Stibbe

Environment and Planning

Counsel

Bastiaan Schelstraete focuses on constitutional and administrative law, particularly environmental law (including spatial planning), food safety, and expropriations. He advises and defends the interests of both public and private sector clients. Bastiaan assists clients in the realisation of large-scale and complex (re)development and infrastructure projects as well as in the mediation and negotiation of real estate transactions with high contamination levels (e.g. soil contamination, black and brownfields, asbestos, etc.) and complex permit issues. In the area of dispute resolution, Bastiaan has extensive experience in proceedings before the Council of State, the Council for Permit Disputes (Raad voor Vergunningsbetwistingen), the Constitutional Court, and the civil courts. Moreover, he has an extensive experience in Belgian and European retail legislation (advisory and contentious) and more particularly regarding permts and authorizations. Finally, Bastiaan has developed specific expertise in disciplinary law and public office.

Dutch, English, French

• Member of the Genootschap Advocaten Publiekrecht (GAP, the association for lawyers specialised in public law)

• Master of Laws (LL.M.) from the Katholieke Universiteit Leuven (2009)
• Complementary master’s degree in Public and Administrative Law from the Université libre de Bruxelles (2010)
• Admitted to the Brussels Bar in 2010
• With the Brussels office of Stibbe since 2012
• Postgraduate degree in Government and Mediation from the Katholieke Universiteit Leuven (2016)
• Editorial secretary for the journal TROS (Tijdschrift voor Ruimtelijke Ordening en Stedenbouw, Flemish journal devoted to zoning and planning issues) (2016–present)
• Editorial staff member of STORM (Tijdschrift Stedenbouw, Omgeving, Ruimtelijke ordening en Milieu, Flemish journal devoted to urbanism, environment and spatial planning)
• Correspondent for the environmental law section of the journal T. Not. (Tijdschrift voor Notarissen, journal for notaries) (2016–present)
• Seconded to a public limited company of public law that is responsible for mobility and infrastructure in Antwerp; assistance in environmental law matters for one day a week (mid-September 2017–December 2018)