Michael is a founding partner of Fischer Ramp Buchmann AG.

He advises private clients on their domestic and international estate, tax, social security and succession planning as well as on philanthropic projects and governance related questions. Michael has considerable expertise in dealing with tax authorities and advising foreign lawyers, and he is a leading expert on the taxation of trusts and similar structures. Further, he acts on behalf of corporations, in particular family held companies and family offices, in domestic and cross-border matters.

He sits on the board of various companies and charitable foundations.

Michael is a frequent speaker at national and international conferences and a regular contributor to tax journals and publications. He lectures international tax law at EXPERTsuisse where he was head of the module International Tax.

He holds law degrees from the University of Zurich (lic. iur., 1999) and the London School of Economics (LL.M., 2003). He was admitted to the Zurich Bar in 2002 and qualified as a certified tax expert in 2010. Prior to co-founding Fischer Ramp Buchmann AG Michael spent 13 years as associate and partner in an international Swiss law firm in London (2003 to 2006) and in Zurich (from 2006).

The prime legal directories, including Chambers HNW (Band 1), Legal 500 (Leading Individual) Who’s Who Legal and BestLawyers, continuously rank him as a leader in the fields of Private Client and Tax.

Chambers quotes sources as saying that Michael is “a market leader for tax and especially for high net worth advice. He is very dedicated to private client matters … and has a really boutique approach” (2019) and he “is very, very quick on facts and figures. He gets it very quickly and finds the relevant information.” (2020)

Legal 500 describes Michael as “a brilliant strategist at the intersection of corporate law and taxation with individual and entrepreneurial settings and set-ups” (2020) and “one of the A-list private client lawyers in Switzerland, immense experience in cross-border matters, unique know-how on trust and estate law and how it works in Switzerland, creative, fun to work with.” (2021)

In 2019 Michael was named “Leading Individual Adviser” at the Wealth Briefing Awards in Geneva and elected to „The International Academy of Estate and Trust Law“. In 2021 he was awarded “Lawyer of the Year – Switzerland” at the Citywealth IFC Awards.

In the past years Michael has consistently been listed in the Private Client Global Elite and included in the list of Who’s Who Legal’s Thought Leaders (“those who truly stand out as being leaders and who are held in the highest esteem by their clients and fellow practitioners“).

Michael is a member of the Zurich Bar Association and the Swiss Bar Association. He is on the Steering Committee of the International Tax Specialist Group (ITSG), a member of the Society of Trust and Estate Practitioners (STEP) and he sits on the Committee of the Swiss arm of Philanthropy Impact.

His working languages are German, English and French.