Nicolas Rouvinez

Nicolas Rouvinez is a PhD Candidate at the University of Geneva’s Faculty of Law, where he currently works as a research and teaching assistant.

After completing his law studies at the Universities of Geneva, Zurich and Exeter, Nicolas practiced as a trainee, and later as a lawyer in a Geneva law firm specialized in civil commercial litigation. He was admitted to the bar in 2020.

Under What Conditions can an Option Right be Enforced in a Shareholders Agreement?

In a shareholders’ agreement, an option right was granted to four brothers to keep a family business within the family. It proved useful when the fourth brother decided to grant a third party an emption right.

Unsuccessful claims of a former distributor: no indemnity for goodwill and no set-off of counterclaims

Valid contractual waiver of set-off and no goodwill indemnity because the distribution contract was not exclusive.

A party acting as a representative once, may not be a representative twice.

In the absence of a validly conferred power of attorney, the principal shall only be bound if the third party can rely on its own legitimate representation of the situation.

Contract for the chairman of a listed company: how to manage a conflict of interests?

A stock corporation whose board of directors is reduced to two members due to a dispute among shareholders cannot validly enter into a contract of mandate (director) and employment (manager) with the chairman of the board without violating the prohibition of self-contracting.

Simultaneous performance of the parties’ obligations under a Share Purchase Agreement (SPA)

The debtor raising the defense of the simultaneous performance of the parties' obligations must raise it sufficently early in the court proceedings.