The Legal 500

Within Banking, finance and capital markets, CMS DeBacker is a third tier firm,

CMS DeBacker’s client base includes Crédit Agricole and Keytrade Bank, for whom the team acted on the acquisition of the Belgian private banking and internet activities of Kaupthing. It also assisted in a rare real estate acquisition financing for Westimmo in a €70m deal, and undertakes a broad diet of transactional work for ING, Bank of America and Commerzbank.

Within Competition, tier 6

CMS DeBacker’s Annabelle Lepièce handles cases before the Belgian Competition Council, and against the European Commission. Clients include the Walloon and Brussels regional governments.

Within Corporate and M&A , tier 4

The new team head at CMS DeBacker, Vincent Dirckx, has applied energy to his team’s work, winning instructions from Delhaize Group, Belgium’s largest food retailer, and local restructuring for Fujifilm, courier services provider Link2Biz and American Express. Cedric Guyot is recommended.

Within Dispute resolution, CMS DeBacker is a third tier firm,

CMS DeBacker’s Cedric Guyot and Jean-François Goffin have been busy with commercial litigation and arbitrations, as well as extensive shareholder litigation and financial misselling actions. Clients include BNP Paribas. Renaud Dupont and André Lombart handle commercial and IP-related disputes.

Within Information technology, CMS DeBacker is a third tier firm,

CMS DeBacker’s lawyers have seen IT-related cases in the Belgian appeals and Supreme Court, and significant volumes of first instance cases on domain name infringement against cyber-squatters. The team advised on a competition app for Facebook, and represented a long-standing client over an argument between two leading brewers, as to alleged infringement of an iPhone app. Tom Heremans is recommended

Within Intellectual property, CMS DeBacker is a third tier firm,

CMS DeBacker’s Tom Heremans and Veerle Raus are recommended figures, with particular strengths in tradebmark and copyright law, especially in ambush marketing and counterfeiting cases, including those in relation to the recent World Cup. It acted for a leading paper towel manufacturer on whether refills of other brands of paper, dispensed from the manufacturer’s dispensers, can count as a trade mark infringement.

Within Labour and employment, CMS DeBacker is a third tier firm,

CMS DeBacker’s Stanislas van Wassenhove had a busy year advising senior executives following the global downturn. His colleagues have been no less busy, with numerous reorganisations involving difficult negotiations- (including on lowering retirement ages), as well as temporary measures to avoid unemployment; all of which involved unions, and some dismissals. The team has also been involved in cross-border mergers, with post-merger harmonisation of employment terms. Clients include Lloyds Development Capital.

Within Real estate, CMS DeBacker is a second tier firm,

CMS DeBacker’s head of practice Bruno Duquesne and the team received instructions from Westimmo, on a €70m financing of the acquisition of a newly developed built-to-suit office building in Brussels. It also assisted the city government of Brussels with a framework for the redevelopment of a derelict industrial area, and has acted for Brussels Harbour. RBS is a lender client. Pierre-Axel Chabot is also recommended.

Within Tax, CMS DeBacker is a third tier firm,

CMS DeBacker provides tax services across a wide range of industry sectors. Practice head Didier Grégoire is a recognised real estate tax expert, especially on the VAT treatment of shopping malls, although his work has included cinemas and developers. Lievin De Wulf advised a large Benelux life insurance provider on the impact of the EU savings directive. Cross-border advice on withholding taxes is also a speciality.