We are proud to announce that Patricia Guerra is featured in Handelszeitung’s focus on women in business law: “Women who have prevailed in the men’s world of the top law firms.” Here is a translation of that article:
Female lawyers: A few female lawyers have fought with expertise, willpower and flair for a place at the top of renowned business law firms.
Top League
The resume of Patricia Guerra needs space in order to list all her qualifications. She has a broad education, is well-connected, speaks several languages and is one of the few female business lawyers who have been successful in rising up to partner in a top law firm. On a daily basis she needs more than competence and commitment. When she speaks about her work, words like “empathy”, “tact” and “understanding” rise to her lips.
Her clients are wealthy private persons with the highest demands, who need advice in connection with real estate or commercial transactions, taxes and succession and estate planning. They are, however, also confronted with more mundane issues like the loss of a driver’s license. And whatever happens, Guerra handles it. “Don’t worry, I will take care of the problem for you”, she says also when she is needed on a Sunday morning. Always careful about discretion and etiquette, she would never, as common in the business, appear with an attaché case to impress. One of her main challenges is to be empathetic vis-à-vis her clients and at the same time to keep a professional distance. Apparently she is good at it: the British magazine “Citywealth” describes her as one of the most important women worldwide advising wealthy private clients. Such reputation is worth a mint – and the result of hard work. Guerra already knew during her legal studies in Geneva that she wanted to be a partner in a large law firm. She applied for a job at Meyerlustenberger because this law firm had the reputation of being open to women already at the time. Most of the other long-established law firms were male bastions at partnership level into the 90s.
Patricia Guerra is partner of the Zurich law firm Meyerlustenberger Lachenal since 1997. She grew up in Ecuador and wanted to become an artist. However, she stopped her art studies and started legal studies in Geneva. “I am fascinated by the structured way in which problems are analysed and solutions found”, she says. After a stage with Meyerlustenberger Lachenal she took the bar exam in Zurich and obtained the US Master of Laws at the University of Michigan. Her goal was to become partner in a business law firm. After initially mainly advising companies, she later developed a base of wealthy private clients from Europe as well as North and South America. The magazine “Citywealth” selected Patricia Guerra as one of the most important women worldwide advising wealthy private clients. She is fluent in German, Spanish, English and French.
