Attorney

Date of birth:

August 24, 1958

Nationality:

Swiss and French

Education

• 1989
  Doctorate on animal-welfare law and fundamental rights - magna cum laude
  Zurich University, Switzerland
• 1986
  Admission to the Bar of Zurich
• 1983 Law degree - magna cum laude
  Zurich University, Switzerland

Experience

Present to 2004 Sole practitioner
Antoine F. Goetschel, Zurich
     
Practice areas include inheritance law, trusts and endowments, as well as unfair competition, victim protection and neighbour law. I also advise and represent clients during court proceedings.

Present to November 2007

Animal-welfare lawyer Canton Zurich
 

First position of its kind worldwide, representing the interests of animals in criminal cases as a public official. Unfettered access to investigations and court proceedings from start to finish and may exercise rights of appeal.

Present

Visiting lecturer on animal-welfare legislation at Zurich Law School

2007 to 1995 Director

Foundation for the Animal in the Law, Zurich
 

Established and shaped the foundation (www.animallaw.ch), which has the largest public library of texts on animal welfare law and animal ethics in the German-speaking world (over 10,000) and an electronic database of all criminal cases involving animal welfare in Switzerland (currently over 5,000 decisions). The organisation also offers expert advice on animal-welfare law and is a competence centre in this field.

2004-1994  Partner

Law firm Goetschel & Raess, Zurich

Specialising in legal implications of human-animal relationships, inter alia.

Present to 1984

Specialist in human-animal-relationship in Swiss and international law

Selected publications:

Books

• Pending
  Legal commentary on Swiss Animal Welfare Act 2005
  Schulthess, Zurich
• 2003
  "The Animal in the Law - 99 Aspects of Human-Animal Relationship" 
  Orell Füssli, Zurich
• 2002
  "The Dignity of Animals"
  Harald Fischer, Erlangen
• 2002
  “Legal Commentary on the German Animal-Welfare Act”
  Kohlhammer, Stuttgart
• 2001
  "Our Dog"
  Beobachter, Zurich 
• 1993
  "Law and Animal Welfare"
  Haupt, Berne
• 1989
  "Animal Welfare and Fundamental Rights"
  Haupt, Berne
• 1986
  Legal commentary on Swiss Animal Welfare Act
  Haupt, Berne

Miscellaneous

More than 30 scientific contributions, essays and legal opinions on Swiss cantonal and national, German, Austrian, European and international animal-welfare legislation.

Recent speaker engagements: 

 
2006

• German Academy of Sciences Leopoldina - “Challenges to the veterinary profession from the animal in law”
• Heidelberg University - “The animal in law and the regulatory postulate”

2005

• Cambridge University - “Animals in European Laws - legal aspects of human-animal bonds”

I have also addressed the following organisations:

• German Judges Academy
• European Biomedical Research Association
• Federation of Europ. Laboratory Animal Science Associations
• Swiss Veterinary Association
• German Association of Practising Veterinarians

Memberships: 

• Foundation for the Animal in the Law, board member
• International Association of Human Animal Interaction Organisations, legal committee
• European Centre for the Validation of Alternative Methods, president legal task force
• Wiener Tierschutzpreis (Viennese prize for animal protection), expert jury
• Swiss Organisation for Public Affairs, registered lobbyist
• SwissFoundations (Association of Grant-making Foundations in Switzerland)
• ProFonds (umbrella Association of Charitable Foundations in Switzerland)
• Swiss Bar Association
• Zurich Bar Association

Recent prizes:

• 2005
  Margaret and Francis Fleitmann Prize
   
  For “tireless and outstanding commitment to contemporary animal-welfare legislation, especially for pioneer work for the animal in the law”.
   
  Prize of CHF 50,000.

Languages:

German and French (bilingual), English (good, written and spoken).
 

Office

Our office will be happy to take your calls from Monday to Friday, from 08.30 to 11.45 and from 13.30 to 16.45.
 

Contact details

Office address:

Dr. iur. Antoine F. Goetschel
Law firm
Wildbachstrasse 46
P.O. Box 412
CH-8034 Zurich - Switzerland

Please do not send us any confidential information by e-mail. We assume that persons who correspond with us using e-mail accept that we will reply by e-mail.