The Legal 500 > Baker & McKenzie > Brussels, BELGIUM

Baker & McKenzie

AVENUE LOUISE 149, EIGHTH FLOOR, 1050 BRUSSELS, BELGIUM

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TOP tier recommendations

Belgium: Banking, finance and capital markets > Banking, finance and capital markets

Belgium: Environment > Environment

Belgium: Real estate > Real estate

Recommendations

Belgium: Aviation > Aviation

Belgium: Competition > Competition

Belgium: Corporate and M&A > Corporate and M&A

Belgium: Dispute resolution > Dispute resolution

Belgium: Information technology > Information technology

Belgium: Intellectual property > Intellectual property

Belgium: Labour and employment > Labour and employment

Belgium: Tax > Tax

Belgium: Aviation

Within Aviation, Baker & McKenzie is a second tier firm,

Dominique Lechien is Baker & McKenzie’s key aviation partner. The firm assists Brussels Airlines with aircraft leasing matters.

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Belgium: Banking, finance and capital markets

Within Banking, finance and capital markets, Baker & McKenzie is a first tier firm,

Baker & McKenzie provides ‘an excellent level of service’ and adopts ‘a proactive commercial approach’. The team has witnessed a shift towards the US syndicated loan markets and advised various parties, including ING Bank as mandated lead arranger and KBC Bank NV as agent, on a €445m syndicated facility for the Agfa-Gevaert Group. Antoine de Raeve and Michael Van Acker ‘go the extra mile’ for clients.

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Belgium: Competition

Within Competition, Baker & McKenzie is a third tier firm,

Fiona Carlin heads Baker & McKenzie’s practice, which has played a key role in several of Europe’s key Article 101 TFEU cases. Carlin recently advised a major US client during a phase two investigation into the acquisition of a competitor. Bill Batchelor defended Trade Stomil in the synthetic rubber cartel case, helping it to annul an EU finding of liability and subsequent fines. Kurt Haegeman overturned a €118m fine imposed against Mitsubishi for alleged involvement in the gas-insulated switchgear cartel. Merger control expert Gavin Bushell joined from Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer.

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Belgium: Corporate and M&A

Within Corporate and M&A, Baker & McKenzie is a second tier firm,

Baker & McKenzie’s ‘pragmatic’ team shows ‘good business acumen’, and has a strong track record across many sectors including emerging areas such as biotech and cleantech. Luc Meeus and Roel Meers led advice to Electrawinds on its business combination with European CleanTech I SE. Department co-heads Koen Vanhaerents and Peter Leys are recommended, as is new international partner Dominique Maes.

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Belgium: Dispute resolution

Within Dispute resolution, Baker & McKenzie is a third tier firm,

Baker & McKenzie handles commercial litigation and is very strong in IP matters. Koen De Winter successfully represented O2 in a trade mark infringement case against Vlaams Belang, a far-right Flemish nationalist political party, over the use of the O2 trade mark. Pierre Sculier is also recommended and has extensive experience in labour, commercial and IP litigation.

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Belgium: Environment

Within Environment, Baker & McKenzie is a first tier firm,

Baker & McKenzie delivers ‘an impeccable service’ through its ‘engaged, practical approach’. Recent work includes representing Biofer in an administrative procedure against the withdrawal of green certificates for a biomass plant, which will be the test case for the entire biomass sector in the Flemish Region. The ‘excellent’ Pascal Mallien is ‘knowledgeable, experienced’, and has an extensive network of contacts.

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Belgium: Information technology

Within Information technology, Baker & McKenzie is a third tier firm,

Baker & McKenzie handles advisory work as well as litigation, and recently assisted a multinational industrial group with the implementation of a cloud computing initiative in the context of European data protection compliance. Daniel Fesler is highly regarded for IT, media and data protection matters, and the ‘experienced’ Koen De Winter is recommended for IT and IP advice.

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Belgium: Intellectual property

Within Intellectual property, Baker & McKenzie is a second tier firm,

Baker & McKenzie has a strong contentious IP department and key partner Koen De Winter is representing Endemol International in a copyright infringement case. The team also handles ongoing trade mark work for Esprit and anti-counterfeiting work for Nokia, Calvin Klein, Eli Lilly, and Hewlett-Packard.

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Belgium: Labour and employment

Within Labour and employment, Baker & McKenzie is a second tier firm,

Baker & McKenzie’s ‘terrific’ team is ‘timely, knowledgeable and practical’. The ‘experienced’ François Gabriel heads the practice, and recently advised a leading pharmaceuticals company on Belgian labour law issues. Nancy Luyten is recommended for her ‘responsiveness’ and the ‘substance of the advice’. Jozef Slootmans is also recommended.

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Belgium: Real estate

Within Real estate, Baker & McKenzie is a first tier firm,

Baker & McKenzie’s ‘exceptional’ real estate practice combines ‘excellent business acumen, industry knowledge and value for money’. Practice head Dominique Lechien is the ‘best in his market’, and Rudy Dupont is ‘one of the top lawyers in Belgium for real estate activities’. Recent work includes assisting a Belgian developer with the acquisition and partial disposal of a former industrial site to be redeveloped as a mixed-use project.

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Belgium: Tax

Within Tax, Baker & McKenzie is a second tier firm,

Baker & McKenzie has a good reputation in the market, particularly for corporate taxation. Alain Huyghe, whose practice spans tax planning, transfer pricing and tax litigation, led the firm’s advice to Procter & Gamble on the tax structuring of the protracted divestiture of its Belgian and Swiss Pringles business to Kellogg Co. Philippe Lion and Luc Meeus are also recommended.

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Further information on Baker & McKenzie

Please choose from this list to view details of what we say about Baker & McKenzie in other jurisdictions.

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Legal Developments by:
Baker & McKenzie

The New Turkish Code of Obligations: Important Changes for Leases of Residential & Business Premises

For decades, the primary Turkish laws governing leases of residential and business premises have been the Law on Leasing Real Property dated May 27, 1955 (the “Lease Law”) and the Turkish Code of Obligations No. 818 dated April 22, 1926 (the “Obligations Code”). Both of these laws, however, will be repealed and replaced with the new Turkish Code of Obligations No. 6098 dated January 11, 2011 (the “New Obligations Code”), which will enter into force on July 7, 2012.

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Legal Developments in Belgium

Legal Developments and updates from the leading lawyers in each jurisdiction. To contribute, send an email request to

EU: Energy prices and lack of competitiveness high on the agenda of the European Council

On 22 May 2013, the European Council met in Brussels to discuss two matters that are crucial for the recovery of the EU economies: energy, and tax fraud and eva-sion. This briefing looks at the Council’s conclusions on energy.

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Financial Leasing qualified by the European Court of justice as a supply of goods

The European Court of Justice categorises the leasing of a motor vehicule under a financial leasing as a supply of goods and not as a supply of services.

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Public Offers and admissions to trading on european regulated markets

By July 1st, 2012 the Directive 2010/73/EU of the European Parliament and the Council of 24 November 2010 amending the Prospectus Directive and the Transparency Directive has to be transposed by Member States into their national law. The Directive 2010/73/EU is aimed at simplifying the application of the prospectus rules.

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Result bonus (CBA 90): the maximum amount for 2013 is 2.488 EUR

For bonus plans paid in 2013, the maximum social security and tax exemption limit will be 2.488 EUR.

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Working as a student after completion of studies?

The NSSO adopts a clear position on the issue: the young graduates who graduated in June will be able to continue to work under an agreement for student employment until 30 September of the current year.

- Claeys & Engels, member of Ius Laboris
Constitutional Court retains the current level of protection offered to employee representatives

The Belgian Constitutional Court considers that the protection against dismissal afforded to (candidate) employee representatives in the Works Council and/or the Committee for Prevention and Protection at Work does not violate the principle of equality.

- Claeys & Engels, member of Ius Laboris
Liability of directors of Belgian companies to the social security in a European context

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- Claeys & Engels, member of Ius Laboris
The unemployment with company allowance regime: the most recent adjustments

The regime of unemployment with company allowance (formally known as prepension/prépension/brugpensioen) has been modified several times in recent months. Following comments by the social partners, it was announced that a number of measures would be liberalised. This has now been done by the Royal Decree of 20 September 2012, which modifies the Royal Decree of 3 May 2007 regulating the regime of unemployment with company allowance.

- Claeys & Engels, member of Ius Laboris
Finally, the European Blue Card available in Belgium for highly-skilled employees

Starting Monday 10 September 2012, a "European Blue Card" can be issued to certain highly-skilled non-EEA employees. This will allow them to work and reside in Belgium.

- Claeys & Engels, member of Ius Laboris
Fight against the gender wage gap - measures to be taken within the company

The Act of 22 April 2012 aimed at fighting against the gender wage gap, published in the Belgian Official Gazette on 28 August, introduces several new requirements with practical implications for companies. In all companies that must file annual accounts, wage data contained in the annual social report will from now on have to be broken down by workers' gender.

- Claeys & Engels, member of Ius Laboris