EU CORPORATE: DESCRIPTION

The Brussels office has a solid corporate expertise and often helps non-European clients to determine the most advantageous structure for their business and to organize their corporate presence in Europe. For example, we have set up many Belgian international non-profit associations (INPA), which are often used for scientific (data development) purposes and offer a separate legal personality and a limited liability of members and directors. The Brussels office has created many INPAs in the pesticides/chemicals area (IMA Europe, Eurotalc, among others) and in the financial/banking area (European Banking Federation, EURIBOR, for example).

The corporate attorneys in the Brussels office are very familiar with corporate and commercial law, in Belgium and in most other EU jurisdictions, as well as the United States, and handle both contentious and non-contentious matters in these areas. Further, our corporate attorneys in the Brussels office have many years’ experience in serving as lead (as well as local) counsel for corporate transactions of all types and sizes, both domestically and internationally and including mergers, acquisitions, joint ventures, and strategic alliances. When serving as lead counsel, we bring the experience of working with and managing local counsel on such transactions, to ensure efficient and non-duplicative consideration of and compliance with all local and country specific laws, rules, regulations, and other issues.

In addition to representing our clients on all aspects of corporate transactions, we regularly advise clients on matters ranging from the tax and labor law implications of corporate restructuring, the drafting of a variety of commercial contracts (distribution, agency, licensing, and franchise agreements) and the negotiation of dispute settlements.

Our commercial expertise includes the drafting and negotiating of distributorship, agency, international sales and joint venture agreements, undertaking due diligence in connection with mergers and acquisitions, as well as advising on the application of Articles 81 and 82 of the EC Treaty (formerly Articles 85 and 86) to business practices and transactions. In this respect, we can combine our regulatory expertise with a sophisticated understanding of the business issues at stake.

Our Brussels attorneys have significant experience in negotiating and drafting commercial contracts. Our Brussels attorneys assist clients with organizing and establishing their corporate presence in Europe, including the formation of R&D task forces (e.g., for the development and submission of scientific data at the EU and national levels), international non-profit associations (INPA), and European Economic Interest Groups (EEIG), some of which have been used as a vehicle for regulatory challenges at the European level.