Simont Braun

Litigation; Corporate Law; Financial Law.

Paul-Alain Foriers is a lawyer at the Supreme Court  and, since September 1, 2024, Dean of its Bar. He combines an active practice of litigation and of advisory work.

He handles complex disputes in civil, commercial, corporate and financial laws, before all jurisdictions.

He provides advice on complex questions of civil law.

Paul-Alain Foriers was one of the four experts appointed by the Minister of Justice to work on the reform of the Companies Code, which entered into force in May 2019.

Today he is an ordinary professor emeritus at the Université Libre de Bruxelles where he taught until 2017, in particular the law of contracts and obligations and until September 2022 the in-depth company law course.

Since 2021, he is co-chairman of the commission charged by the Minister of Justice with the reform of special contracts (book 7 of the (new) Civil Code).

Paul-Alain is the author of numerous contributions and publications in the fields of contracts, company law and financial law (takeover bids, market abuses, shareholding transparency, etc.). He is the author of a thesis: « La caducité des obligations contractuelles par disparition d’un élément essentiel à leur formation » (Bruylant, 1998). He is a regular speaker at leading law seminars in Belgium and a member of the editing committee of the “Revue Critique de Jurisprudence Belge” and of the “Répertoire Pratique de Droit Belge”.

He is ranked as a Senior Statesman in Dispute Resolution by Chambers & Partners, where sources praise him as a “clever, top-level lawyer”. He is also considered a Global Leader in Corporate Governance in Who’s Who Legal. Finally, Paul-Alain is recommended as a Key Lawyer in Corporate M&A and Dispute Resolution by The Legal 500.

Paul-Alain Foriers was the Dean of the Law Faculty of the Univeristé Libre de Bruxelles from 2004 to 2009 and held the “Francqui Chair” of the Katholieke Universiteit van Leuven (KUL) in 2004-2005.

Partner of the law firm SIMONT GUTT & SIMONT (renamed SIMONT & SIMONT) from 1980 to 1991; Partner of the law firm STIBBE, SIMONT, MONAHAN DUHOT (renamed STIBBE) from 1991 to 2003; Partner of the law firm SIMONT BRAUN since 2003. Dean of the School of Law of the Université Libre de Bruxelles (2004-2005).

French and English.

He is the author of a thesis (« La caducité des obligations contractuelles par disparition d'un élément essentiel à leur formation », Bruylant, 1998) and of numerous publications in the areas of contract law, company law and financial law (public offerings, insider trading, market abuse, shareholding transparency, …). Paul Alain Foriers is a member of the editorial committee of the “Revue Critique de Jurisprudence Belge” and of the “Répertoire Pratique de Droit Belge”. He is frequently invited to speak at leading seminars in the areas of contract law, company law and financial law. He was Dean of the Law Faculty of the ULB from 2004 to 2005.

Université Libre de Bruxelles (Law, 1974; Economic Law 1975; Doctor of Law, 1996).