Benoît Chappuis is a senior partner at Lenz & Staehelin, one of Switzerland's leading law firms and the largest in the country with over 160 attorneys and offices in Geneva, Zurich and Lausanne. He heads the litigation practice group of the firm's Geneva and Lausanne offices of which he has also been managing partner since 2006.
Benoît's practice concentrates on business litigation and arbitration. He also has extensive experience in advising on contractual, inheritance, torts and trust issues. He appears before all levels of Swiss civil, criminal and administrative courts and acts both as counsel and arbitrator in ad hoc and institutional arbitrations. Parties at commercial disputes frequently appoint him sole arbitrator to try their arguments.
Benoît is often called upon by banking institutions to advise on liability in asset management and money laundering concerns. Recent representations include cases pertaining to auditing, banking, commercial, construction, debt enforcement and employment matters.
He has handled major cases. He was one of the defence lawyers in the Leclerc case, the largest criminal banking case in the 1980s. In 1992, he was one of the defence lawyers in the first criminal trial for money laundering in Geneva. He is presently in charge of the interests of the auditors in the largest banking dispute in Geneva, the Cantonal Bank case.
In sync with his practice, Benoît takes an active part in the life of the legal community. For 11 years (1986 to 1997), he has been a member of the Commission for the Geneva Bar Examinations. After serving as a member of its council, he was elected vice-chairman (1996 to 1998), then chairman (Bâtonnier, 1998 to 2000) of the Geneva Bar Association.
From 1992 to 2007, he held the office of deputy judge with the Geneva Court of Appeal. Simultaneously (2001 to 2007), he served as a member of the Superior Council of the Judiciary of the Canton of Geneva.
Benoît obtained his law degree in 1979 and was awarded the prize for the top place (Huet du Pavillon award). He received a Diploma of High Legal Studies, summa cum laude, in 1982. He passed the Bar exam with top grades in 1984. In 2007, he obtained a law doctorate, summa cum laude, from the University of Fribourg.
Before joining Lenz & Staehelin in 1984, Benoît worked as a teaching assistant (contract and banking law, 1979 to 1982) and a lecturer (private law, 1985 to 1988) at the University of Geneva. From 2000 to 2007, he conducted a yearly seminar on provisional remedies laid down by the law of civil procedure organised by the Universities of Geneva and Lausanne for their Master of Business Law programme. He is now a lecturer in contract law at the University of Fribourg and a professor at the Legal Practice School (Ecole d'avocature) of the University of Geneva. He is regularly invited to give lectures on banking and civil matters to university students as well as to professional people.
Benoît's publications deal with civil and procedural subjects, including professional rules. His recent writings discuss the importance of time in the assessment of damage and damages. His doctoral thesis which examined that issue was granted the Walther Hug Foundation Award 2006/2007, the Gottlob Award 2006/2007, the Peter Jäggi Foundation Award 2007 and the Schweizerische Gesellschaft für Haftpflicht- und Versicherungsrecht Award 2008.
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