Prof. Dr. Isaak Meier

Academic background and professional career

After studying law at the University of Zurich and finishing his doctoral thesis, Isaak Meier was a court clerk at the District Court of Zurich and at the Commercial Court of Zurich for three years. After having been admitted to the bar in 1982, he spent ten years working as a lawyer, gaining experience in the field of conducting complex civil cases and advising on insolvency law. He then qualified as a Professor of Procedural Law and Insolvency Law at the University of Zurich.

From 1991 to 2016 Isaak Meier was Professor of Procedural Law, Insolvency Law, Private Law and Mediation at the University of Zurich. His internationally oriented teaching and research activities led him to Harvard University (1997), the University of Cambridge (2004) and the University of Oxford (2013). Since 1982 he has been working very closely with the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki in Greece. He has been the president of the Institut für zivilgerichtliches Verfahren (Institute for Civil Procedure) in Zurich since 1992.

In addition to his work at the University of Zurich, Isaak Meier also worked as a consultant and an independent expert for a law firm in Zurich. He was a member of the commission of experts on the revision of insolvency law and was invited to the hearings of the Swiss Federal Office of Justice in respect of the ongoing revision of international bankruptcy law.

In 2002 Isaak Meier acquired a diploma in Mediation in Business and Administration from the University of Applied Sciences and Arts Northwestern Switzerland FHNW. Since then he has regularly been working as a mediator with particular emphasis on internal work conflicts or economic conflicts.

After retiring from his chair as Professor at the University of Zurich, Isaak Meier joined Rutschmann Schwaibold Partner as a lawyer and counsel in February 2016.

Isaak Meier is the author of numerous publications on national and international civil procedure law, bankruptcy law and composition proceedings, comparative law and mediation.

Homepage of Prof. Dr. Isaak Meier at UZH

List of publications as PDF

Preferred areas of practice

Consulting, drafting expert opinions and litigating in respect of national and international civil procedural law and insolvency law; consulting and drafting expert opinions in respect of reorganization proceedings, restructuring plans and liquidations; mediation of conflicts in companies, in contractual relationships and in public institutions; consulting, organizing and implementing internal and external further education for law firms and in-house lawyers.

Memberships

Zurich Bar Association, Swiss Bar Association, Institut für zivilgerichtliches Verfahren (president since 1992), Schweizerischer Verein für Mediation SVM, Schweizerischer Juristenverein, Zürcherischer Juristenverein, Konferenz der Betreibungs- und Konkursbeamten der Schweiz, Verband der Gemeindeammänner und Betreibungsbeamten des Kantons Zürich, Wissenschaftliche Vereinigung für internationales Verfahrensrecht e.V., Vereinigung der Zivilprozessrechtslehrer Deutschlands, Österreichs und der Schweiz, Schweizerische Konferenz der Hochschullehrer für Zivilverfahrensrecht and American Bankruptcy Institute.

Languages

German, English