AF PARTNERS
BIO
Personal Profile
Anca APETRIA
Partner, co-founder
+41(0)22 839 80 22
Expertise
Labour law, Family law
Working languages
French l English l Spanish l Romanian
PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE
Anca APETRIA is a Swiss lawyer, co-founder of the AFPARTNERS law firm.
Anca APETRIA is specialized in international civil service law and Swiss family law.
She advices and defends international civil servants in complex legal proceedings, in particular in whistleblower cases, disciplinary proceedings and termination of contracts, against several international organizations (ICCO, WHO, WTO, WIPO, IOM, UPU, ITU, UNRWA, UNCTAD, UNHCR, etc.). In this respect, she appears as defending counsel before the United Nations Courts, the Administrative Tribunal of the International Labour Organization, and the UNRWA Dispute Tribunal. She advises her clients on both the legal and strategic aspects of litigation. She also advises clients residing in Switzerland on their rights and obligations under Swiss law.
Particularly sensitive to the situation of parents and children, Anca Apetria advises and defends clients locally and internationally in family law (separation, divorce, parental rights, maintenance contributions), as well as in related criminal and prosecution law.
Anca Apetria is appreciated for her experience, her passion in defending the interests of her clients, her empathy, her availability and her reactivity. Both strategic and pragmatic, she fiercely defends the interests of her clients before the competent jurisdictions but also knows when and how to favor the amicable resolution of disputes.
Before co-founding AFPARTNERS, Anca Apetria practiced law with a Geneva law firm. She also worked in a United Nations agency in Geneva, an experience that allows her to have a knowledge of that unique work environment and to understand the business from the point of view of international organizations.
EDUCATION
Admitted to practice, Switzerland
Certificate of specialization in law, Law School, University of Geneva, Switzerland
Master’s degree in civil and criminal law, University of Geneva, Switzerland
Bachelor of Law, University of Geneva, Switzerland
License Degree in International Relations, IHEID, Geneva, Switzerland
BIO
Personal Profile
Edward Patrick Flaherty is an American lawyer and founder and of counsel to the Swiss law firm of AFPARTNERS in Geneva, as well as the founder and of counsel to the Swiss law firm Schwab, Flaherty, & Associés in Geneva; he was also an independent member of the Board of Directors of SYZ Swiss Advisors SA, a US SEC registered, Swiss-based investment advisor that specializes in servicing and managing investment accounts for US citizens, both resident and expatriate, for seven and a half years.
He is former co-chairman and current legal counsel to Republicans Overseas (formerly "Abroad") Switzerland (www.swissgop.org).
He focuses his law practice on representing whistleblowers, staff members and third parties working for or injured by international organisations such as the UN, UNHCR WIPO, WHO, ILO, etc. He is presently representing several IO staff members in test cases before the European Court of Human Rights, and in US Federal Courts. He is also cofounder of IO Watch, and the Centre for Accountability of International Organisations). He is admitted to practice before the US Supreme Court, and the Supreme Judicial Court of Massachusetts. He received his BA from Tufts University, and his Juris Doctor from Suffolk University Law School, Boston, cum laude.
In 2017, he cofounded the Swiss charitable association Hear Their Cries--Stop Child Rape in Aid (www.heartheircries.org).
He currently serves as Hear Their Cries' General Counsel, and in that role, testified before the UK House of Commons International Development Committee on 6 October 2020 (https://parliamentlive.tv/event/index/27850a50-4037-424c-962f-f6c4deec6654); he also presented at the Kings College Conference on 14 May 2021--InterSEC:Action--Sexual Exploitation of Women and Children by Aid Workers (https://hopin.com/events/intersec-action-sexual-exploitation-of-women-and-children-by-aid-workers-conference).
He was also the President of the American International Club of Geneva for 2014-15.
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Education
1981-1985
Suffolk University Law School, Boston, MA USA
Juris Doctor. Graduated cum laude, member of Rehnquist chapter of the Federalist Society
1977-1981
Tufts University, Medford, MA USA
Bachelor of Arts; majored in political science
