Tatjana Sachse

TATJANA SACHSE heads the international policy group at Sidley Austin’s Geneva office.

She offers strategic legal and public policy business advice and lobbying services to multinational companies and trade associations on all aspects of international regulatory and trade issues that impact a broad range of industries, including: manufacturing, luxury goods, interactive entertainment, biotechnology, pharmaceutical, medical device, agriculture, and food and beverage.

Her unique approach provides Geneva-based lobbying services with a legal twist, offering a 360-degree approach.

Tatjana has helped clients broaden — or, at a minimum, maintain — market access, optimize supply chains, secure intellectual property protection, and obtain the acceptance of new technology solutions.

Given the proximity to negotiations in Geneva, Tatjana is able to always keep a finger on the pulse of negotiations. She represents commercial clients before governments, as well as intergovernmental and UN organizations, including the World Health Organization (WHO), World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO), the World Trade Organization (WTO), the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), and the UN Conference on Biological Diversity (CBD).

Given her previous experience as in-house corporate counsel, Tatjana has always had a keen understanding of the needs of a wide range of international commercial clients and industries she is serving. Prior to joining the firm in 2006, Tatjana worked as an in-house counsel with Panasonic Europe Ltd., as a law clerk at a Brussels law firm, and as a trainee solicitor at a London firm, where her practice focused on commercial law and litigation, M&A, and EU competition law.

In addition to her experience in private practice, Tatjana completed an internship (stage) with the Directorate-General for Trade of the European Commission.

Tatjana is a Fellow of the Institute of International Economic Law at Georgetown University Law Center, where she graduated with distinction, and holds a Certificate in WTO Studies.

She speaks German, English, French, and (Brazilian) Portuguese.

In November 2022, Tatjana was appointed as the lead spokesperson and counsel for the Global Video Game Coalition (GVGC).

Tatjana has been recognized in the 2022 edition of Who’s Who Legal as a National Leader (Switzerland). In addition, she is recognized as a Thought Leader (Switzerland 2021) and a Global Leader (2021). She was also shortlisted for “Best in International Trade” at the LMG’s Women in Business Law Awards 2020. Tatjana has been recognized in The Best Lawyers in Switzerland 2022 for trade law.

Tatjana has recently been recognized by Legal 500 EMEA (Switzerland) for healthcare and life sciences.

Recent experience includes:

• (Digital) marketing: advised biopharmaceutical and nutrition companies on proposed marketing restrictions.
• Food safety, sustainable agriculture, and the acceptance of new technology solutions: advised on a range of regulatory and international trade issues to help optimize international supply chains.
• Innovation and intellectual property protection: advised a broad range of innovative companies and trade associations and advocated for strong intellectual property protection in negotiations before international organizations.
• Marketing, labeling, and composition of consumer products: advising on international regulatory issues that impact production, sales, consumption, and image of a broad range of consumer products. As an example, Tatjana contributed to saving a client’s $400 million per year nutrition business through devising a multi-pronged strategy of advocacy, business considerations, and legal arguments that ultimately resulted in preservation of the client’s trademark.

Additional experience:

• WTO disputes: Representing a major European manufacturing company in a WTO dispute concerning prohibited and actionable subsidies under the WTO Subsidies and Countervailing Measures Agreement.

Tatjana serves as Geneva chair of SidleyWomen.