LEXPAT

A law practice designed entirely for expatriates

LEXPAT is a legal and accounting services firm based in Basel, Switzerland, that explicitly markets itself as serving the expatriate community. Unlike immigration practices that handle expats as one segment among many, LEXPAT's entire practice is structured around the particular legal, tax, and business needs of people relocating to and living in Switzerland. The firm's own tagline, "Far from Home? We Are by Your Side!", establishes the market it targets. It is run by Swiss lawyers and accountants with decades of experience in the Basel region, but the entire firm is staffed to serve clients coming from abroad. This positioning reflects a deliberate business decision: rather than being a generalist firm that takes all clients, LEXPAT chose to specialize in one market segment, expatriates, and build every service around that group's particular needs.

What it does for someone arriving in Switzerland

When you land in Switzerland, you face a sequence of critical legal moves that overlap and interconnect in ways many newcomers do not anticipate. You need to understand your residency permit, which category you qualify for, what restrictions apply, and how long it lasts. You navigate employment contracts under Swiss law, which differs substantially from other countries and contains traps unfamiliar to someone who has only worked abroad. You potentially handle family law matters if you are bringing a spouse and children and need to establish guardianship or guardianship arrangements in a new jurisdiction. You secure housing through rental agreements governed by Swiss tenant law. You file your first tax return as a Swiss resident, which has reporting requirements and timing different from your home country. You may need to address inheritance law if you are bringing assets into Switzerland.

LEXPAT covers this entire arrival sequence under one roof. The firm's service menu explicitly lists immigration, employment contracts, family law, real estate, inheritance, criminal law, starting a business, Swiss taxes, US taxes, and accounting. This breadth means one lawyer can see the connections between your permit category, your employment terms, and your tax residency, connections that matter but often get lost when you consult separate specialists working in isolation. For example, the category of work permit you hold affects whether you must register with Swiss tax authorities, which in turn affects your filing deadline and tax residency status. A lawyer who sees all three pieces at once can advise you on the optimal path. The firm emphasizes affordable rates and professional advice, which signals they position themselves as accessible to individuals, not just corporate clients with unlimited budgets. This matters for someone arriving on an employee transfer with a limited relocation budget.

Languages and accessibility

The site publishes that the firm's attorneys "provide services in English, German, French, Spanish and Italian." For an expat arriving from a non-German-speaking country, this is a material advantage. You can conduct initial consultations and complex legal work in your native language, which reduces misunderstanding and the fatigue of legal negotiation in your second language. The firm also offers a free consultation, lowering the barrier to testing whether they are the right fit before you commit to paid work. This is especially useful if you are new to Switzerland and are uncertain whether you even need a lawyer or whether a matter can be self-addressed. You reach them by phone at +41 61 589 67 88 or through their contact form. Basel, where the firm is based, is a trilingual city on Switzerland's border with France and Germany, which means it attracts many cross-border workers and international employees, so LEXPAT's client base likely reflects that multilingual reality.

How you engage

The firm packages its services around the problem of expatriate relocation rather than traditional practice areas. The site groups all services under expat-facing labels: if you are arriving, you need to handle immigration first, then employment and tax questions. If you are buying property, you need real estate counsel but probably also tax advice on property ownership as a non-citizen. If you are bringing a family, you need family law coordination alongside immigration. The firm's structure assumes you do not yet know Swiss law and will need hand-holding through multiple areas at once. They frame their expertise as understanding "what it's like to be an expatriate" and "the challenges and sometimes difficulties" of that transition, positioning empathy alongside legal knowledge. That empathy angle, staffed by people who understand the expat experience, differentiates LEXPAT from a generalist firm that might technically know the law but lack the intuition for what a new arrival actually needs.

What the page does not address

LEXPAT does not publish details on fees, retainer structures, or typical costs for common legal services like employment contract review or residence permit applications. The phrase "affordable rates" suggests pricing below the market baseline for Basel, but without seeing fee schedules or typical client spend, a new expatriate cannot budget or compare against other firms. The site also does not list the individual lawyers on staff or their specializations, so you cannot research who would handle your specific matter before calling or prepare focused questions for the first conversation. The firm does not describe turnaround times for different services, whether an immigration file takes two weeks or two months to process from intake to submission. There is no clarity on whether they handle all interactions with cantonal authorities directly or use intermediaries, or what level of your participation is expected in the process. The site does not specify how they charge for tax preparation, whether hourly, flat fee, or a percentage of filing complexity. A first conversation would be necessary to get these specifics and should include direct questions about cost and timeline.

Who LEXPAT suits and who it does not

LEXPAT works best for an English-speaking or multilingual expat arriving in the Basel region who values having one firm handle the full range of arrival-stage legal and tax issues and prefers an approachable, empathetic tone over a formal corporate law feel. It is especially useful if you are bringing a family and need family law coordination alongside immigration and tax work. It suits you if you have a limited budget and appreciate that a smaller regional firm may price below Zurich or Geneva-based competitors. LEXPAT is particularly useful for someone relocating through a corporate transfer, since the firm understands employment law and tax coordination for inbound employees. It suits you less well if you are already settled and have stable legal footing but need specialist corporate counsel for complex transactions, if you are relocating to a different Swiss canton where you might prefer local counsel in that region, or if you need guaranteed fast turnaround and want to comparison-shop fees extensively before deciding. The firm's multilingual capability also makes it particularly useful if your spouse or children speak primarily a language other than German, since they can receive legal advice in their own language. Basel's location on the French and German borders also means LEXPAT likely handles cross-border employment and tax issues better than a Zurich or Geneva firm might, which is a silent advantage if your work straddles the frontier or if you have ongoing cross-border obligations.