Firm Profile > NautaDutilh > Brussels, Belgium

Dispute resolution Tier 1

Stan Brijs and Sophie Jacmain jointly head up the department at NautaDutilh, which counts insolvency litigation as a core area of instruction. The team is equally adept at advising clients on financial services, real estate, corporate and commercial disputes, and arbitration matters. In an example of the latter, Brijs and Jacmain are acting for two Moldovan investors in an ongoing dispute with the Republic of Kazakhstan over recovering an arbitral award worth over $500m.

Insolvency and restructuring Tier 1

The restructuring and insolvency team at NautaDutilh frequently advises local and international financial institutions and real estate companies on restructuring and insolvency matters, as well as debtors in financial difficulty. The Brussels-based practice works closely with colleagues in its Dutch and Luxembourg offices, and recently advised on the Belgian and Luxembourg aspects of Cool Cat Belgium's bankruptcy. Sophie Jacmain is particularly experienced in advising on insolvency and out-of-court restructuring mandates and attracts praise for providing 'deep legal analysis and pragmatic solutions'. Jacmain heads up the team alongside Stan Brijs, who handles restructurings, recovery issues, insolvency work and litigation.

Intellectual property Tier 1

NautaDutilh's team is 'well-known and highly regarded for the intellectual property area'; 'they are very sharp, straight to the point and pleasant to work with'. Key sector strengths include food and beverages, luxury/consumer goods and life sciences, with patent and trade mark litigation forming the backbone of instructions. In an example, the group is acting for GlaxoSmithKline in an ongoing colour trade mark infringement case. Florence Verhoestraete, Tanguy de Haan and Philippe Péters are the key contacts.

Commercial, corporate and M&A Tier 2

With a strong Benelux presence, NautaDutilh's corproate and finance practice handles a range of domestic and cross-border corporate and commercial transactions. It counts energy, real estate and fast moving consumer goods sectors amounts its sector specialisms, and, with its ability to leverage its strong IP team, is a popular choice for life sciences, healthcare and technology clients. Didier De Vliegher is particularly well-known for real estate sector transactions, while Elke Janssens is active in the private equity and life sciences sectors. Other names to note include Dirk Van Gerven, who combines corporate and finance expertise, and Philippine De Wolf, who advises start-ups, SMEs and large corporates on transactions. The group was further strengthened with the arrival of Philippe Remels, who joined from Linklaters in late 2018 and is frequently instructed by clients in the healthcare, life sciences, chemicals and energy sectors.

Environment Tier 2

NautaDutilh covers the environmental arena in Belgium extensively, with its practice being active in all three of the Flemish, Walloon and Brussels Capital regions. A name to note is senior counsel Patrick Peeters, who undertakes a mix of advisory work and litigation, and is particularly knowledgeable about soil contamination, environmental permits and waste management. He has been advising Umicore on various matters, including the end-of-waste criteria under the Waste Framework Directive and the Flemish implementing legislation. Ancillary to his environmental law expertise, Peeters is also knowledgeable about energy and zoning law. His recent work included representing Fluxys in various proceedings initiated by municipal authorities and private individuals over building and environmental permits for the construction and operation of high-pressure natural gas pipelines in the Flemish and Walloon regions. In January 2019, Jens Mosselmans joined from Portico.

EU regulatory: Financial services Tier 2

Anne Fontaine's practice at NautaDutilh counts central securities depositories (CSD) and securities settlement systems as key strengths, although the group is well versed across the full range of financial regulation work, with a focus on advisory matters. Associate Pierre De Pauw is recommended.

Industry focus: Healthcare and life sciences Tier 2

NautaDutilh's life sciences practice acts for a range of global companies, start-ups and spin-offs, professional associations and universities active across the pharmaceuticals, biotech, medical devices and health food sectors. The multidisciplinary team is jointly led by Florence Verhoestraete, who handles a range of transactional and contentious patent, trade secret, trade mark and unfair competition matters; and corporate partner Elke Janssens. Jens Mosselmans recently re-joined the firm from public law boutique Portico and focuses on public procurement issues and public contracts, while Christel Brion left the practice to Deloitte Legal.

Real estate and construction Tier 2

NautaDutilh's 'solution-driven' team has 'excellent legal knowledge and experience in real estate and construction business'. PPP mandates, high-value transactions, lease matters and contentious real estate instructions have been included in the group's recent workload. The 'professional and experienced' Didier De Vliegher heads up the practice.

Banking, finance and capital markets Tier 3

NautaDutilh's excellent reputation sees it work closely with international law firms on cross-border matters, as well as acting for a diverse portfolio of Belgian, Benelux and international clients on a standalone basis. The finance practice, which is led by Thibault Willlems, demonstrates strong capabilities in areas such as acquisition/leveraged finance, asset-based lending (including real estate and receivables finance), structured finance and securitisations. Willems has a particularly first-rate reputation in PPP projects and project finance, and has featured in nearly all major PPP projects in Belgium in the last decade. A recent highlight involved acting for KBC Bank and ING Belgium as the lenders on the €50m financing of an all-weather terminal at the ArcelorMittal site in the Port of Ghent. The firm also advised ENGIE Electrabel as a sponsor/shareholder on the corporate and finance aspects of the Seamade offshore wind project. Nicolas de Crombrugghe and Elke Janssens jointly head up the capital markets practice, which assists issuers (such as biotech companies and Belgian REITs) and underwriters with debt and equity transactions. Senior associates Nathalie Van Landuyt and Lorraine Drubbel are also recommended, as is Philippe Remels, who was hired from Linklaters in November 2018.

Employment Tier 3

At NautaDutilh, the 'pragmatic' group is assisting Groupe PSA with transferring all the pension plans of Opel Belgium's employees from General Motor's pension fund to a new pension vehicle, following the client's takeover of Opel Belgium. Department head Philippe François garners praise for his 'ability to understand clients' needs and provide practical solutions'. Thierry Duquesne is a key contact.

Industry focus: energy Tier 3

NautaDutilh's energy and utilities sector practice group advises its impressive client roster, which includes ENGIE Electrabel, Fluxys and FEBEG, on regulatory issues, corporate transactions and project finance work. Senior counsel Patrick Peeters heads up the practice and has a breadth of experience across regulatory and public law matters. Other names to note include Nicolas de Crombrugghe and Thibault Willlems for corporate and financing instructions respectively.

Private equity Tier 3

NautaDutilh's private equity team assists its client roster of private equity and venture capital investors, which includes Bain Capital, Black Rock and Apollo Global Management, with a range of transactions including buyouts, public-to-private transactions, exits via IPOs or trade sales and fund structuring matters. The group also assists the management of investment targets, and recently advised Imcyse and its shareholders on a series B financing round. Elke Janssens, who acted for FNG on its acquisition of Ellos Group from Nordic Capital, leads the team, which was strengthened by the arrival of Philippe Remels from Linklaters in late 2018.

Tax Tier 4

NautaDutilh has increased its headcount at associate level to handle a growing volume of tax work from new and existing clients. Daan Verhaegen, who recently joined from Greenyard, is one of the names to note. The tax team works alongside various other departments across the firm and is sought out in its own right to provide standalone advice.  The scope of its work includes cross-border transactions and international tax structuring, assistance with applying for tax rulings, management incentive plans, VAT and registration tax, and tax litigation. Team head Ken Lioen and Verhaegen advise American insurance company Travelers on the tax aspects of various insurance policies. Also notable is that Lioen and Verhaegen recently assisted Confinimmo with the tax issues connected with the acquisition of 15 nursing and care homes in Belgium.

Diversity

Corporate Social Responsibility; Empowering the Next Generation

Social engagement and corporate responsibility are inextricably bound up with NautaDutilh’s day-to-day legal practice. We help companies in a wide range of sectors to resolve the issues they are or will be facing in an equitable and practical manner.

Sharing knowledge and working in concert are paramount. We feel that corporate social responsibility entails so much more and have taken “Empowering the next generation” as our main motto. We are committed to strengthening the position of the next generation by giving them opportunities in a sustainable world.

A diverse and safe working environment

An important part of our strategy is our diversity policy. We aim to promote a safe working environment in which employees feel free to be themselves. Gender diversity, LGBT+ diversity, and cultural diversity are of primary concern. We believe that diversity makes a team stronger.

The current male to female ratio in our partner population is approximately 30/70. Although this makes NautaDutilh one of the top 5 Dutch law firms in terms of diversity, our goal is 50/50, which we hope to achieve by actively recruiting and retaining talented women with, among other things, effective career coaching and by preventing subconscious prejudice from rearing its head in performance reviews. In terms of up-and-coming talent, we are already at 50/50.

In 2014, NautaDutilh became the first independent law firm in the Benelux to have its own LGBT+ network. We are one of the co-founders of Stichting Forward, which aims to promote the acceptance, recognition, and visibility of LGBT+ in the Dutch legal profession.

NautaDutilh also strives for a greater influx of culturally diverse talent. To implement this in practice, we, for example, work with Diversity Dinner. We have partnered this initiative since its launch in 2016.

You can find a more in-depth overview of our CSR policy here.