The commitment

David Guez, founder of Alchimie

You know that moment.

The one where the opportunity is there — but the window closes in seventy-two hours. The one where you sense this acquisition could transform your company — or undermine it for a decade. The one where a conflict is brewing and threatens to unravel what you spent twenty years building.

That is precisely what I work for.

Not to draft agreements. Not to offer a mere opinion. To be present when the stakes are at their highest — whether the moment calls for decisive action or resolute protection.

Background

It began at the Paris Bar in 2000, in the practices where operations are structured, where nine-figure transactions are negotiated, and where principals under scrutiny are defended.

I then established my own practice. I advised companies acquiring their competitors. Investors orchestrating complex funding rounds. Families reordering their estates. And sometimes, those same clients when matters took a difficult turn: a partner who betrays the trust, an acquisition that turns to ruin, a reputation under siege.

Twenty-five years. Over one thousand operations. Transactions concluded under impossible deadlines. Crises defused before they could ignite. Not once have I treated a matter as merely a matter. I commit. Entirely.

What has this taught me?

The law accounts for twenty per cent of the work. The eighty per cent that truly matters: sensing the right moment to act. Discerning what the counterparty has left unsaid. Structuring an arrangement that endures. And when conflict is unavoidable — knowing when to press and when to hold.

Governance

Since 2018, I have served on the board of directors of a European media and e-commerce group. I participate in strategic decisions, growth initiatives, and arbitrations.

I am not an outside consultant. I am in the room when the decision is taken to acquire or divest. When negotiations with investors unfold. When a crisis strikes at eleven on a Friday evening.

That experience changed everything.

I no longer advise from the outside. I advise as someone who knows what it means to sign — and to stand accountable.

Alchimie

In 2021, I founded Alchimie in Lausanne. A personal conviction as much as a professional choice. Continuing what I have always done: few clients, considerable depth. Enduring relationships. Total availability, absolute confidentiality.

I do not take every call. But when I answer, I am present. Wholly present.

You do not need a lawyer.

You need someone who knows how to conclude a transaction — and to navigate what follows when matters take a difficult turn.

Someone who has encountered a thousand times what you are confronting for the first.

Someone who will speak the truth — even that which you would rather not hear.

If that is what you seek, let us speak.