In Switzerland, legal advice provided by solicitors is not regulated by law and as a consequence, any legal work with the exception of representations befor the ordnary courts (barrister’s work) may be rendered by sufficiently qualified persons as compensated legal service. Equally there exists no legal requirement in Switzerland to be represented by a lawyer, i.e. any person with legal capacity can and may represent his or her case in court by himself or herself. However, regular, paid representation in civil and criminal court proceedings is generally subject to the cantonal attorney monopoly. The swissmedlaw™ advisors are all highly trained lawyers, with or without bar admission, who can draw on a broad formation in private and public law as well as many years of professional experience in the private sector or administration and, as a rule, have postgraduate training in medicine and/or medical law.

Medical law with its many facets affects central legal interests such as life, health or personal freedom, which in everyday medical practice repeatedly leads to decisions having to be made with drastic, legal consequences, which are based on a weighing up of various and sometimes conflicting interests. For example, there is a conflict of goals in informing patients about treatment risks: on the one hand, every patient is entitled to comprehensive information about the dangers and risks of a particular medical intervention; on the other hand, they should not be frightened to such an extent that they decide against a fundamentally necessary intervention.