Litigation and Arbitration

Van Bael & Bellis’ lawyers have extensive experience in litigating matters before the Belgian and EU Courts. While many cases are handled for our regular clients, a number of matters have come to us as distinct litigation files of companies that we had not previously represented.

Van Bael & Bellis’ lawyers regularly represent clients in arbitration proceedings under the auspices of a variety of arbitral bodies.

We pride ourselves on our thorough understanding of Belgian and European procedural and substantive laws as well as on our stringent attention to detail and a strong desire to win each case for our clients. Our excellent litigation and arbitration results attest thereto.

National court proceedings

In the context of national court proceedings, clients have often come to Van Bael & Bellis because of the novel approaches we have developed in a number of cases involving the formulation of arguments based on both EU and national law. Clients who do not master the language of Belgian court proceedings (Dutch, French or German depending on the venue) also appreciate our ability to prepare draft procedural documents, such as writs, submissions and petitions, simultaneously in their own language and the language of the proceedings. This allows the clients to examine and comment on the draft documents with a full understanding of the factual and legal arguments invoked.  

Pan-European litigation

At Van Bael & Bellis, we also often take part in pan-European litigation for our multinational clients. It requires us to work as part of a pan-European team of lawyers and to ensure that our argumentation before the Belgian courts is wholly consistent with argumentation being invoked by our foreign colleagues before foreign jurisdictions.

Specialist areas

•             complex commercial litigation;
•             antitrust and trade regulation;
•             life sciences;
•             unfair trade practices;
•             corporate;
•             employment;
•             intellectual property;
•             information technology.

Arbitration

We have extensive expertise in arbitration proceedings under the auspices of a variety of arbitral bodies, including the International Chamber of Commerce ("ICC"), the American Arbitration Association ("AAA"), the Netherlands Arbitration Institute ("Nederlands Arbitrage Instituut" or "NAI") and the Belgian Centre for Mediation and Arbitration (“CEPINA/CEPANI”). Such arbitration cases include:

• acting for a Belgian chemicals manufacturer in proceedings under the ICC rules (place of arbitration: Brussels, language: German) against a management company regarding the interpretation of particular provisions of a cooperation agreement under Belgian civil law;
• acting for a German cement manufacturer in arbitration proceedings under the ICC rules (place of arbitration: London; language: English) against a Spanish importer regarding the payment of a cement shipment and a counterclaim for alleged breach of contract under English law;
• acting for a US manufacturer of snack bars in arbitration proceedings under the AAA rules (place of arbitration: San Francisco, language: English) against a Belgian distributor regarding the performance and termination of a distribution agreement under Belgian law;
• acting as co-counsel for a major apparel producer in complex arbitration proceedings before the NAI and in related litigation before the Dutch courts. The proceedings also gave rise to a case before the European Court of Justice which had been asked to define the relationship between arbitration proceedings and EC competition law. Van Bael & Bellis handled these proceedings as well;
• acting for a leading company specialised in the provision of technologically advanced payment and security solutions for the financial sector in complex arbitration proceedings before the CEPANI against the other party to a Share Purchase Agreement regarding the alleged malperformance of a Management Services Agreement and the alleged violation of representations and warranties under the Share Purchase Agreement;
• acting for an Italian producer of homeopathic remedies in an ad hoc international commercial and corporate arbitration (place of arbitration: Brussels, language: French) against the world leader on the homeopathic market regarding the violation of a shareholders’ agreement and commercial agreements.