Law Firm Astrea significantly expands Brussels presence

 

Antwerp and Brussels, Belgium, 8 May 2012

 

As from 2 May 2012, leading Antwerp-based law firm Astrea has significantly expanded its Brussels office with the recruitment of new Partner Steven De Schrijver and team including Senior Associates Thomas Daenens, Jeroen Mues and Pieter Paepe.

This move strengthens Astrea’s capability to handle complex and cross-border work for domestic and international clients. The team will strengthen the Corporate/M&A and Commercial/IP/ICT departments with its extensive experience working for multinational clients on inbound transactions and investment, including for Microsoft, SunGard and Thomson Reuters. 

 

Astrea’s Head of the Corporate Department, Philippe Van den Broecke commented, “the expansion and reinforcement of our Brussels office is a logical step towards our goal of becoming a leading independent law firm in Belgium. Steven adds 20 years of experience in international business transactions and a wealth of international contacts.” With this acquisition the Firm will have 10 Partners and 42 attorneys, 16 of which advise on Corporate/M&A and finance. The Firm intends to further expand the Brussels office in the near future, by adding new partners and associates with expertise in specific practice areas and/or industries. 

 

Steven De Schrijver said, “the Firm’s commercial and no-nonsense approach to legal advice, its entrepreneurial culture and growth ambitions were strongly motivating factors in deciding to join Astrea.”

 

De Schrijver continued, “We are very excited about the new platform to assist clients in virtually every area of business law—Corporate/M&A, finance, employment, commercial, IP, ICT, real estate, transport & logistics, administrative, environmental, employment and tax.”

 

Astrea’s expansion in Brussels also marks one of the rare occasions that a team in Brussels has been acquired by a Belgian law firm headquartered outside the capital.

 

 

 

Steven De Schrijver, partner – Brussels (JD, magna cum laude, University of Antwerp 1992; LLM University of Virginia School of Law 1993). Steven De Schrijver has 20 years of experience advising Belgian and foreign companies on mergers and acquisitions, joint ventures, corporate restructurings, acquisition financing, private equity and venture capital, debt structuring and secured loans. He has been involved in several national and cross-border transactions mostly in technology-oriented sectors.

 

Steven is also recognized as one of the leading commercial IT lawyers in Belgium specializing in new technologies (such as data protection, e-commerce, software licensing, website development and hosting, technology transfer, digital signature, IT-outsourcing, cloud computing, etc).

 

Steven worked 15 years at Van Bael & Bellis where he became partner in 2002. At Lorenz he headed the Corporate/M&A and IT & New Media departments between 2009 and 2012. 

 

In addition, Steven is an active member of the Union Internationale des Avocats (UIA), the Association Internationale des Jeunes Avocats (AIJA), the American Bar Association (ABA) International Law Section and the Belgian member of EuroITCounsel, a quality circle of independent IT lawyers. Steven is also actively involved in ITechLaw as one of the country representatives in Belgium and newly elected member of the ITechLaw Board of Directors. He was the most highly regarded internet, e-Commerce and data protection lawyer in the 2011 edition of the International Who’s Who of Internet, e-Commerce and Data Protection Lawyers. He was also recently awarded the ILO Client Choice Award 2012 in the General Corporate Category for Belgium.

 

Thomas Daenens – Senior Associate Brussels (University of Leuven, Masters Degree in International Relations and Conflict Management 2001; University of Leuven, Law Degree “Licentiaat in de Rechten” 2000). Thomas advises international and national companies on corporate matters. He frequently handles corporate and M&A transactions and has special expertise in corporate governance, restructuring and HR-related issues. Prior to joining Astrea, Thomas worked in the Brussels office of Hunton & Williams and Lorenz and as in-house counsel at bpost.

 

Jeroen Mues – Senior Associate Brussels (University of Brussels (KUB), Master in Corporate Law 2005;  University of Brussels (ULB), Special Degree in Economic Law 2004; University of Leuven (KUL), Law Degree “Licentiaat in de Rechten” 2003). Jeroen’s corporate practice covers the full range of national and international transaction-related legal services to companies in various industry sectors. He specializes in acquisitions and divestments, mergers, liquidations, bankruptcies, corporate real-estate transactions and restructurings. Furthermore, Jeroen assists clients with shareholders’ disputes and directors’ liability cases and frequently handles issues of commercial law.

 

Pieter Paepe – Senior Associate Brussels (DES in European Law, Université Libre de Bruxelles 2001; KUL (Catholic University of Leuven), Law degree “Licentiaat in de Rechten” 2000). Pieter specializes in EU law and regulatory law. He advises national and international clients on EU regulatory matters, competition and state aid law issues and commercial transactions. In recent years Pieter has gained in-depth experience in gaming and gambling law matters. Prior to joining Astrea, Pieter worked at the law firm Koan and as university assistant at the Centre for European Law, VUB.

 

 

www.astrealaw.be

 

Astrea is an independent law firm in based in Antwerp and Brussels. Established in 2006, the Firm has experienced continued growth and advises a growing list of domestic and international clients in all major areas of business law (including corporate/M&A, finance, employment, commercial, IP, ICT, real estate, transport & logistics, administrative, environmental, employment and tax). Working closely with other law firms around the world, Astrea’s partners advise on complex, cross-border and domestic transactions and legal matters.  

 

 

 

Email: [email protected]

Mobile: +32.475.388.955

 

Email: [email protected]

Mobile: +32.476.609.182