and Passing of Risk, Lecture at the Vis Moot School Switzerland, University of Zurich, 29 September 2015
- Resisting Enforcement of Arbitral Awards, Video Lecture for the Module Dispute Resolution at the Swiss International Law School, 2015 (with Florian Mohs)
- Role of State Courts in the Gathering of Evidence in Arbitration, panel at the AIJA 53rd Congress, London, September 2015
- Artikel 53-60 CISG (Pflichten des Käufers), Brunner (Hrsg.), UN-Kaufrecht – CISG, Kommentar zum Übereinkommen der Vereinten Nationen über Verträge über den internationalen Warenkauf von 1980, 2. Aufl., Bern 2014 (with Matthias Lerch)
- Brandes Investment Partners, LP v. Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela (case summary), Investment Arbitration Reporter 1/2009 (with Luke Peterson)
- German
- English
- French
- All Swiss courts