Deloitte Legal > Antwerp, Belgium > Firm Profile

Deloitte Legal > The Legal 500 Rankings

Belgium > Tax Tier 2

With three dedicated groups for advisory, controversy, and private clients, Deloitte Legal‘s tax offering covers the breadth of clients’ needs, from corporations to UHNWI and their families. Annick Visschers is the face of the tax dispute resolution team, and specialises in tax risk management, litigation and criminal law. VAT expert Danny Stas and global business tax authority Tim Wustenberghs head the tax advisory arm, while international estate and tax planning is the focus of Mathieu Ex, who is the point of contact for private clients. Astrid Peeters and Filip Smet were promoted to partner in June 2023, and advise on real estate tax and tax litigation, respectively.

Belgium > Commercial, corporate and M&A Tier 3

The team at Deloitte Legal advises on due diligence, assists with transactional negotiations and structuring, and collaborates with Deloitte's tax and financial advisory team to provide auxiliary advice in connection with a wide range of M&A. Focusing particularly on transactions in the energy, TMT, and industrials sector, the team is well-versed in both domestic and cros-border M&A and maintains a client base that encompasses Belgian as well as international corporate clients and private equity funds. Practice head David Roelens chiefly advises energy companies on sell-and buy-side transactions, while Marc Van tieghem assists with a broad range of corporate matters. Tim Baart left the firm in November 2022.

Belgium > Employment Tier 3

Deloitte Legal‘s integrated tax, HR and financial law expertise enables the team to maintain a wide-ranging portfolio of employment and pensions work that encompasses drafting new corporate and regulatory frameworks, advising on corporate restructuring and downsizing initiatives, and representing its roster of corporate clients in dismissals and discrimination-related disputes before employment tribunals. Practice co-heads Stijn Demeestere and Alexis Ceuterick are both well versed in dismissals work and regularly handle the employment aspects of M&A and collective dismissals procedures, while Stefanie Van de Perre, who joined from PwC Legal in January 2023, focuses on social security and criminal law.

Belgium > EU regulatory: Privacy and data protection Tier 3

For Deloitte Legal, data protection and privacy work forms a core component of the IP and IT team’s regular workload. The group assists with practical questions regarding the applicability of data protection legislation, as well as advising on data ownership, localisation, retention, and transferability issues. Jurgen Egger and Matthias Vierstraete oversee and co-ordinate the wider practice, regularly leading on key regulatory mandates.

Belgium > Fraud and white-collar crime Tier 3

Deloitte Legal capitalises on its proficiency in handling tax disputes, where the firm represents clients in various high-stakes tax fraud cases encompassing both criminal proceedings and tax audits. The practice is led by a trio of practitioners: Jürgen Egger leverages his experience in commercial and contract law in cases such as fraud, embezzlement and anti-money laundering, while Annick Visschers and Johan Speecke are particularly active in tax litigation.

Belgium > Industry focus: Energy Tier 3

Deloitte Legal has a multi-disciplinary team of ‘excellent strategic thinkers‘ that is led by managing partner Kathleen De Hornois, a public procurement and PPP specialist who also advises on regulatory questions in connection with wind and solar power projects. Having played a key role in the development of regulations for hydrogen transportation, the team is now increasingly active in advising on the drafting of legal frameworks in the hydrogen space. Dominique Vanherck, a key adviser on climate and energy matters, is another highly recommended member of the team.

Belgium > Industry focus: Healthcare and life sciences Tier 3

Primarily based in Brussels, the team at Deloitte Legal exhibits ‘clear, in-depth‘ expertise across a broad range of areas, with particular emphasis on medtech regulatory matters. Practice head Christoph Michiels has ample expertise in venture capital and private equity transactions, regularly assisting investor syndicates and management teams with early stage spin off projects. Jean-Christophe Top acts for numerous pharma, digital health, and medtech clients in matters concerning ethics compliance and the commercialisation of novel therapies, while Matthias Vierstraete maintains an IP and IT focused practice in Ghent.

Belgium > Industry focus: Media and entertainment Tier 3

The core features of the media and entertainment offering at Deloitte Legal are the group's IP and IT expertise, which is leveraged by clients within the sports and audiovisual industries, and corporate and M&A work, including venture capital issues and cross-border restructurings. Willem-Jan Cosemans, Yannick Van den broeke and Matthias Vierstraete stand at the helm of the practice, with Cosemans equipped to advise on issues extending to intellectual property rights in digital assets such as the image rights of players in NFTs. Former practice head Tim Baart retired in January 2023.

Belgium > Industry focus: Transport Tier 3

A key name for clients from the transport and logistics sector as well as the ports and shipping sector, Deloitte Legal assists public bodies and private corporations with issues encompassing PPPs, public transport mandates and passenger transport law. Corporate law specialist Marc Van tieghem co-heads the practice alongside public law expert Kathleen De hornois, who equipped to assist with the drafting of legislation pertaining to water and seaborne transport. Wim Naudts and Jasmine Coppens further extend the public law expertise at the firm.

Belgium > Insolvency and restructuring Tier 3

Dispute resolution and contract law expert Jürgen Egger leads the team at Deloitte Legal, which represents clients in proceedings at the intersection of insolvency and criminal law. The team has extensive experience negotiating restructuring plans as well as bankruptcy filings and is also very active in advising on asset recovery. Glenn Hansen, who advises both debtors and creditors on preventative restructurings and insolvency proceedings, is a further key contact in the team.

Belgium > Real estate and construction Tier 3

The real estate practice at Deloitte Legal is ‘very professional, reactive and commercial, with a high knowledge sector’. The firm majors on property sales and real estate M&A, a recent example being the €78m forward acquisition on behalf of the Dutch government of a long lease on a new Belgian and EU embassy building in Brussels. Practice head Maximilien Van De Werve , who handles the lion’s share of the work, has ‘very good technical and practical knowledge‘. Tax partner Danny Stas and corporate partner David Roelens are also key to the practice.

Belgium > Banking, finance and capital markets Tier 4

Deloitte Legal is very active on borrower-side debt finance work, advising corporate clients primarily in the real estate and automotive sectors on a wide variety of facilities and financing arrangements. The team is very active on sustainable finance matters as well as on project finance, and its capital markets expertise also enables it to handle a high volume of private placements. Financial regulatory issues represent a further area of focus, particularly for Laurent Godts, who co-leads the practice with transactional finance expert David Roelens.

Belgium > Dispute resolution Tier 4

Deloitte Legal fields a ‘approachable team with expertise and drive‘ that offers a range of services for its clients across litigation and arbitration proceedings. Jürgen Egger leads the team, with experience representing leading Belgian and international companies in civil and criminal disputes, with a focus on distribution law, insolvency issues, tort law, and white-collar crime matters. Other key practice heads include ‘superb leader’ Annick Visschers, who has expertise in tax litigation; Mathieu Ex, who leads the private client team; and Glenn Hansen, who focuses on commercial litigation. Egger and Hansen are also key names in the firm’s arbitration practice.

Belgium > Industry focus: IT and telecoms Tier 4

Deloitte Legal leverages the unit’s strong technological expertise to advise on issues encompassing data life-cycle management, the integration and launch of IT platforms, and blockchain mandates. Practice co-chair Matthias Vierstraete‘s far-reaching practice straddles IP and IT issues; he frequently assists clients with the review and negotiation of key agreements such as technology license agreements and SaaS agreements. Commercial law specialist Jürgen Egger completes the leadership team, and Willem-Jan Cosemans is a key contact for both IT litigation and IT due diligence relating to M&A work.

Belgium > Intellectual property Tier 4

Deloitte Legal is equipped to assist clients with transactional and advisory IP work including drafting and negotiating IP agreements and handling IP-related due diligence connected to M&A transactions. IP portfolio management, including enforcement work, is another strength of the team. Antwerp-based Jurgen Egger and Matthias Vierstraete, who divides his time between Ghent and Brussels, jointly lead the team. Willem-Jan Cosemans‘ IP experience includes representing clients before domestic and European Courts in copyright, trade mark and design litigation.

Belgium > Private equity Tier 4

Deloitte Legal is is capable of advising both private equity and venture capital investors as well as a large roster of start-up and scale-up clients on buy- and sell-side M&A, focusing in particular on early-stage investments and mid-market acquisitions. The firm regularly also regularly leverages its internal tax and financial advisory capabilities to provide its clients with comprehensive regulatory advice. David Roelens, Christoph Michiels, and Marc Van tieghem jointly lead the team and handle acquisitions, sales, and investments in a broad range of sectors. Tim Baart left the practice in December 2022, while Benoît Féron departed in May 2023.