Founding partner of the firm, assists and defends clients in criminal, civil and administrative matters, in particular in litigation. His areas of expertise cover criminal law, white-collar crime and corporate liability, tort law and contract law. He also has recognised expertise in human rights, in particular in business and human rights issues.
Sylvain Savolainen worked at the International Criminal Court as part of the defence team led by Karim Khan KC, who has become the Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court since June 2021.
In 2015, Sylvain Savolainen won the first prize of the prestigious Michel Nançoz trial advocacy competition organized by the Geneva Bar. The same year, he was awarded the third prize of the eloquence competition Prix Paris-Montreal de la francophonie. In 2012, the University of Geneva awarded him the prize for best Masters in Law thesis for his work on the corporate criminal liability.
Before becoming a lawyer, Sylvain Savolainen was a photographer and a reporter for ten years; he collaborated with the international press and various national radiostations (New York Times, GEO, Figaro Magazine, Herald Tribune, La Repubblica, La Stampa, El Mundo, L’Hebdo ; RTS, France Inter, France Culture). In 2007, he received the Swiss Press Photo Award for the best feature of the year conducted abroad for his reporting on the post-war situation in Sierra Leone and international criminal justice.