Stéphane Lagonico

I have known Mr Stephane Lagonico for many years and have worked with him regularly on servicing high net worth individuals and families with an international ambit. Mr Lagonico is a highly recommendable trust and estate attorney, with a deep expertise in servicing international private clients. He is familiar with contentious international estate disputes. He is a careful and attentive lawyer when clients wish to plan their estate, and understand tax implications of their structures. He is also a keen drafter of wills. He has developed a unique and proprietary method to assess the patrimonial structure of a family and to address matrimonial, estate, tax, residence and nationality issues. Mr Lagonico has a longstanding knowledge of the Anglo-Saxon legal culture and a broad understanding of US taxation touching US individuals. He also has a long experience in advising art collectors and stakeholders in the field of scenic arts. As an owner and director of trust companies, he has demonstrated his ability as an experienced and trustworthy trustee. Very knowledgeable on trust matters, he is at ease to advise settlors, trustees, beneficiaries, protectors, family offices and financial planning departments of private banks on matters involving international families. Reliable, efficient, client and solution oriented, Mr Lagonico is able to address complex multinational issues and advise multi-generational families. I would highly recommend Mr Stephane Lagonico as one of the leading advisors in Switzerland for private client services.

My name is Laurent Maire, and I am a Swiss lawyer with 20+ years experience. I am the senior partner and founder of my law firm. I have known Stephane Lagonico for over 30 years, both on a personal and a professional level and have had the opportunity to work with him on several occasions, as co-counsel or as I had asked him to intervene to sort out a complex international family and estate matter involving trusts. I was well inspired to do so, as I could benefit from Mr Lagonico’s insightful approach, his deep expertise in cross border matters and longstanding capacity to sort out a complex matter involving estate, tax, trusts, banking, compliance and family law dimensions. Mr Lagonico truly dedicates his practice to servicing international private clients, and is at ease with all matters pertaining to residence, nationality, marriage, estates, trusts, personal taxation and charitable aspects of gift giving. I bear witness to his capacity to assist clients with their estate planning projects, to assess and help them understand the corresponding tax implications, in Switzerland or abroad. I also know that he was called to co-found STEP (Society of Trust and Estate Practitioners) Lausanne, Switzerland, and be its first Chairman. It does not strike me as there would have been no one else better positioned to credibly spearhead the development of the Lausanne Chapter of STEP, which he did for many years. In the matters that we co-handled, I command his hands-on approach, his natural understanding of trust party duties and trust investments, his ability to sort out complex situations and provide families with a visionary approach on governance, ethics, and efficient planning. Thanks to his international background, his perfect command of the English language and knowledge of the Anglo-Saxon world, he puts his sharp mind at work to grasp the essence of family relations and the legal implications associated to the choices (residence, estate, trusts, etc.) made by families. Overall, he is a very reputable and seasoned private client attorney and the go-to person for complicated international private client matters, especially those involving trusts and Switzerland for ultra-high net worth families. I would recommend again Mr Lagonico to any client or family in need of such services.