NautaDutilh

The firm: NautaDutilh is an international law firm practising Dutch, Belgian and  Luxembourg law. The firm was founded in 1724 and is one of the largest in the Benelux region, with offices in Amsterdam, Rotterdam, Brussels and Luxembourg as well as in London and New York.

NautaDutilh Brussels has become an important player on the Belgian legal market, providing high-quality advice and services in the areas of banking and finance, capital markets, corporate and M&A, dispute resolution, intellectual property and ICT law, restructuring and insolvency, public and regulatory, employment and pensions, competition and anti-trust and taxation. Despite a highly crowded and competitive market place, our Brussels office has grown to include 70 lawyers, working alongside top Belgian and multinational clients.

While its practice is anchored in the jurisdictions of Belgium, the Netherlands and Luxembourg, NautaDutilh works with a substantial number of clients involved in cross-border and multi-jurisdictional transactions and proceedings. The firm works on a non-exclusive basis with leading law firms throughout the world.

Areas of practice
Banking and finance: NautaDutilh is recognized as a leading banking and finance law firm. Its team is known for its advice in PPP and project finance, asset-based lending, corporate lending and acquisition finance, structured finance and securitization deals, the full range of financial regulatory matters, governance issues faced by financial institutions, compliance matters, regulatory aspects of mergers and acquisitions, joint ventures, cross-border transactions and litigation before the Belgian and EU courts and the Belgian regulators.

Capital markets: The capital markets team advises on a range of equity offerings including IPOs, secondary offerings and rights issues. Their debt capital markets expertise includes MTN and commercial paper programmes, notes issues, repackagings and the emerging markets segment of the Eurobond market. Securitisations are an additional focus area within NautaDutilh both for the domestic market and for pan-European transactions, with particular expertise in relation to RMBS and covered bond programmes.

Corporate and M&A: NautaDutilh has a strong team of transaction experts advising on matters involving mergers and acquisitions, the structuring of joint ventures, the establishment of companies (including investment rounds, exit strategies, etc.), the drafting of commercial contracts, corporate governance and compliance issues and corporate housekeeping.

Dispute resolution: NautaDutilh is well-known for litigation in the areas of insolvency, banking, real estate, enforcement and recovery of arbitral awards and cross-border judgments, liability, beside commercial and corporate litigation, as well as domestic and international arbitration. We are present in a number of landmark cases in banking disputes, insolvency litigation and sovereign debt enforcement disputes.

Intellectual property and ICT: NautaDutilh assists clients in all areas of intellectual property, in particular patent and trademark litigation. We also have extensive experience handling disputes related to designs, copyright, neighbouring (related) rights, database rights, trade secrets, advertising and domain names. We provide both IP advisory and transactional services. Our lawyers regularly lead national and cross-border litigation in the Benelux and coordinate multi-jurisdictional litigation before the European courts. We also provide assistance in technology-driven transactions and with the negotiation and drafting of IT and outsourcing contracts.

Restructuring and insolvency: The team advises on financial restructurings as well as on insolvency related litigation and specialises in cross-border cases or cases with an international component. 80% of its cases are carried out in cooperation with foreign law firms.

Public and regulatory: Our public and regulatory team provides advice, does transactional work and often engages in litigation in all areas of administrative and constitutional law. The team has developed a particular expertise in public procurement law (including PPP), environmental law writ large and energy law.

Employment and pensions: As well as advising on the employment law aspects of corporate transactions, in particular with respect to consultation requirements, employee participation and the replacement, and employment terms, of board members, the NautaDutilh pensions and employment team advises on other contentious and non-contentious employment law matters, including collective and individual dismissals.

Competition and anti-trust: The NautaDutilh competition practice has an established merger control capability and has significant experience litigating both before the European courts and in the national arena. The team carries out litigation relating to cases involving State aid, cartel damages, merger control and to behavioural cases such as distribution and horizontal cooperation.

Taxation: In addition to advising on the taxation aspects of corporate and financial transactions, the NautaDutilh taxation team has an established practice advising corporate clients on their ongoing tax affairs and tax planning.

Real estate and infrastructure: We advocate an integrated, cross-practice group approach. At NautaDutilh Brussels, real estate is a sector team, not a practice group like employment or tax. Our real estate team is composed of M&A lawyers who help clients acquire real estate portfolios, as well as urban planning and environmental specialists, tax lawyers and finance, funds and capital markets specialists. This mix allows us to provide high-quality services in an efficient manner. We have an excellent client base and referral network. Clients can rely on us to carry out assignments in a professional manner. The real estate community is a small one, in which respect and reputation are earned over the long term.