Marie BergerPartner

Languages

• French, English, Spanish, Portuguese

Main fields of activity

• Family and persons' law (national and international divorce, separation matrimonial estate, judiciary measures of protection of the marital union, registered partnerships)
• Nuptial and prenuptial agreements
• Family finances
• International child abduction and counsel in this area to Swiss and foreign lawyers
• Splitting of occupational pension scheme (second pillar)
• International private law
• Medicaly assisted procuration including surrogacy and effects in Switzerland 
• Recognition and enforcement of foreign orders and judgments
• Family Criminal law

Memberships

• Geneva Bar Association
• Swiss Lawyers' Federation
• International Academy of Family Lawyers
• Human rights Commission of the Geneva Bar
• Geneva Bar Exam Commission
• Juris Conseil Junior

Education

• Erasmus at the University Panthéon-Assas, Paris, (2003-2004)
• Law degree and certificate of transnational law at the University of Geneva (2005)
• Annual teaching session at the International Human Rights' Institute in Strasbourg (2005)
• Bar Exam in Geneva (2009)

Professional experience

• April 2021: representative of the Geneva Bar Association during a mission to observe the trials of Turkish colleagues and meetings in prison with some of them, in collaboration with European Bars and the International Observatory of Lawyers
• Partner of the Firm BRS Berger Recordon & de Saugy  (since 2020)
• May 2019 : representative of the Geneva Bar Association and the International Commission of Jurists in the framework of a mission to observe the humanitarian situation of the indigenous community of Laguna Larga from El Petén displaced on a border zone between Mexico and Guatemala
• Associate lawyer with the Firm BRS Avocats (2009 - 2020)
• Trainee with the Firm LHA (2007-2008)
• Trainee with the Geneva Superior Court of Justice (September 2006 - February 2007)

Conferences

• March 19-22, 2025: Expatriate Law, International Family Law Conference, Chamonix-Mont-Blanc
  Conference «The recognition of foreign divorce» presented with Lily Mottahedan, moderation by Sara Lange.
• January 31, 2025: General Meeting on Family and Heritage Law, Paris
  Workshop News and case-law in PIL animated with Delphine Eskenazi, Alexandre Boiché and Professor Michel Farge.
• April 2024 : Expatriate Law, International Family law Conference, Cascais Portugal  «How to avoid the Part III trap». Speaker alongside Marisol Arellano Lundberg, Dr Hassan Elhais, Maria Isabel Pacheco, Bruna Rinaldi de Carvalho, moderation by  Luz Hanish Dunlop.
• October 20, 2023 : International seminar AIJUDEFA, Paris

  «Patrimonial aspects of family law in the international context». Speaker, alongside Sophie Ducamp-Monod, Ramón Tamborero and Diego Pájaro, moderation by Luz Calvo.

• September 13, 2023 : Federal Office of Justice, Bern

  Federal Act on International Child Abduction and The Hague Conventions on the Protection of Children and Adults (LF - EEA) in practice, exchange of experiences between courts, authorities and experts. Rapporteur, alongside Christoph A. Herzig, of the conclusions of the representatives of minors in Switzerland within the framework of HCCH 1980. 

• February 16, 2023: Seminar organized by the University of Geneva, Geneva

  Colloquium «Coopérer pour éviter la rupture de lien dans les transitions familiales» - Workshop animated with Marta Fragapane Mirza, psychotherapist FSP, and participation in a round table discussion with prof. Michelle Cottier, Alexandre Balmer, Marta Fragapane Mirza, Camille Maulini, Alexandra Spiess and Marc Venturin, moderated by prof. Eric D. Widmer

• January 26, 2023: General Meeting on Family and Heritage Law, Paris
  Workshop News and case-law in PIL animated with Delphine Eskenazi, Alexandre Boiché and Professor Michel Farge
• May 27, 2022 : International congress AIJUDEFA, Sevilla 

  Symposium Estudio de Derecho Comparado. Caso práctico. Divorcio: Foros de competencia, acuerdos prenupciales y su ejecutividad, distintos regímenes económicos matrimoniales y reconocimiento internacional animated with Carolina Bustamante, María Fábrega and Javier Pérez Martín

• March 8, 2022: General Meeting on Family and Heritage Law, Paris

  Workshop News and case-law in PIL animated with Delphine Eskenazi, Alexandre Boiché and Professor Michel Farge

• June 25, 2021: French Institute of Family and Heritage Law, Paris
  Colloquium "L’aliénation parentale : mythe et réalité" - Speaker alongside Dr Paul Bensussan, Frédérique Bozzi, Audrey Decroix, Dr. Anne-Catherine Pernot Masson and Dr Jean-Luc Viaux
• March 30, 2021: Conference on family maintenance, Geneva 

  Webinar organized by the ODAGE - Speaker alongside Sophie Thorens-Aladjem, judge at the First instance Court of Geneva. Moderation by Annette Micucci

• March 19, 2021: IAFL Introduction to European Family Law Webinar 

  Divorce and financial splits: an essential outline - Speaker alongside Agne Limante, Sam Longworth, Iryna Moroz and Séverine Tamburini-Kender

• January 29, 2021: General Meeting on Family and Heritage Law, Paris

  Workshop News and case-law in PIL animated with Delphine Eskenazi, Alexandre Boiché and Professor Michel Farge

• 19 January 2021: The Law Society 

  Private Law Brexit transition - Divorce webinar. Speaker alongside Lisette Dupré, Alexandre Boiché and Elaine Richardson

• 31 January 2020: Etats généraux du Droit de la famille et du patrimoine, Paris
  News and jurisprudence in PIL workshop with Alexandre Boiché and Delphine Eskenazi and Professor Michel Farge
• 20 March 2020: IAFL Introduction to European Family Law Conference, Kiev
  Divorce and financial splits: an essential outline - Speaker
• March 2019: IAFL Introduction to Family Law Conference, Milan

  The Modern Family, surrogacy, gay marriage and cohabitation rights - Speaker

• March 2019: Young Bar Association Conference, Geneva

  Family law, selected aspects -  Speaker

• January 2019 : Etats généraux du Droit de la famille et du patrimoine, Paris

  Workshop Regards croisés sur l'autorité parentale et la résidence alternée animated with  Joaos Camara, Giulia Facchini Martini, Niamh Garvey, Arnaud Gillard, William Healing, Alice Meier-Bourdeau, Béatrice Vignolles

• October 2018 : National and international approaches to the regulation of surrogate motherhood, University of Lausanne

  Speaker alongside Michael Wells-Greco and Konstantinos Rokas

• December 2015: First Tuesday - Workshops to discuss recent case law, Geneva

  Workshop in family law with Miranda Liniger Gros, Judge at the Court of First Instance

Publications

• Swiss contribution in : "Practical Family Law Guide", Thomson Reuters (April 2023)
• (December 2021)
• Swiss contribution in: Practical Law Family Global Guide, Thomson Reuters 2021 (December 2020)