Birgit’s daily practice is focused on conflict prevention and resolution. She is a partner at Altenburger in Switzerland, specializing in international commercial and contractual matters, finance and banking, labor, intellectual property, construction, as well as in cross-border inheritance and family situations.
A former substitute conciliating judge at the Geneva Courts, in addition to her activities as a lawyer, she acts as a mediator and assists parties in mediation since 1997.
In the same year, she co-founded the Swiss Chamber of Commercial Mediation.
Listed in “Who’s Who Mediation” since 2011, as a “highly experienced mediator with a truly international practice, praised for her strategic vision in dispute resolution. Birgit has been awarded as the No. 1 most prominent mediator in Switzerland in 2019, described by her peers as an excellent mediator with great language skills.”
She was named “Best Mediator and Mediation Advocate” by WWL Switzerland Award 2020.
Distinguished member of the International Academy of Mediators and member of the European Advisory Board of CPR-ADR, she is sworn in as a mediator before various Courts in Switzerland and is accredited/listed before various Institutions such as ICC, SCAI, WIPO, INSOL, IMI, CEDR, CAM (Milan), SCIA (Shenzen) and the TAS-CAS Court of Arbitration for Sport
She has also been functioning as an external mediator for the World Trade Organization (WTO) since 2016, as well as for various banks, commercial companies and other organizations.
Birgit introduced alternative dispute resolution to the Geneva Bar by setting up, in 2012, the first ADR Commission dealing with arbitration, mediation, collaborative law and Dispute Boards.
Training is one of her favorite activities in this field and she teaches in particular at the MIDS Master in International Dispute Settlements, Graduate Institute HEI Geneva, as well as at the Universities of Fribourg, Geneva and previously in Turin and Hamburg.
She is fluent in French, German and English, and speaks Italian and Spanish.
Birgit Sambeth Glasner has consistently been rated at the highest Performance Level the Parties for whom she has acted as a mediator as well as their attorneys. All of the parties would recommend her as a mediator, a fact borne out by the number of them willing to use her again and some to provide a reference to parties considering the engagement of Birgit as a mediator in the future. Costs were widely reported as reasonable and within international standards. Thus, a very high degree of satisfaction was reported.
Birgit has a quick grasp of all the underlying issues and she explores the values with patience. Her skills in setting up and providing an adequate environment for a constructive dialogue was particularly reflected, as well as her patience and flexibility, together with her ability to calm down individual sensitivities and to prevent the escalation of disputes.
She is described as having a sound common sense and being confident, pragmatic as well as solution oriented. She tries to keep negotiators focused on key issues and future interests. Birgit calmly deals with stalemates and she is deemed to be particularly helpful in clarifying and structuring the dispute resolution processes, managing the parties expectations and assisting them to “take a step back”.
Humanistic and empathetic, she uses all her personal skills, notably the listening skills, to a genuinely caring attitude, and for being an excellent listener and very skilled communicator. Having lived all her life in a multi-cultural, – professional and – linguistic environment, she handles well cultural differences, whether geographic Very human and empathetic, she has a special way to build trust with the parties. She was reported as being committed, having a genuinely caring attitude but, at the same time, also being able to stay firm if needed.
Birgit has a brilliant mind, able to catch immediately what is really at stake and has a special way to calmly but firmly help parties to find their way out of the conflict. All the mediations she has conducted were reported as being settled in a very short time.
Contact Birgit Sambeth
email. : sambeth.glasner@altenburger.chmob. : + 41 79 859 12 84
11 bis rue Toepffer
1206 Genève
Suisse