Jan Petrik
Lawyer · European Patent Attorney · AI Researcher
Bridging law and engineering — patent prosecution, FinTech regulation, and legal software built in Switzerland.
- Dr. iur. UZH
- PhD ETH Zurich
- LL.M. Edinburgh
Now ·
- Founder and CEO, Alplexio AG
- Building Portus and Invenio
- Dissertation in publication
- Research: temperature-aware path planning in WAAM
Next Habilitation on software protection for agentic systems · Swiss bar exam
About Me
- Entrepreneur Founder and CEO of Alplexio AG — Swiss legal-tech building software for regulated professionals, including Portus (AMLA client onboarding) and Invenio (practice management). Source-available, Swiss-hosted.
- Legal Professional Legal Employee at MLL Legal in Zug until September 2026 — Intellectual Property Law, FinTech and blockchain.
- Technical Foundation PhD in AI for Manufacturing (ETH Zurich), backed by a Master's in Mechanical Engineering (ETH Zurich) and Bachelor's (CTU Prague).
- Legal Foundation Multidisciplinary legal scholar holding an LL.M. with distinction (Univ. of Edinburgh) and a BLaw magna cum laude (FernUni Schweiz). Currently an MLaw candidate at the University of Basel (expected Fall 2026).
- Legal Doctorate Dr. iur. from the University of Zurich, accepted magna cum laude; dissertation "Blockchain Institutionalism: Regulatory Compliance in the Swiss and Global Banking Environment," now in the publication process in the Schweizer Schriften zum Finanzmarktrecht (Swiss Series on Financial Market Law).
- Global Tech Experience Research Software Engineer at ETH Zurich (2023–2026), architecting RAG pipelines, custom LLM solutions and autonomous agentic systems; former Deep Learning Engineer at Arbrea Labs AG, with earlier work at MIT, Microsoft and Tsinghua University.
- IP Expertise Former Patent Engineer and Junior Associate at IPrime Rentsch Kaelin AG, and qualified as a European Patent Attorney after passing the European Qualifying Examination (EQE).
- Technical Stack Python, C++, PyTorch, Solidity, LangGraph and scikit-learn — used for RAG pipelines, LLM tooling and agentic systems.
- Languages Native Czech speaker with C1 fluency in English, German, French, and Italian.
- Interests Passionate about the intersection of AI and blockchain, continuous language learning, rowing, and swimming.
- I am Founder and CEO of Alplexio AG, a Swiss legal-tech company building software for regulated professionals — written, as we put it, by lawyers and engineers. Our first products are Portus, a Swiss AMLA client onboarding system that clears conflicts, determines whether a mandate falls under the AMLA at all, and produces a compliant onboarding file; and Invenio, a practice management platform covering matters, documents, Swiss billing, payroll, and IP firm workflows. The software is source-available and either self-hosted or Swiss-hosted, so client data never leaves Switzerland — a deliberate alternative to US cloud dependence. We use deterministic algorithms by default and apply AI selectively, where it genuinely helps.
- Until September 2026 I was a Legal Employee at MLL Legal in Zug, working mainly on Intellectual Property Law, FinTech and blockchain.
- My academic journey began in the technical realm. Following an electrotechnician apprenticeship, I studied Mechanical Engineering at the Czech Technical University in Prague. I then expanded my expertise at ETH Zurich, earning a Master's degree with a focus on AI and computer vision, followed by a PhD centered on developing AI algorithms for manufacturing applications.
- Parallel to my technical pursuits, I built a robust foundation in law. I hold a Bachelor of Law (BLaw) magna cum laude from FernUni Schweiz and a Master of Laws (LL.M.) with distinction from the University of Edinburgh. I am currently completing my Master of Law (MLaw) at the University of Basel, with graduation anticipated in Fall 2026.
- In 2026, I completed my legal doctorate (Dr. iur.) at the University of Zurich under the supervision of Prof. Dr. iur. Rolf H. Weber and Prof. Dr. iur. Peter Nobel, with my dissertation accepted magna cum laude. My dissertation, "Blockchain Institutionalism: Regulatory Compliance in the Swiss and Global Banking Environment," explores the risk analysis of integrating blockchain-based applications within Swiss banking from a global perspective, including US jurisdictional comparisons. The analysis is built on three core pillars: decentralization, anti-money laundering (AML), and digital assets. It is currently in the publication process in the Schweizer Schriften zum Finanzmarktrecht (Swiss Series on Financial Market Law).
- My professional trajectory includes diverse global experiences in tech. I developed thermohydraulics code at Tsinghua University, built smart experimental devices at MIT, researched monocular depth estimation at Microsoft, and engineered deep learning solutions for plastic surgery applications at Arbrea Labs AG. Following my doctorate I stayed at ETH Zurich as a Research Software Engineer (2023–2026), working on generative and discriminative AI: architecting retrieval-augmented generation pipelines, custom LLM solutions and autonomous agentic systems.
- Bridging my technical and legal expertise, I worked at the IP law firm IPrime Rentsch Kaelin AG in Zurich from 2022 to 2026. I served as a Patent Engineer and European Patent Attorney Candidate, culminating in passing the European Qualifying Examination (EQE) in March 2026 and qualifying as a European Patent Attorney. Additionally, from Summer 2025 onward, I took on the role of Junior Associate at the firm under the supervision of Dr. iur. Rudolf Rentsch.
- A lifelong learner, I am driven by a passion for languages and the ultimate goal of becoming a polyglot. I hold advanced C1 certifications in English, German, French, and Italian, alongside my native Czech fluency, and I am currently immersing myself in Mandarin Chinese.
- Outside of my professional and academic pursuits, I love developing personal projects such as those in AI, blockchain or 3D printing. To recharge, I never miss an opportunity to go rowing or swimming.
Portfolio
Selected work in law, AI and engineering
Publications
Peer-reviewed research in AI for manufacturing, and legal scholarship
273 citations · h-index 8 · i10-index 8 — Google Scholar · ORCID
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EuGH: Zuständigkeitsordnung in grenzüberschreitenden Patentstreitigkeiten
Services
How I can help
Patent Prosecution
Patent drafting and prosecution before the EPO as a qualified European Patent Attorney, including prior-art and market analysis and strategic jurisdiction planning for filings.
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FinTech & Blockchain Regulation
Analysis of blockchain, digital-asset and anti-money-laundering questions under Swiss and international financial-market law — the subject of my doctoral dissertation at the University of Zurich.
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Legal Tech
Software for regulated professions through Alplexio AG: Portus for AMLA client onboarding and Invenio for practice management — source-available and hosted in Switzerland.
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Contact
Working on something where law meets technology? Let’s talk.