Brodard Avocats Fiscalité Patrimoine SA

What Brodard Avocats Fiscalité Patrimoine Is

Brodard Avocats Fiscalité Patrimoine SA is a law firm specializing in Swiss and international tax law, real estate, succession planning, and wealth protection. Based in Lausanne (Vaud) and Bulle (Fribourg), the firm combines lawyers and a certified tax expert (Expert fiscal diplômé) to cover both legal and tax advice on cross-border matters. The firm's focus is Franco-Swiss and international taxation, and it describes itself as offering "counsel, optimization, and litigation" services.

The firm name reflects its core: Brodard Avocats (the law practice), Fiscalité (taxation), and Patrimoine (wealth/estate). The partners are Justin Brodard and Elie Bourdilloud, both lawyers at the bar (Avocat au barreau), with Brodard additionally holding a diploma as a certified tax expert (Expert fiscal diplômé).

For Someone Moving to Switzerland

An arrival from France or another country with existing wealth faces immediate tax questions: how is international income and assets taxed in Switzerland, how are existing foreign holdings treated, and what tax planning can reduce the new resident's total tax burden. Brodard directly addresses this scope. The firm lists "immigration to Switzerland" and "fiscal optimization" as separate services, signaling that immigration itself is a specialized area requiring tailored advice beyond generic tax planning.

For property, an arrival often buys or rents during the first year, and the firm covers both sides: "assistance in buying/selling real estate" and "real estate taxation" including "property gains tax and transfer duties." The firm also handles "succession planning and wealth structuring," relevant to an arrival settling their long-term financial arrangements. For someone coming from France, the property angle is particularly relevant: French real estate often remains in the picture, and Brodard's Franco-Swiss expertise means both the Swiss property and the French holdings are integrated into a single tax plan rather than handled separately.

The site describes a three-phase approach: optimization (maximizing income and wealth through tax strategy and planning), transmission (succession planning and inheritance structuring), and protection (legal structures to guard assets). These three phases match an arrival's trajectory: first, settling the tax situation and optimizing the new resident's structure; second, preparing for the future through planning the estate and succession; third, defending accumulated assets from creditors or excessive taxation.

The team includes four lawyers plus support staff. Justin Brodard leads the firm with deep tax credentials and family-office experience, suggesting he understands complex, multi-generational wealth structures. Elie Bourdilloud provides partnership and additional legal capacity. The presence of both lawyers (for legal structures and court representation) and a certified tax expert (for optimization strategy) means the firm handles both the planning and the paperwork.

What the Site Publishes

The firm has offices at Rue du Bourg 16-18 in Lausanne (1003) and Rue de Vevey 58-60 in Bulle (1630). The contact phone is +41 21 503 30 30. The firm serves clients across all of Switzerland despite the two locations.

Services include:

• Fiscalité des individus (individual tax): tax optimization, independent/entrepreneur taxation, spending-based taxation (taxation d'après la dépense), asset and wealth holdings, immigration to Switzerland, administrative support, tax declarations and compliance.
• Fiscalité des entreprises (business tax): structuring optimized tax entities, transformations, M&A, shareholder relations, participation plans, tax authority negotiation and rulings, VAT.
• Fiscalité immobilière (real estate): buying/selling assistance, real estate taxation, property company structures, contract review, holding structures, tax deferral, gains and transfer duties, municipal tax, lease problems.
• Droit des successions (succession law): succession and wealth planning, business and asset transmission, testament drafting, trusts, executor representation, succession sharing, court representation.
• Droit pénal fiscal (tax criminal law): voluntary disclosure, defense against contraventions, delicts, crimes, tax evasion, court representation.
• Droit du patrimoine (wealth law): asset protection, wealth structuring, financial family law, real estate investment, contract assistance, matrimonial law and divorce.

Justin Brodard holds a Master in Advanced Tax Law (Université Paris Dauphine), a Master in Economics (Université Paris Panthéon-Assas), and a civil engineer diploma (École d'ingénieurs de Genève). He has over ten years of experience and previously worked as a wealth planner specializing in tax law at a family office. Elie Bourdilloud is listed as a partner lawyer (Avocat au barreau). Lenny Aicher is listed as a lawyer and tax specialist (Avocat au barreau, Fiscaliste). Milad Ghazi is listed as a trainee lawyer. Claudie Gillon is listed as an assistant.

The firm publishes that its lawyers publish regularly in specialized journals and speak at seminars and conferences on tax, succession, and wealth law topics.

What the Page Does Not Settle

The site does not publish hourly rates or flat fees. For a complex immigration case involving restructuring an existing business, a real estate purchase coupled with tax planning, or M&A with cross-border implications, the cost of advice is unknown without a consultation. The firm does not name specific insurance partners, investment advisors, or banks it refers clients to, though it mentions collaborating with "a network of recognized experts" (experts-comptables, notaires, gestionnaires de fortune, banques privées, family offices). This suggests breadth but lacks specifics.

The page does not confirm whether the firm handles non-residents before residency is formally granted (most arrivals need advice before establishing residence) or accepts clients from every country. For someone arriving from outside France, the firm's Franco-Swiss specialty might mean limited experience with Germanic or Southern European tax systems. The site does not detail whether it handles countries with existing double-taxation agreements with Switzerland or if it advises on every tax jurisdiction. For an American arriving, for instance, FATCA and PFIC rules are specialized and may be beyond this firm's main focus.

The credentials list shows four lawyers plus an assistant, but the page does not specify their individual languages, practice areas, or specialties beyond the names and titles. For an English-speaking arrival, language availability is assumed (the site is in French and English) but not confirmed. The page does not itemize which of the four lawyers handles immigration versus M&A versus succession, so a new client does not know who they would be matched with.

The firm publishes that lawyers "regularly" speak at seminars and conferences and publish in specialized journals, but no specific publications or speaking engagements are named, so the reader cannot check current activity or recent work.

Who It Suits and Who It Doesn't

Brodard is well-suited to a French arrival or someone with substantial French assets integrating into Switzerland, or to anyone with complex cross-border taxation needs and the budget for boutique legal counsel. The firm's specialization in real estate and succession planning suits an arrival who is buying property or settling their estate structure as part of relocation. The dual-nation practice structure (Swiss-based for coordination, French-based for French law) means both the Swiss and French aspects are handled cohesively.

The firm is less ideal for someone wanting a one-stop shop including banking, mortgages, insurance, and general wealth advisory, since it focuses narrowly on law and tax. An arrival seeking English-language counsel would need to confirm language availability before engaging. Someone with minimal assets or a straightforward tax situation would find a more cost-effective option than a specialized boutique law firm. An arrival from a non-Francophone country without substantial existing assets in France might also find a more generalist Swiss advisor more practical.

The firm's publication record and conference speaking are credible signals of expertise and staying current with evolving Swiss tax law, and the family-office background of the lead partner suggests deep experience with complex, multi-generational structures rather than commodity tax preparation.