We are pleased to announce that our firm has once again achieved excellent rankings in the 2022 edition of Legal 500 EMEA, one of the world's leading legal directories.
In the newly published legal guide, Liedekerke is ranked in no less than 15 practice areas. Maintaining our stellar positions in the Energy, Environment, Retail and Real Estate & Construction practice areas, our Competition practice has also moved up in the ranks this year. The rankings also celebrate key individuals in the firm, with a total of 46 recognised in the Leading Individuals, Hall of Fame Individuals, Next Generation Partners, Rising Stars and Key Lawyers lists.
[Recognised practice areas]
Environment - Tier 1
'In depth knowledge of the Belgian environmental laws in all regions.‘
‘Dominique Devos has a very good knowledge of our needs and our business.‘
Energy - Tier 1
Testimonials:
“Highly responsive and excellent knowledge of technical rules and regulations within the energy sector. Liedekerke Wolters Waelbroeck Kirkpatrick has been our law firm for a very long time. The lawyers are the most competent in the field of energy law and are very skilled regarding the specific technical matters which we handle.’
‘Damien Verhoeven is one of the best lawyers in Belgium specialising in energy law. An excellent lead lawyer, with a very hands-on mentality. He is always readily available and delivers outstanding work; he listens and takes feedback from us into account.’
Retail - Tier 1
Testimonials:
‘The Liedekerke Wolters Waelbroeck Kirkpatrick team has a great approach and a strong knowledge of the wider issues in the retail market. They have a strong practice and are problem-solvers. Indeed, this is not only providing standard solutions but looking for alternatives.’
‘Pierre Desenfans, tax partner, is a top expert in the real estate retail sector.‘
Real Estate and Construction - Tier 1
Testimonials:
‘Marie Heyvaert knows her files and remains calm at all times.’
‘Strong team, without excessive wasted time in theories.’
‘They are friendly, highly skilful. Moreover, they do their best to give you an appropriate answer, to be creative, to find a solution to your issue, and also to answer promptly.
‘The lawyers are extremely responsive and great to work with.’
‘Yves has a clear view of the legal framework and gives an excellent service with great response times and value for money. His calm in all situation is valuable. Also, his ability to speak clearly and to participate in negotiations with real added value are an asset for any company working with him.’
‘Louise Hubo and Alexandre Emond assisted us very well on the acquisition of land in Brussels. They both have profound legal knowledge and look into matters very thoughtfully and diligently.’
‘Efficient service, excellent availability and top lawyers in their specific field of competence.’
Commercial, Corporate and M&A - Tier 2
Testimonials:
‘I would certainly recommend working with Wim Dedecker, who currently offers without doubt one of the best M&A services you can currently get on the Belgian M&A market. In particular with respect to cross-border deals and complex deals, his personal involvement in the matters makes a huge difference.’
‘Liedekerke has the unique attribute to be a one-stop-shop with tailor-made approach. They also have good connections with law firms abroad which makes it easier for us to handle new markets.’
‘Jacques Meunier is the best lawyer I’ve ever worked with, amazing technical skills and human touch. He can defend our interests like no-one else in a very smooth way during negotiations that can sometimes be rough.’
‘Very complete, highly professional all round practice.’
‘Dedicated, fully committed, responsive.’
‘Absolutely great team, extremely professional and clever in their legal advice and human intelligence’
‘Jacques Meunier and Céline Tallier are outstanding in many ways: problem solving, creativity, negotiation, dedication.’
‘Up to date with the latest evolutions, knowledge of market practice, transparent and regular billing, very good price/quality balance,
Competition; Belgian Law - Tier 2
‘Vincent Mussche is a true star of competition law, he is always available and ready to react quickly by advising the best strategy to follow.’
‘Hands-on, very knowledgeable about the subject matter, creative, solutions-oriented, seeing the big picture.’
Dispute Resolution - Tier 2
Testimonials:
‘Very good in international arbitration.’
‘A strong team with extended competencies in various areas. Very good internal and external communication when additional expertise is required by the customer.’
‘Lead contacts Olivier Vanden Berghe and Roel Francis are experts in their respective fields, and supporting contact Thijs Vermeulen is a high level right-hand man.’
‘The arbitration team is exceptional, particularly for complex international arbitration. Arnaud Nuyts and his team combine strong advocacy with a deep understanding of complex legal issues and business practices, as well as excellent strategy. Above all, Prof Nuyts is respected by arbitrators who listen to him and trust his interpretation of the law.
‘I have been working closely with Liederkerke for a few years now. The areas covered are broad: civil procedure, cross border procedure, arbitration related court proceedings, criminal law and the law of cassation. For each area the services offered were of outstanding quality.’
‘My main point of contact is Arnaud Nuys who brought in his partners Simone Nudelholc, Roules Francis, Beatrice van Tournout. They interact seamlessly and they provide consistently highest quality in all areas. The case we handled is extremely complex and the team around Arnaud has proven to be on top of the issues at any given time.’
‘The team is very communicative, interactive and very responsive. They reply, explain the legal jargon, implications and make reasonable expectations. They established a shared platform, a whatsapp group for quick feedback.’
‘Great team, well streamlined and available, good follow-up’
‘Roel Fransis: very knowledgeable, excellent follow-up and excels in expertise (up to date of case law, in-depth knowledge of the law) – warm personality and great to work with.’
Employment - Tier 2
Testimonials:
‘Responsive and appreciate the urgency of the matter at hand.
‘We absolutely valued the team’s flexibility to meet (virtually) and their candid advice. No sugar coating but clear overview of options and risks in order to enable us to make educated decisions and device plans of action with and without legal support moving forwards. Trust and integrity are important to us as a company and whilst we understand that with making business decisions, comes making difficult decisions, Liedekerke enabled us to keep our people in mind at all times.’
‘The team have all shown a great deal of integrity and understanding of our business and ways of working when providing guidance. In particular Paul Geerebaert has shown great humanity and ability to relate and provide not only legal advice but support, guidance and (appropriate levels of) light-heartedness.’
‘Paul Geerebaert is very easy to work with, responsive, knowledgeable, and my clients value the services he has provided to them.’
‘Paul Geerebaert is very professional, intelligent and has the highest level of expertise on labour law that I have encountered.’
‘Good team with a good mix of seniority levels.’
‘Paul Geerebaert has a wealth of experience in Belgian social law advice, drafting and litigation. He is the lawyer you need when you are facing an important and/or urgent issue in terms of Belgian social law.’
‘Chloé Stassart’s availability, expertise and time of response are outstanding.’
EU Regulatory: Financial Services - Tier 2
Testimonials:
‘It is a great pleasure to collaborate with Liedekerke because of their excellent understanding of the situation of the company and the problems we are involved in. The great relationship with the team is important to us, and we are willing to have a firm which support us not only with purely legal solutions, but also with comprehensive approach of our whole business.’
‘We work with Tom Van Dyck and his team for a couple of years and have developed a very special relationship. Our core business is not located in Belgium, but we have very specific needs to develop our activity in this market. Tom is the perfect partner for our company to support our business.’
‘This practice is unique because of their extensive know how when it comes to all topics related to banking and finance. They are aware of all recent development within the field but are also very well informed on sector practices and have a good relationship with the local regulators. They have a very hands on mentality and are able to quickly provide correct, substantiated and complete legal advice which is nevertheless understandable and practical.’
‘Tom Van Dyck and his team stand out because of their extensive know how when it comes to all topics related to banking and finance. Tom Van Dyck has a hands on mentality, is very accessible, responsive and professional. He is also able to quickly provide correct, substantiated and complete legal advice which is nevertheless understandable and practical.’
‘Extensive experience in financial supervision, including supervisory investigations.’
‘Tom van Dyck immediately instilled confidence in the handling of a highly confidential investigation by the Belgian regulator.’
‘Specific expertise in financial product approval with legislators.’
‘We are honored to collaborate with Tom Van Dyck, who combines an in-depth knowledge of the Belgian financial regulatory framework and authorities with a very pragmatic and no-nonsense approach.’
Fraud and White-collar Crime - Tier 2
Insolvency and Restructuring - Tier 2
Testimonials:
‘‘The team is fantastic and our go-to firm in Belgium for high quality insolvency and restructuring advice.’
‘Roel Fransis is exceptional. His advice is very user-friendly, timely and practical.’
‘The team’s dedication to the client and the quality of its work is really exceptional. They are proactive and consistent in their approach, with good advice. The response times are incredible and the advice is well thought-out.’
‘Roel has a commercially driven approach to strategy. He is very available for the client and assists us with a great support and proactivity. He is practical and action-oriented.’
Intellectual Property - Tier 2
Testimonials:
‘Collaborative team, responsive, and diverse. They have been proactive in seeking to work with other international law firms to provide clients with a multi-jurisdictional response.
‘They are very engaged in the issues; analytical and practical.’
‘Great team, very professional.’
‘Flexible and available. Compliant with deadlines. Very nice people to work with. They always try to build a personal relationship which makes working together more efficient.’
‘Sarah van den Brande is a master in negotiations based on her knowledge. She is an example of what a partner should be like (intelligence, social skills, relationship with client and adverse party).’
Banking, Finance and Capital Markets - Tier 3
Testimonials:
‘‘The team is a hidden gem on the Belgian market, in particular with respect to capital markets.’
‘I really love working with Wim Dedecker. He offers the quality you would expect to receive from the major US and UK firms, and is at the same time very dedicated, available and passionate.’
‘Wim Dedecker is highly involved, pragmatic, solution driven.’
‘Very strong, dynamic and talented team.
‘Thomas Vanthournout is a good, intelligent and hands-on lawyer.’
‘The attorneys at Liedekerke Wolters Waelbroeck Kirkpatrick that we have worked with are all experienced in both legal and business matters, so they are able to provide “next level” guidance that is quite valuable to us as a business client. All of their partners and associates are extremely responsive and flexible.’
‘The team is responsible, knowledgeable, flexible and extremely reactive.’
‘Freya Mareels has a deep knowledge of the subject area, expertise through having significant experience in the sector. Also she has a good understanding on the commercial issues in general.’
Transport - Tier 3
Testimonials:
“The team is very knowledgeable and thinks pragmatically.’
‘The existence of the “hotline” is a real added value. The advice responds to our concrete needs and proposes solutions to the problems encountered.‘
Tax - Tier 3
Testimonials:
‘Pierre Desenfans is the partner with whom we work. He is specialized in Real Estate and has the big advantage to be able to tackle very efficiently different sub topics (corporate tax, VAT, registration duties, International taxation, local taxation).’
‘The members of the team are complementary. They are working together. Together they have a large range of the necessary skills. Working with them let us feel well protected.’
‘Strong interaction with their real estate transaction team allows them to provide a global and synthetic answer to questions raised.’
‘We were pleased by the availability of the personnel in answering all our questions. The firm looks pretty client-oriented and we found the most important and valuable thing was the responsiveness of the professionals we dealt with for our project.’
‘The individuals we have been in contact with have been available to answer all our questions and provided all the necessary details for us to understand the process. We appreciated the availability of the team and the fact that they reverted back to us quickly any time we needed additional details in order to progress with our project.’
‘This practice is unique because of its hands on mentality as well as their responsiveness. They are able to quickly capture the legal needs and issues and translate them into advice and solutions the business can work with in practice.’
‘I highly value the responsiveness and hands on mentality of Lievin De Wulf who is able to translate difficult tax issues and advice into comprehensible wording and provide practical solutions our business is able to work with.’
‘Lievin’s availability, expertise and time of response are outstanding.’
[Hall of Fame]
Aimery de Schoutheete
Vincent Busschaert
Yves Delacroix
[Leading Individuals]
Alexandre Emond
Arnaud Nuyts
Christel Van den Eynden
Damien Conem
Damien Verhoeven
Dominique Devos
François Tulkens
Magda Vandebotermet
Paul Geerebaert
Stefaan Raes
[Next Generation Partners]
Freya Mareels
Wim Dedecker
[Rising Stars]
Bruno Hardy
Julie De Bonnet
Sarah van den Brande
Jean Pierre Kesteloot
Marie Heyvaert
Margot Vandebeek
[Key Lawyers]
Filip De Preter
Bert Van Herreweghe
François Tulkens
Thibaut Hollanders
Lola Malluquin
Jonas Van Orshoven
Yves Delacroix
Freya Mareels
Jacques Meunier
Céline Tallier
Vincent Mussche
Olivier Vanden Berghe
Leen Holvoet
Chloé Stassart
Tom Van Dyck
Sarah Michot
Louise Verstraete
Roel Fransis
Etienne Kairis
Bernard Vanbrabant
Thomas Vanthournout
Lievin De Wulf
Pierre Desenfans
Collectively, these rankings reflect the depth and breadth of our firm’s expertise across a wide range of practice areas.
We would like to extend our heartfelt gratitude to our clients for their valuable feedback and trust, and congratulate all ranked practice groups and lawyers