How Kellerhals Carrard managed 10,000 COVID-19 fraud cases from a single digital platform

The COVID-19 credit scheme and the fraud cases it left behind

In March 2020, the Swiss government launched an emergency credit programme for companies facing liquidity problems — the COVID-19 credits. The relief scheme came in record time to rescue businesses in need. With a 30-minute online application, companies of all types could secure a credit loan of up to CHF 500,000 within a single day. Though fraud cases were minimal relative to total payments, dishonest businesses triggered a myriad of legal procedures. The task ahead: follow up on 10,000 cases over the next 8 years.

Three separate systems, three parties, and 10,000 cases to manage

The Swiss Loan Guarantee Cooperatives, working with Kellerhals Carrard — one of the largest law firms in Switzerland — had a clear mandate: review the pay-outs, flag potential and actual fraud cases, and report to the Swiss Government daily. The caseworker team quickly realised that manual administration was not a viable approach:

• Information was scattered across multiple stakeholders with no unified overview.
• Three separate admin systems slowed case processing across the parties involved.
• Data extraction from CRM systems, local drives, and personal inboxes made the case for automation.
• Compiling data in Excel and generating daily reports consumed full-time capacity.

One platform replaced all existing systems — deployed in 30 days

To address this, Kellerhals Carrard chose Nextway as their digital partner. With a 30-day delivery timeline, a fully digital solution was in place to handle existing cases and thousands more to come. Next replaced all existing systems and tools. No CRM. No Excel sheets. No back-and-forth emailing. Every case is handled from Next — and only there.

Thousands of admin hours saved — across 100 legal professionals

All 100 legal professionals have access to the same system — with a structured overview of cases, documents, and correspondence, from anywhere, at any time. With everything digital, files are located in seconds. Documentation, emails, lawsuits, or internal information — all traceable at the push of a button. The legal team receives automatic notifications when new cases arrive, tasks are delegated, or documents are shared. This saves full-time manpower used for manual administration, makes collaboration easier, and significantly speeds up case processing.

Every action logged: who viewed, edited, or deleted, and when

In Next, confidentiality and document permissions are managed to the highest security standards. Only the relevant people see the relevant cases and files — nothing more. All activity is logged in full: who viewed, edited, or deleted, when, and how. Earlier revisions are easy to trace, and verifying document history becomes straightforward.

Daily government reports generated and sent automatically

Excel-generated stats are a thing of the past. In Next, live data is available at all times — from case status and geographic distribution to industry classification and potential fraud amounts — and the list goes on. Up to 30 reporting options are available in a single click. Daily reports to the Swiss Government are generated and sent automatically, and published on covid19.easygov.swiss for public access.

8,400 cases filed in year one, with a total value of CHF 144 million

In the first year alone, the legal team filed 8,400 cases in Next Digital Workplace, with a total value of CHF 144 million. Kellerhals Carrard now has a modern, future-proof solution in place — a digital assistant that saves valuable hours for the legal team and cures their admin headaches, now and in the future.