Mrs Céline Masschelein > Janson > Brussels, Belgium > Lawyer Profile

Mrs Céline Masschelein

026753030 [email protected]

Work Department

Commercial and company law White collar crime

Position

Partner at Janson

Career

Before joining Janson as a partner in March 2016, she was Counsel at Allen & Overy in the Litigation & Arbitration department.

Céline has a special focus on white collar crime (such as imputations of fraud, forgery, corruption, money laundering, bankruptcy offences) on the one hand and all forms of corporate litigation on the other hand (such as post-acquisition disputes and all possible disputes between (and liabilities of) shareholders, board directors, auditors and other corporate actors).

Céline has more than 20 years of experience in dealing with complex national and international disputes in both business and financial criminal law, with specific expertise in the interaction between the two areas.

She has already assisted several international and Belgian companies involved in both civil and criminal proceedings. Céline also works within the framework of arbitration and mediation procedures (ADR) and also advises clients preventively. Her broad procedural experience provides added value in drawing up contracts, avoiding disputes and actively working towards amicable settlements.

Memberships

• Counsel to a Fortis bank employee (risk manager) involved as an indicted party in the criminal and civil proceedings following the collapse of Fortis
• Part of the team that represented SAirGroup in Belgian civil and criminal proceedings following the Sabena bankruptcy for almost fifteen years. The criminal investigation file consisted of 45,000 pages and led to a definitive acquittal of SAirGroup in 2015
• Treatment of a Belgian satellite file of Portuguese proceedings following the liquidation of a large Portuguese bank which ran into severe financing difficulties after the collapse of Lehman Brothers and the ensuing severe crisis in the financial markets
• Representative of a Dutch public art funding organisation which was the victim of fraud and embezzlement by its former CFO
• Advisor on the risk associated with an asset acquisition of a virtually bankrupt company by the target company (including risk associated with the potential nullity of the transaction/shareholders’ decision (abuse of majority)
• Dispute Resolution – Next Generation Partner  – Legal 500 EMEA 2017 – 2021

Education

Céline Masschelein obtained a Master’s degree in Law at the University of Ghent in 1999 (magna cum laude) and also a Master’s degree in Corporate Law at the KUB in 2005