Bird & Bird

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Anton Aerts

Anton is a partner in our Employment team in Brussels, where he advises and represents our clients in a wide range of matters relating to employment and social security law. Anton is specialised in all aspects of employment and social security law including transfer of undertaking, restructurings and individual and collective redundancies. He also advises clients on business immigration and cross border employment situations. His sector focused approach with an emphasis on the life science and technology sectors has allowed Anton to develop specific expertise in matters such as protection of confidential information including trade secrets, employee poaching and international mobility. Anton also specialises in all employment aspects of corporate transactions. Working closely with the international Bird & Bird corporate teams he ensures that all potential employment liabilities are fully assessed and appropriately managed or factored into the deal. Anton is experienced in working with clients who are in the process of restructuring where he assists with strategic decisions to allow the clients to plan their employment policy for the future. Finally Anton helps clients optimise their remuneration and benefits packages for employees, taking into account the heavy tax and social security burden in Belgium. He has experience implementing equity plans (stock options, RSU's) for international companies in Belgium. Anton offers his clients in-depth but also very practical hands-on solutions to all their employment related issues. He delivers fast and precise answers whenever requested by our clients.

Cedric Berckmans

Cedric is a partner in our Corporate and Commercial practice in Brussels, where he combines his deep understanding of contractual issues with a pragmatic approach to challenging situations. He advises both national and international clients during the whole process of negotiating, structuring and closing corporate and commercial partnership agreements. In addition to his work on corporate and contractual matters, he has extensive experience in dispute resolution involving court proceedings and arbitration, as well as in insolvency law. Cedric also advises on risk mitigation and pre-trial strategies. His areas of expertise cover issues relating to financial difficulties as well as rescue or restructuring initiatives.

Olivier Bertin

Olivier is a leading lawyer in tax litigation and tax controversy in Belgium and a teaching professor (tax litigation) at two Belgian universities. He also has complementary experience in other areas of tax law such as restructurings, tax planning for companies, due diligences, advance tax rulings, local taxes, stock option plans, international employment. Specialising in tax from day one, Olivier's aim is to make the matter clear and understandable for the clients, then to indicate the possible savings, the recommended actions and the risks attached, if any. Our clients must be in a position to take a decision based on our opinion, which should be easily understandable. Case law and legal scholars' opinions are the foundation of the advice at a given time. In litigation, the client must be defended firmly, but the way the arguments are put forward should leave the door open for a negotiated solution. Olivier's experience shows that disputes may be terminated at the administrative level of litigation with satisfactory results for both parties. In court, Olivier's aim is to present short, structured written pleadings. Afterwards, the judge simply should be convinced that it is easier and simpler to find for the taxpayer. Pleading is an essential element of judicial tax litigation, and debates are nothing more or less than a first opportunity to convince the Court. It should be prepared with the same care as the written submissions and the lawyer must be able to answer all of the judge's questions.

Nicolas Carbonnelle

As a partner in our Regulatory & Administrative practice in Brussels, Nicolas provides strategic advice and practical support to international, EU, and Belgian companies, industry associations, and other clients navigating EU regulatory law, market access, compliance, consumer protection, and sustainability regulations including ESG frameworks, green claims, deforestation-free, and ecodesign requirements. Nicolas' primary focus lies in the agri-food sector, where he guides clients through the complex landscape of food, feed, novel foods, and food contact materials regulations. This sector's constant innovation and evolving regulatory framework makes every project both challenging and rewarding. Nicolas also advises fast moving consumer goods companies on cosmetics, clothing, textile, and apparel regulations, as well as household electrical and electronic products and other regulated areas to ensure comprehensive regulatory solutions across diverse industries. Nicolas guides clients on essential considerations, including defining regulatory strategies for market entry, classifying products, navigating compliance requirements, and addressing safety and environmental obligations. His practice also encompasses litigation matters. In crisis situations, he provides swift strategic guidance to help clients manage operational and reputational risks effectively. Nicolas leads the firm's international Food & Beverage sub-sector group and regularly speaks at industry conferences while contributing to legal publications and thought leadership articles.

Guillaume de Villegas

Guillaume is a counsel in our Brussels office where he has experience in all types of IP matters, with a particular focus on trade mark, copyright, design and patent law in the life sciences, retail & consumer, food & beverage, luxury goods and media & entertainment sectors. Over the years, Guillaume has developed in-depth expertise in managing complex litigation in trade mark, copyright, design and patent law, as well as in various commercial disputes, ranging from distribution to sponsorship and beyond. Guillaume has successfully represented clients before national courts, administrative bodies (EUIPO and BOIP) and EU courts (Court of Justice of the European Union and General Court of the European Union). Guillaume regularly advises clients on the implementation of a global trade mark and design policy and strategy, often hand in hand with his expert colleagues across the Bird & Bird network in order to offer a tailor-made solution. He recognises the value of innovative and dynamic tools to manage portfolios in a cost-efficient manner. Guillaume has also assisted clients on a range of transactional matters, including the drafting and negotiation of IP agreements, such as license agreements, collaboration agreements, transfer agreements, clinical trial agreements, etc. He always strives to provide constructive and pragmatic advice, weighing the risks linked with every option. His expertise in litigation has helped him a great deal in that respect. Guillaume has experience counselling clients on various legal issues involving trade practices and consumer law protection (e.g. vetting of marketing campaigns and packaging of products, review of general terms and conditions, etc.).

Clément Dekemexhe

As a counsel in our Real Estate and Corporate practice in Brussels, Clément helps businesses navigate complex transactions and commercial challenges, drawing on more than 12 years of experience in M&A and commercial real estate. Clément advises on both buy-side and sell-side M&A transactions, handling asset and share deals for Belgian and international corporations. From initial negotiations through to closing, his approach combines technical expertise with commercial pragmatism, ensuring risks are managed effectively. Clément also has extensive experience in negotiating and drafting a wide range of commercial real estate agreements, including sophisticated lease agreements (e.g. office, commercial and occupation leases) and management agreements, across various sectors (e.g. retail, logistics and hospitality). In addition to his expertise on corporate and real estate matters, Clément has experience in litigation and notably, real estate litigation. Clients appreciate his responsive approach and ability to cut through legal complexity to deliver clear, actionable advice. Whether you're structuring a major acquisition or negotiating a complex lease, you will benefit from his broad market knowledge and sector-specific experience. What Clément enjoys most is being part of your commercial strategy, not just documenting it. The best client relationships are collaborative ones where he understands your business well enough to anticipate issues before they become problems.

Benjamin Docquir

Benjamin is data privacy and technology partner advising clients on digital regulation, data governance and AI, with a reputation for solving complex legal challenges across sectors and jurisdictions. Benjamin advises clients on the legal and regulatory aspects of digital transformation and disruptive technologies, with a particular focus on data governance, AI, cybersecurity and software-related matters. His practice spans both contentious and non-contentious work, and he supports a wide range of clients, from start-ups and scale-ups to global platforms and regulated industry leaders. Benjamin regularly helps clients navigate the legal implications of digitalisation, including data sharing, outsourcing, platform regulation and compliance with the fast-evolving EU digital framework. He has built a strong reputation for his cross-disciplinary expertise in IP, data privacy, cybercrime and unfair competition, and he has successfully handled disputes involving copyright, patents and digital assets. Benjamin is keen on ensuring the legal analysis builds upon a deep understanding of the technical details of each case. Benjamin has represented companies before the Belgian Data Protection Authority and at the appeals level, offering clear, strategic advice that balances legal risk with commercial opportunity. He has worked extensively with TMC platforms, life sciences companies, and both traditional and innovative players in banking and insurance. Benjamin brings a comprehensive and out-of-the box view to digital regulation, informed by years of hands-on experience and academic engagement. He is a published author in the field, most recently contributing a substantial chapter on the Law Over Borders Comparative Artificial Intelligence Law Guide.

David Du Pont

David is a corporate partner with extensive experience in M&A, private equity and real estate, advising clients on complex transactions across sectors and borders. David advises clients on a wide range of corporate and M&A matters, with expertise in private equity and corporate real estate. His practice covers acquisitions, divestitures, management buyouts, joint ventures and strategic investments, both domestic and cross-border, across a variety of sectors. Clients value his ability to lead complex transactions with clarity and precision. Prior to joining Bird & Bird, David has spent most of his career at international firms, where he headed both the Belgian Corporate/M&A and Real Estate departments. More recently, he has co-led the corporate, M&A and real estate teams at one of the Big 4 firms, helping clients navigate high-value deals and regulatory challenges. David's approach is collaborative and commercially focused. He works closely with clients to understand their strategic goals and deliver tailored solutions that support long-term growth. He also regularly advises trade associations on corporate governance and structural matters, bringing a broad perspective to the evolving regulatory landscape.

Anne Federle

Anne is a competition lawyer steering clients through EU and national merger control, cartel and abuse proceedings and providing pragmatic, hands-on competition law advice. She has over 25 years of experience advising and representing clients in all areas of EU and German competition law. Two key areas of Anne’s practice are merger control and cartel investigations. She has been involved in a large number of complex merger control cases before the European Commission and the German Federal Cartel Office and regularly manages multi-jurisdictional merger control proceedings across the globe. She also represents clients in EU and national cartel and abuse of dominance proceedings, helps them conduct internal investigations to identify and address anti-competitive conduct and supports them in developing effective competition law compliance programmes. When clients seek Anne’s advice on how to conduct certain activities in compliance with competition law, she always tries to put herself in their shoes. Her aim is to help them find a workable solution rather than just offering legal advice. Over the years Anne has developed significant expertise in a number of sectors where technology plays an important role. This includes in particular the automotive industry as well as the electronics and telecommunications sectors. She also has a strong interest in competition law issues around (big) data and works closely with our data protection team on issues at the interface of competition and data protection law.

Lawrence Freeman

Lawrence is a Senior Counsel in our Brussels office with over 30 years' experience handling issues on European regulatory, competition, and commercial law, both in private practice and in-house roles. He has unique experience regarding the regulation of electric, connected, and autonomous vehicles. Lawrence has particular expertise handling motor vehicle purchase agreements and warranties, commercial agreements in the supply chain and non-disclosure agreements, distance-selling rules, the contractual and liability issues arising from the rollout of electric vehicle charging points and European alternative fuels infrastructure legislation, emissions credit trading, right-to-repair rules, data protection rules, electromagnetic compatibility and CE marking legislation, energy labelling, subsidies, rules for general product safety and recalls, batteries legislation, end-of-life vehicles legislation, tyre legislation, type-approval legislation, the regulatory framework for autonomous vehicles, REACH, RoHS and WEEE legislation, UNECE Transport Regulations, ISO standards, the application of competition rules to selective distribution agreements, to the supply of tools and spare parts, to parallel trade and to geo-blocking for online sales.

Lisa Gius

Lisa is an associate in the Privacy and Tech & Comms teams in Belgium. Her work covers topics ranging from data protection and the EU's new digital legislation to cybersecurity, regulatory advice on telecommunications and the review of IT contracts. Working in data and technology-related legal matters provides an exciting combination: defending interests at the heart of our clients' businesses and being afforded the opportunity to work in a fast-evolving field. Here at Bird & Bird, Lisa practices both in an advisory and contentious capacity, mainly for clients from the technology, communications, hospitality, retail, biomedical and sports sectors. Amongst others, Lisa regularly advises clients in the context of investigations by the Belgian Data Protection Authority and assists them in building their global data protection strategy. She also has significant experience in understanding the impact of the Digital Services Act (DSA) on clients' online services and supporting their compliance efforts with commercially oriented solutions. In light of the upcoming NIS2 cybersecurity regime, she frequently helps multinational clients adopt a consistent approach across jurisdictions despite the fragmented implementation by Member States. For clients interested in implementing AI solutions or the exploitation of IoT data in their business model, Lisa also delivers dynamic contract review and early compliance advice regarding the Data Act and AI Act.

Paul Hermant

As a partner in our Corporate & Finance group in Brussels, Paul is a highly experienced negotiator of corporate and financial transactions and an expert adviser on financial regulations. Paul has a recognised expertise in mergers and acquisitions, private equity, venture capital, joint ventures, securities offerings and take-over bids, as well as in project and acquisition finance. He also assists clients on their compliance with financial regulations and in corporate and financial litigation, including shareholders' disputes, directors' liability and cases relating to financial products and services. The feedback he is proudest of is the ability to translate business goals into contractual terms, regulatory strategies or dispute resolution, and to find solutions to the most intricate questions or situations.

Hein Hobbelen

Hein is a Competition and Trade Partner at Bird & Bird in Brussels admitted to the Brussels and Amsterdam bars and currently holds the position of Diversity and Inclusion Officer of the International Bar Association's Communications Committee. Hein has more than 20 years of experience in Competition, Trade and TMT regulatory cases. Hein and his team assist clients in cases in these fields in front of the European Commission and other (national) competition and sector regulatory authorities. His practice spans sectors ranging from TMT and pharmaceuticals to security services, retail, paper/packaging, energy, chemicals, and many others. Hein co-heads our integrated Brussels Competition, Trade and Public Affairs practice and the Brussels TMT sector group.

Natalie Konings

Natalie is a regulatory lawyer who helps clients navigate the complex world of EU chemicals law. She works alongside businesses to turn regulatory challenges into competitive advantages, particularly in the fast-evolving areas of REACH, plant protection and biocides. Natalie specialises in EU regulatory law with a focus on chemicals regulation, an area where she has been helping clients succeed for the last 15 years. Her practice focuses on REACH, plant protection and biocides, guiding companies through the entire lifecycle, from initial registrations to complex enforcement procedures. Natalie also manages task forces and joint registrations, for which she advises on legal, contractual and EU sanction schemes. Natalie also helps clients across the health sector navigate the intersection with chemicals. In this respect, she advises clients on the impact that chemicals have on their products, e.g. cosmetics, medical devices and pharmaceuticals and give advice on substances restricted under REACH, CLP, POPs, RoHS and PPWR. She is particularly skilled at identifying exemptions and derogations that can give clients a competitive edge whilst maintaining full compliance. Natalie speaks regularly at conferences on chemicals and sustainability.

Diego Lambrecht

As a counsel in the Brussels Corporate & Finance group, Diego has expertise in the fields of corporate, financial and commercial law, with a strong focus on M&A, restructurings and investments. Examples include private equity and venture capital transactions but also impact funding and strategic acquisitions, as well as advising clients on (sustainable) governance and shareholders' cooperation, and dealing with directors' liability issues. Other fields Diego is passionate about are business contracts (including distribution), financial services and capital markets transactions. As a lawyer since 2012, his leitmotif is to think out of the box while remaining surgical in all circumstances. Each case is different, but deserves to be handled with the same enthusiasm, curiosity and creativity.

Marc Martens

As co-head of our International Life Sciences & Healthcare group and head of Bird & Bird's Regulatory, Public & Administrative Law group in Brussels, Marc provides cutting edge strategic and regulatory advice to our life sciences clients and represent them in litigation. Marc offers both contentious and non-contentious strategic advice to Belgian and international pharma, biotech and medical devices companies, public bodies and national and European industry associations facing complex regulatory frameworks. Marc's areas of expertise cover issues relating to life-cycle management, clinical trials and data, data exclusivity, marketing, price and reimbursement authorisations, and e-health together with data protection, distribution and advertising issues. Marc provides advice to biotech companies on issues regarding Advanced Therapy Medicinal Products as well as the legal and bioethical issues relating to research and use of human cells and tissues. He regularly represents clients before the nationals jurisdictions as well as before the European Court. Marc's public and administrative law expertise covers the full range of sub practices in public procurement and related litigation, environmental law, REACH, RoHS, WEES and other Belgian and EU compliance issues.

Scott McInnes

Scott is a partner in the Brussels office of Bird & Bird where, as an expert in payments regulation and competition law, he works closely with our Finance & Financial Regulation group, our EU & Competition law team, as well as our Public Affairs team. With more than 15 years' experience of competition law and regulation, Scott has considerable expertise in payments regulation and competition law across Europe. Scott advises payment schemes, payments services providers (e.g. card issuers and merchant acquirers), processors, merchants, as well as other stakeholders in the payments value chain. Scott advises them on payments regulation, such as PSD2 (the update EU Payment Services Directive) and the 'level 2' documents under PSD2 such as the Regulatory Technical Standards (RTS) on Strong Customer Authentication, the EU Interchange Fee Regulation, the EU Cross-Border Regulation, the EU SEPA Regulation. He also advises on AML regulations, outsourcing regulations, banking secrecy rules, and other financial services regulations. Scott also advises on a variety of competition law issues, in particular in the payments sector. Along with the Bird & Bird Brussels public affairs team, Scott also provides support to clients on their public affairs initiatives related to draft legislation and regulations.

Claudio Mereu

Claudio is a partner with over 26 years' worth of experience in EU regulatory law with an emphasis on chemicals, pesticides and biocides, as well as other regulated consumer, professional and industrial goods. Claudio's practice focuses on EU regulatory law with an emphasis on chemicals (REACH/CLP), pesticides and biocides, as well as other related regulated sectors (cosmetics, medical devices, f-Gas, etc.). Claudio's expertise covers all aspects of product regulations and restrictions under, including notification, registration, exemptions/derogations, mutual recognition, classification & labelling, marketing and use restrictions, parallel imports, environmental liability, product recalls and scientific data compensation negotiations, among others. Claudio has been involved in large chemical defence projects, such as chromium trioxide and PFAS under the REACH Regulation. Claudio's activity can be divided into three main streams: advisory, advocacy and litigation, at both EU and national levels. This includes assisting clients in navigating the EU regulatory landscape, policies and compliance requirements across various sectors, as well as litigation at EU and national levels against administrative decisions from EU Institutions/agencies and local authorities. Claudio also advises chemical companies on strategic and business law matters relating to their commercial agreements, as well as regulatory due diligence in relation to the acquisitions and divestments of product portfolios in the EU.

Benedicte Mourisse

Benedicte is an associate in the Regulatory, Public & Administrative Law department in our Brussels office. She advises clients on regulatory matters with a particular focus on life sciences, food and beverages. Benedicte advises clients in a wide range of regulated sectors including life sciences, food and beverages. She also advises on public and administrative law matters such as public procurement, in addition to issues relating to environmental law in its broad meaning. After graduating from the University of Ghent in 2017, Benedicte completed an additional year of study at the Erasmus University of Rotterdam to obtain a Master's degree in International Trade Law. She was admitted to the Antwerp Bar in 2018 and to the Brussels Bar in 2020. Prior to joining Bird & Bird in 2018, she worked as an associate at an Antwerp law firm.

Brian Mulier

Brian is a partner in our Tax Group, heading the International Trade & Customs Practice. He is based in The Hague. Brian represents clients, notably in the high-tech and communications sector, in trade compliance matters with a particular focus on EU export controls, economic sanctions, customs, free trade agreements and trade remedies. He has extensive experience with the EU's export controls and sanctions regulations including the interaction between EU and national laws and US rules. His experience includes both dual-use and military products and technologies.A significant part of Brian's practice involves assisting companies in understanding the concrete implications of restrictive measures (sanctions), designing and implementing international compliance programs and advising on complex questions of international compliance for companies with global operations, as is conducting internal investigations to examine allegations of wrongdoing. In addition, Brian provides practical and clear advice to multi-national clients in relation to EU customs compliance, customs classification, customs valuation and transfer pricing, rules of origin and customs efficient supply chain (re-) structuring, including sourcing strategies and optimizing the use of free trade agreements. He assists companies in understanding the concrete implications of the WTO rules and treaty (trade) provisions for their business. Such understanding has helped his clients improve competitiveness and financial performance by making optimum use of trade and customs laws. Besides advisory, Brian’s practice includes also litigation.

Kevin Munungu

Kevin is an attorney in the Regulatory, Public & Administrative Law department in our Brussels office. He advises both Belgian and international clients on regulatory matters and public procurements across several sectors, advising clients at the intersection of government and business. Kevin advises Belgian and international clients across various industries, including life sciences, energy, and defence, on both contentious and non-contentious matters. His practice focuses on assisting clients with regulatory challenges and public procurement matters, including litigation. Working alongside our international offices, Kevin helps clients navigate complex cross-border issues involving authorisations, compliance strategies, and regulatory enforcement proceedings. A significant part of his practice involves public procurement law, where Kevin assists companies and government entities throughout the procurement process: from analysing tender documentation and formulating strategic questions to procuring entities, through to court representation when disputes arise. This work encompasses procurements by national authorities as well as international organisations such as the European Union institutions, NATO, NSPA, the World Bank, and Interpol. Kevin is recognised in the legal directories as a Key Lawyer in handling public procurement matters (Legal 500, 2025). Kevin also advises on emerging sustainability obligations, including compliance with the Greenhouse Gas Protocol and evolving environmental regulations.

Domien Op de Beeck

Domien advises on patents and trade secrets laws and implementation on a daily basis. He also represents design or trademark holders in infringement and opposition proceedings, up to the CJEU level. Domien helps clients recapture their legitimate IP rights (incl. domain names), ban copycats from the market or fence off unfounded infringement claims. Working at Bird & Bird implies a privilege on working for and together with inspiring individuals and cutting edge companies. Clients have said they appreciate Domien's openness to the business and drive to grasp the most complex science. Investing time to understand these extra factors goes hand in hand with the sector approach for which Bird & Bird is known. Having represented clients before different courts and IP offices in Belgium and abroad, Domien knows the procedural intricacies of IP litigation, but also how to get to constructive out-of-court solutions. Contract drafting and negotiation is another inherent part of Domien's practice. Furthermore, he helps clients on matters like adding value to their IP, negotiating a safe passage to market, or devising and implementing trade secret protection policies.

Julien Sad

Julien is a senior associate in our Finance & Financial Regulation group and a member of the firm's international payments team. Building on years of experience as a banking lawyer, in both private practice and in-house for a global investment bank, Julien advises various stakeholders in the payment ecosystem, such as payment schemes, payments services providers (including issuers, acquirers, TPPs), processors/gateways, as well as merchants (including e-commerce platforms). He is qualified to provide legal advice under EU and Belgian law, but he also regularly assists clients with their financial regulatory issues around the globe by working closely with our dedicated network of lawyers. Julien's practice area includes a wide range of payment-related regulatory topics, essentially the second Payment Services Directive (PSD2), 'level-2' documents under PSD2 such as the Regulatory Technical Standards (RTS), the Payment Account Directive (PAD), the EU Interchange Fee Regulation (IFR), the EU Cross-Border Regulation (CBPR), the EU SEPA Regulation (SEPA). His expertise also extends to credits, electronic money, cryptos and anti-money laundering legislations. Julien frequently speaks and publishes on these topics, but more particularly he has authored chapters on payments in two Belgian law reference books, namely the "Traité pratique de droit commercial" and the "Répertoire pratique de droit belge". Before joining Bird & Bird, Julien worked for an international and a top-notch boutique law firm, where he gained substantial contentious and non-contentious experience in the area of banking and finance law. From a regulatory perspective, he has advised various clients on a number of payments-related topics and assisted them with the launch of new products in the market, such as electronic wallets and virtual accounts. Julien has also gained experience in OTC derivative transactions, such as currency and interest rate swaps, options, as well as securities lending and repurchase transactions, in connection with various master agreements (such as ISDA, GMRA, GMSLA, or EMA). As part of his litigation experience, Julien represented multiple Belgian banks in civil procedures on topics ranging from payment services (for example, unauthorised/fraudulent transactions, antitrust claim in the payment card market) to derivatives, mainly in the form of interest rate swaps. He also helped clients with litigation matters relating to lending, investment services, portfolio management and security interests, including enforcement.

Brent Springael

As head of our Tax group in Brussels, Brent's practice covers the full range of business tax matters, domestically and internationally, focusing on IP-related tax in life sciences, media and tech & comms. Over the years, Brent has strengthened his international tax experience (from private equity to finance structuring) by taking secondment roles in the Luxembourg office of one of the largest law firms in Europe and the New York office of a Chicago headquartered international law firm. He also advises non-profit associations on direct and indirect tax matters. Contributing to leading Belgian and international tax reviews, Brent has written about the practical implications of, among others, Belgian and other European patent box regimes, the taxation of copyright income, royalty taxation, aircraft financing, holding company regimes, and non-profit associations' tax rules.

Jean-Christophe Troussel

Jean-Christophe is an intellectual property partner and the head of the IP practice in Brussels, where he offers clients over 25 years' hands-on experience in all sorts of contentious and transactional matters in IP and technology, with in-depth expertise in sectors including food & beverage, life sciences and consumer goods. From day one, his practice focused on the protection and the monetisation of clients' innovation and IP assets. This focus made Jean-Christophe delve into all types of IP dispute resolution, including patents, trade secrets, trade marks, designs, copyright and unfair competition matters, both national and cross-border. Aligning litigation with business goals is complex and challenging. It is a key part of Jean-Christophe's role. He enjoys it very much, as it makes him part of the client's team. Jean-Christophe also manages IP rights as essential corporate assets and became a skilled negotiator and contractual lawyer in stand-alone IP transactions and in other forms of collaboration and corporate deals in which brands and technology are essential. This encompasses the IP aspects of M&A, restructurings and finance-driven transactions, including IP due diligence. Jean-Christophe likes the mechanics of contract negotiation and contract drafting. He enjoys working with clients towards contract solutions that make sense for all parts of their business and are compliant with their corporate values and risk culture. In addition, Jean-Christophe helps clients on issues relating to portfolio management and protection, and on new types of challenges such as IP issues in the digital world, including social media.

Benoit Van Asbroeck

As a partner and IP/IT specialist at Bird & Bird in Brussels, Benoit leads our Belgian Data Protection, Tech & Comms and Media practices, advising our clients on legal issues in privacy, data, e-commerce, digital marketing, cloud computing, the Internet of Things, AI, 3D printing, cookies, electronic signatures, intermediary liability and automated objects. He also co-heads the Bird & Bird international special interest group on Copyright due to his large experience in copyright matters with the Court of Justice of the European Union. His practice is both transactional and litigation. He has extensive experience in drafting and negotiating complex TMT contracts. In addition, he has exceptional expertise in counselling our clients on issues that require the coordination and integration of a variety of legal solutions, such as intellectual property, information technology, media, sport, competition and telecommunications issues. Advising on contentious matters in front of arbitral tribunals and national and EU courts, he has successfully conducted landmark matters with the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) (in Copyright/Trademark and E-commerce). In the context of our Public Affairs practice he lobby's public authorities in relation to the EU and national legislative processes. Alongside the wider team in Brussels, we are participating as legal partners in number of H2020 EU-funded consortia all focusing on data driven economy issues.