Alisa Burkhard helps her clients find their way through the legal maze so that they can concentrate on building their business. She advises companies and entrepreneurs on questions of Swiss and international corporate and commercial law, including M&A transactions, as well as contract law. She also has extensive experience working as outsourced legal counsel – supporting clients’ existing business and legal teams on all day-to-day legal topics – for clients as varied as multinational listed companies, tech start-ups and charitable foundations.
Alisa is also a trusted advisor to her private clients on legal issues in connection with their professional and personal ventures in Switzerland. She has a particular passion for relocation advisory and immigration law: Alisa helps clients obtain all types of residence and work permits in Switzerland and supports them with family reunification and immigration dispute resolution.
Alisa enjoys navigating between different languages and cultures and advises clients in English, German, Russian and French. Her clients appreciate her positive and solution-oriented approach, her approachability and persistence. Alisa values volunteering her time with charitable organizations engaged in humanitarian aid and assistance to immigrants, and she loves to travel for adventure and spend time outdoors.
Alisa studied law at the University of Fribourg i.Ue. (2009-2014, BLaw, MLaw, summa cum laude), was admitted to the Bar in 2016, and is qualified to practice as an attorney throughout all of Switzerland. She completed the CAS “International Individual Taxation” at the Kalaidos Institute in Zurich in 2020. Previously, she studied political science at New York University (2003-2008, B.A., M.A., summa cum laude) and lived and worked in the USA.
Alisa Burkhard
Attorney-at-Law
alisa.burkhard@flyinglawyers.ch
+41 (0)78 622 05 86
Alisa Burkhard specializes in corporate law while also supporting the people behind those corporate structures. She advises companies and entrepreneurs on questions of Swiss and international corporate and commercial law as well as contract law and helps her clients find their way through the legal maze so that they can concentrate on building their business.
She is also a trusted advisor to her private clients on legal questions in connection with their professional and personal ventures in Switzerland, as well as individual taxation and immigration law. Alisa Burkhard was born in Russia and grew up in the USA, so she focuses in particular on advising Russian and English-speaking private clients.
Alisa Burkhard enjoys navigating between different languages and cultures. Clients appreciate her positive and solution-oriented approach, her approachability and her persistence. She doesn’t only enjoy giving lectures in her fields of expertise, but is also an active member of Toastmasters Zurich and participates in public speaking contests in her free time.
Alisa Burkhard studied law at the University of Fribourg i.Ue. (MLaw) and was admitted to the bar in Berne (2016). To better support her private clients, she completed the CAS “International Individual Taxation” at the Kalaidos Institute in Zurich in 2020. In a previous life, she studied political science at New York University (2003-2008, B.A., M.A.) and lived and worked in the USA.
Professional career
2021 Partner at FlyingLawyers, Zurich
2016-2021 Attorney-at-Law at Altenburger Ltd legal + tax, Kuesnacht-Zurich
2014-2015 Junior lawyer at Kellerhals Attorneys at Law, Berne und Zurich
2014 Law clerk at the Regional Court Oberland, Thun
Memberships and Further mandate
Swiss Bar Association (SBA) and Zurich Bar Association (ZAV)
Executive Board Member and SCILL Commission member,
International Association of Young Lawyers (AIJA)
Board member, The Twin Star Project
Co-founder and board member, Swiss Aid to Ukraine Association
Languages
English
German
Russian
French
Publications and events
Switzerland: Corporate Immigration Comparative Guide, Mondaq, April 2022
“Foreseeable relevance” in administrative assistance proceedings in tax matters according to case law and practice in Switzerland (Принцип предполагаемого отношения информации к делу в рамках административной помощи по налоговым вопросам), Nalogoved (journal of the Moscow law firm Pepeliaev Group), March 2021
The world “after”: Perspectives on immigration in 2021 (Мир “после” – иммиграционные перспективы на 2021 г), Favorit Magazine, December 2020
Russia and Switzerland in an era of transparency, Webinar on information exchange in tax matters between Switzerland and Russia in cooperation with the Moscow law firm Pepeliaev Group, June 2020
Tax transparency: What is it and what does it mean for business? (Налоговая прозрачность и ее значимость для бизнеса), Favorit Magazine, December 2019
Transfer of tax residence to Switzerland by Russian HNWIs: Adventures and disputes, Vortrag an der Konferenz “HNWI Russian Clients”, Zurich, November 2019
Bearer shares banned: What to do, Alisa Burkhard, Sebastiano Garufi, Riccardo Geiser und Thomas Roullet in Altenburger Newsletter, November 2019
Groundbreaking Swiss Supreme Court decision on tax administrative assistance – The end of foreseeable relevance? Alisa Burkhard and Luzi Cavelti in Bloomberg Tax, 159 DTR, August 2019
Corporate structures between Cyprus and Switzerland; Relocation to Switzerland as an EU citizen and other personal tax aspects, Presentations at a conference organized in cooperation with the Cyprus law firm C. Savva & Associates, Moscow, June 2019
Overview of corporate law, taxation, banking and compliance in Switzerland (Обзор корпоративного права, налогообложения, банковской деятельности и комплайанса в Швейцарии), Lecture at an educational seminar of the European Center for Legal Cooperation, Vienna, February 2019
The Swiss business formula – past, present and future, Favorit Magazine, December 2018
Are you substantial, effective and transparent? Developments in tax authorities’ and court practice, litigation and tax risks for HNWI Russian clients, Presentation at the annual conference “HNWI Russian Clients”, Zurich, November 2018
Fallstricke im Erbrecht bei grenzüberschreitenden Sachverhalten Schweiz – Russland, Zuger Steuer Praxis: Wohnsitz im Ausland und seine Probleme, No. 68, August 2018
Litigation involving Russian clients – common cases and new horizons in banking and tax, Presentation at the annual conference “HNWI Russian Clients”, Zurich, November 2017
New legal and tax horizons: Russian client compliance and AEOI Switzerland-Russia, Presentation to the Association of Foreign Banks in Switzerland, Zurich and Geneva, May 2017
Is my Russian client compliant? Deoffshorization and the new Russian legal landscape, Presentation for the Liechtenstein Lawyers’ Association, December 2016
