Independent legal judgment
A reasoned answer
Evidence and assumptions are tested, the legal position assessed and the available courses compared. The lawyer remains answerable for the advice.
Independent lawyer in Zurich and Basel. Begin with what must be achieved. Use law where it helps.
For boards, owners and legal teams.
Before conflict, the work anticipates legal friction. In disputes, investigations and matters involving public power or protected rights, it provides independent judgment. Recurring legal work can be made reliable through methods and AI tools the organisation can govern, operate and improve. Jonas Hertner also acts for families, foundations and individuals.
01 / Method
Purpose before process.
First-principles work begins with four questions. A matter may require both a reasoned answer and a reliable method.
| Step | Question |
|---|---|
| Purpose | What must be achieved, decided or protected? |
| Evidence | What is known, uncertain or disputed? |
| Law | What does the law enable, require or constrain? What is at risk? |
| Course | What is the simplest sound response: legal advice or action, a change in practice, a tool or no intervention? |
Organisational capability
A reliable method
Sources, standards, controls and decision records remain usable inside the organisation. Tools may perform defined steps. Authority and responsibility remain with the people who decide.
02 / Work
The need determines the work.
02.01 / Before positions harden
Legal work before conflict
With boards, owners and legal teams, the work tests proposed decisions before positions harden. It establishes what law permits or requires, where friction may arise, what should be recorded and who must decide. Recurring questions can become a method the organisation can reuse.
02.02 / When legal work recurs
AI for legal work and governance
Recurring legal and governance work is redesigned before an AI tool is chosen or built. The task, sources, decision rights, review, exceptions and records are defined. The organisation governs the method, retains its knowledge and remains able to explain its decisions. The working note Legal work inside the organisation sets out the method.
02.03 / When conflict is live
Disputes and investigations
Advice and representation in Swiss and cross-border civil and criminal matters, including shareholder and financial disputes, corporate criminal liability, investigations, negotiation, mediation and proceedings before Swiss courts and authorities.
02.04 / When a separate view is needed
Independent review of major disputes
A separate assessment for boards, owners and family offices of what the matter turns on, what the record supports, the range of exposure, the cost of each path and whether to proceed, fund or settle.
02.05 / When private structures are involved
Families, foundations and individuals
Advice and representation concerning ownership, shareholder and financial disputes, investigations, governance, business and asset transactions, and succession. The work begins with the people and relationships involved, not only the legal form.
02.06 / When public power is involved
Constitutional law and fundamental rights
Advice and representation in Swiss proceedings involving state action and protected rights, including questions arising from the environment and emerging technology, with counsel abroad where needed.
03 / Profile
Jonas Hertner
Jonas Hertner is an independent Swiss lawyer. For more than a decade, he has worked on Swiss and cross-border matters. He advises directly, provides independent review and works alongside existing counsel.
- Public benefit practice
- Alongside the independent practice, head lawyer at Regenerative Law.
- Private practice
- Helped establish the Swiss office of Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan.
- Earlier work
- Non-profit organisations, the Directorate of International Law of the Swiss Federal Department of Foreign Affairs, and the Court of Appeal of Basel-Stadt.
- Education
- Law degrees from the Universities of Lucerne and Geneva.
- Public work
- Built OpenCaseLaw and wrote The Good Board.
- Languages
- English, German and French.
04 / Public work
Useful knowledge can be public.
These projects and notes make sources, methods and reasoning available to people and machines.
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OpenCaseLaw
An open, machine-readable corpus of Swiss court decisions and legislation, built for source-linked research.
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The Good Board
A practical guide to Swiss corporate governance, organised around decisions boards face. Through the project, Jonas Hertner helps board members build and adopt personalised AI tools for research and decision-making.
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Legal work inside the organisation
A working note on repeatable legal work, artificial intelligence and explicit responsibility for decisions.
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Write
A browser-based writing tool. Drafts remain on the device unless the user chooses to copy, export or share them.
05 / Contact
Write
team@jonashertner.com
The first email should identify the people and entities involved for a conflict check. Put any possible deadline first, but do not rely on email to preserve it. Send confidential information only through an agreed secure channel.
Automated systems Human confirmation is required before sending a message or acting for anyone.