Liedekerke Wolters Waelbroeck Kirkpatrick

Chairman of the Board: François Tulkens

Managing Partner: Alexandre Emond and Etienne Kairis

Number of partners worldwide: 30

Number of other lawyers worldwide: 140

Languages:Dutch, English, French, German, Italian, Spanish

Firm Overview:

Founded in 1965 by lawyers committed to legal excellence, Liedekerke is an independent law firm recognised for its leadership and expertise and with an international reputation built upon an unchallenged expertise. A premium Belgian business law firm for 60 years with offices in Antwerp, Brussels, London, Kinshasa and Kigali, our firm is dedicated to providing a world-class service by consistently delivering the finest assistance and guidance.

The firm has a strong advisory practice based on sector expertise and an in-depth knowledge of Belgian and European law. As an essential complement to its advisory activities, it represents clients in complex litigation before national, European and international courts, both judicial and arbitral, the Court of Cassation, the Council of State and the Belgian Constitutional Courts.

Our clients, active in a broad range of industries, including financial services and financial institutions, energy, real estate and construction, environment, TMT, retail, consumer goods and trade, public authorities and government agencies, automotive, transport, infrastructure and logistics, funds and asset management amongst others rely on us to consistently go above and beyond their expectations. We offer them the finest legal guidance possible, combining the firm's solid international capability with strong local roots and in-depth regional knowledge.

With about 140 lawyers including 30 partners, our goal is not to be the largest firm but to be the firm of choice for clients who require trusted advice and innovative and business-aware legal solutions. Although we excel in minimising conflict, when litigation is unavoidable, we have a record of prevailing in court.

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Main Areas of Practice:

• Administrative and public
• Aviation and transport
• Banking and insolvency
• Capital Markets
• Commercial contracts
• Competition / EU law & Foreign Investment
• Corporate and M&A
• Energy
• Environment
• Finance
• Fraud and white-collar crime
• IT and telecommunications
• Insurance and liability
• Intellectual property
• Labour and employment
• Litigation and arbitration
• Public international law
• Public procurement and Public Private Partnerships
• Real estate
• Restructuring and Insolvency
• Tax
• Trade practices and consumer law
• Zoning and planning

Administrative & Public:

Co-operation between public authorities and private companies; privatisations; contracts with government bodies; outsourcing of public services; administrative appeals; staff regulations.

Banking & Finance:

Credit transactions; guarantees and securities; issues of bonds; securitisation; derivative financial products; stockmarket transactions; national and international systems for clearing securities; domestic and cross-border asset funding; accounting and tax aspects of financial transactions. Regulation of banking activities and other financial services; regulation of investment firms; regulation of mutual funds.

Commercial Contracts:

Contract drafting and negotiation; business scheme development; standard terms and conditions; creation of franchising or distribution networks, contract litigation, antitrust law.

Corporate:

Creation of undertakings, operation of companies, transfer of shares and assets, co-operation between undertakings.

Energy:

Market access regulations at federal and regional levels; renewable energy regulations; price regulations; distribution agreements; environmental and planning regulations for production facilities and transport infrastructure.

Environment:

Covering the full range of environmental and planning work, in advisory, transactional and litigation matters all over Belgium. Dealing with international, European, federal, regional and local regulations.

Competition / EU Law & Foreign Investment :

European Union competition rules; merger control; dawn raids; cartel investigations; compliance programmes and audits; compliance counselling; state aid; foreign investment screening; public procurement; regulatory

Insurance & Liability:

Implementation of regulations related to insurance and reinsurance activities and the prior approval of insurance or reinsurance companies and insurance intermediaries; portfolio transfers; tax aspects of insurance and reinsurance; drafting and wording of insurance or reinsurance contracts; claims monitoring and insurance litigation (life and non life, marine and non marine insurance).

Intellectual Property & Information Technology:

Patents and know-how, trademarks, copyright, media, IT contracts, e-commerce, databases and data protection.

Labour & Employment:

Negotiating and drafting of employment contracts; deferred compensation; termination of employment relations; individual dismissals, collective dismissals, early retirement, restructuring, closure; secondments; workforce elections, collective negotiations, strikes, transfers of undertakings.

Litigation & Arbitration:

Assisting international clients and firms in front of all national, judicial and administrative jurisdictions as well as arbitral bodies; acting as counsels or servicing as arbitrators. This includes a practice dedicated to complex and international litigation in line with the Anglo-Saxon model and in order to respond to the needs of international clients: handling litigation issues according to international standards and dealing with litigation in an international context (foreign client, foreign opponent, litigation or arbitration abroad, securing enforcement abroad, resisting enforcement in Belgium of foreign judgments and awards, organising multi-country claims or defence strategies, etc.).

Mergers & Acquisitions:

Choice of the most appropriate form of reorganisation from commercial, tax, labour and social security points of view; negotiating and drafting documents; domestic and European Union merger control units.

Public International Law:

Regulation of international trade and international investments; public international law aspects of business transactions generally.

Real Estate:

Purchases and transfers of property; town and country planning rules and building permits; environment; compulsory purchases; contracts for architects and property construction and development; public procurement; financial leases of property; property related bonds

Tax:

Advice on all tax matters and appeals before the tax authorities and the courts, including corporate taxation and personal taxation; tax aspects of commercial and financial transactions; inheritance tax planning.

Trade Practices & Consumer Law:

Rules of access to business sectors; operating and environmental permits; trade practices; price regulation; subsidies.

Transport & Aviation:

Carriage contracts, regulations of transport activities; carriers’ liability; purchase, leasing and financing of aircraft and other means of transport.