Simmons & Simmons

Alejandro is a partner and co-head of our EU Competition Law and Tech Regulation practice based in Brussels and in Madrid. He currently specialises in antitrust and commercial regulation, compliance and investigations, as well as in related disputes and litigation, in a variety of sectors including TMT, energy, consumer products and e-commerce. Specifically, Alejandro advises clients on the interplay between competition law and the GDPR, cybersecurity, and other related aspects of EU tech and platform regulations. Throughout his career, he has had first-hand and material involvement in important competition matters in the TMT sector, including two of the four Google EU investigations since 2010, and two four-to-three mergers in the telecoms sector (WIND/Hutchison/JV and Telefónica Deutschland/E-Plus). He has developed his expertise on competition and data privacy law and policy, being CIPP/E certified under the IAPP and having advised and represented international corporations on numerous on EU privacy and data protection compliance matters, both at national level and from a U.S.-EU standpoint. Today, he also advises clients on the impact on their business of future EU regulation, such as the AI Act, the Digital Services Act and Digital Markets Act. Alejandro originally trained at the energy merger unit of the European Commission. He has represented and acted for clients in numerous mergers across a variety of sectors. Over the years, he has also represented and advised clients in numerous antitrust and cartel investigations, including successfully applying for immunity and leniency for a major financial institution in numerous EU cartel investigations, successfully defending a financial institution from formal allegations made by the European Commission in the CDS Information Market case, successfully defending a toy manufacturer against an EU inspection, and successfully defending cosmetics and pharmaceutical companies against investigations and fining decisions from European authorities. Alejandro also advises companies on ESG regulation and on the interplay between these rules and competition law and investigations. He follows closely the enactment and application of bills and laws such as the CSRD, the CS3D and the ESG Rating Regulation, counselling clients on the adoption of compliance measures and reporting and due diligence requirements.

Alexander Wenzel

Alexander is a trusted advisor who excels in guiding technology clients through the intricate landscape of EU regulatory compliance. He seamlessly integrates expertise in Life Sciences regulatory and data privacy requirements. The scope of his product practice covers all life cycles of (in vitro) medical devices, (advanced therapeutic) medicinal products and digital products such as wellness apps. He advises clients on all regulatory aspects governing their product including classifications, clinical trials, GCP and GMP investigations, regulatory market exclusivities, marketing authorization applications and conformity assessment procedures. He also has extensive experience counseling organizations on data privacy matters. Alexander has assisted clients with setting up privacy compliance frameworks, addressing cybersecurity incidents, resolving investigations by competent authorities and with navigating sector specific requirements governing personal health data.

Annabelle Bruyndonckx

With over 25 years of experience in advising clients in the Healthcare & Life Sciences industries, Annabelle Bruyndonckx is recognised as one of the leading sector lawyers in Belgium. Strongly focused on Medtech and the digitalisation of (consumer) healthcare, Annabelle assists international pharmaceutical and biotech companies and global medical device manufacturers, as well as food supplements and cosmetic businesses. As litigation specialist and regulatory expert, her practice at Simmons & Simmons LLP covers all parts of regulated products’ life cycle from R&D to marketing authorisation/CE marking, qualification issues, pricing and reimbursement, manufacture and distribution, public procurement, advertising, compliance, and product liability. Annabelle heads the Regulatory Affairs Education Group & is a board member of Healixia, the Belgian community of professionals involved in the lifecycle of medicines, medical devices, in-vitro diagnostics, and other health-related products. She is a regular speaker at international Healthcare and Life Sciences conferences.

Carl Meyntjens

Carl’s practice focuses on corporate and financial law. He has nearly 30 years experience in advising Belgian and international corporate clients, and financial institutions in a broad range of both domestic and cross-border transactions. He works across a variety of sectors and is referred to in all major legal directories. Carl is an “advocaat” at the Brussels Bar and works in English, Dutch and French. Carl leads both the corporate & commercial and financial markets practices in Belgium.

Dimitri Van Uytvanck

Dimitri heads the employment & benefits department for Belgium. He specializes in employment law and provides advice to a wide range of clients, finding solutions to their most complex legal challenges and he has an extensive experience in all sectors, including Financial Institutions, Life Sciences, TMT and Energy and Infrastructure. His main areas of expertise are labour law and social security law, with a specific focus on the employment law aspects of corporate restructuring, transfer of undertakings, flexible work arrangements, and privacy at the workplace. Dimitri also advises regularly on remuneration packages for executives, employee benefits schemes, and employment contracts. He provides strategic advice regarding labour union relations within companies and business-critical issues. Dimitri is known on the market as a pragmatic and to the point lawyer who always focuses on the legal and economic interests of the company.

Eric Blomme

Eric is a partner in our Brussels office, and heads the Belgian Banking & Finance practice. He is an expert in acquisition & leveraged finance, real estate finance, corporate lending and trade & export finance. He acts for both borrowers and lenders, and advises in the English, Dutch and French language. He is also an experienced adviser on restructurings.

Herman Craeninckx

Herman Craeninckx is a Counsel in the employment, pensions & benefits department for Belgium. He specialises in collective and individual employment law, and his main focus is on company restructuring (closure, collective dismissal, transfer of undertakings), including assistance in social conflicts, termination of employment contracts (especially for protected employees and high-level executives), review of salary packages (including warrants and other benefits), terms and conditions of employment vs self-employed consulting contracts and litigation before labour courts. Over the years, Herman has developed close relationships with government authorities, professional federations and public administrations. Moreover, in recent years, he has been involved in devising labour and operational strategies at board level for various listed and non-listed companies. Herman has a strong reputation for his successful negotiations with labour unions, and he is recognised as a deal maker between companies and these unions. Herman is a member of the EELA (European Employment Lawyers Association), BECI (Brussels Enterprises Commerce and Industry) and ADP Bru-Bra (Association des Professionnels en Ressources Humaines).

Jérémie Doornaert

Jérémie is a Managing Associate in our Dispute Resolution group in Brussels. As the Brussels office’s data protection expert, Jérémie advises clients on complex data protection and privacy issues including but not limited to full audit of processing activities, deploying GDPR compliance program, drafting all types of documents to ensure GDPR compliance and training relevant stakeholders. He also represents clients in commercial and IP litigation before the courts and advises clients on a wide range of contracts in the Life Sciences sector and commercial law (including soft IP, trade practices and regulatory legislation in the medical sector). Jérémie is a regular speaker at conferences and seminars. He also provides GDPR tailor made training sessions to the Life Sciences industry. Thanks to several secondments within major pharmaceutical and medical devices companies, Jérémie has acquired an in-depth knowledge of the Life Sciences sector. Jérémie is also the author of a book on GDPR and Belgian data protection law and the co-author of a Treaty of pharmaceutical law (both Kluwer publishing).

Martin Carlier

Member of the Brussels Bar and associate in the corporate finance department, Martin is involved in national and international finance and M&A transactions, advising major commercial and investment banks, private equity funds and corporates in various leveraged, corporate finance and project finance deals, including domestic and cross-border corporate lending, real estate finance, acquisition finance, debt restructuring, insolvency, structured finance, project finance and securities and derivatives.

Nele Jonckers

Nele is a supervising associate in our Brussels-based dispute resolution group. She specialises in regulatory and compliance advice on behalf of pharmaceutical and medical device companies, as well as medical technology and digital health businesses, consumer health companies, and significant players in other highly regulated industries. Nele advises on a wide range of issues throughout the entire life span of the product, from the R&D phase and product qualification / classification, to (early) market access and vigilance / pharmacovigilance, covering all aspects relating to distribution and import-export, marketing and product information, and labelling of regulated products. She frequently liaises with Belgian and EU regulators and industry associations on behalf of industry players.

Olivier Mignolet

Olivier specialises in commercial law and commercial litigation/arbitration, with a particular emphasis on regulatory legislation in the healthcare and life sciences sector, distribution law, real estate and intellectual property rights. Olivier is the local head of the dispute resolution practice in Belgium. He is also a member of the firm's crime, fraud & investigations group. Olivier has in particular gained significant experience of advising companies in the healthcare and life sciences sector. Olivier handles complex litigation and arbitration matters. He is recognised as one of the leading Healthcare & Life Sciences lawyers in Belgium. He represents and advises industry clients of all sizes from Top 10 global pharmaceutical and medical devices companies to Belgian biotechs, as well as trade associations. Olivier has also been a part-time lecturer at the University of Louvain (UCL) for 12 years and he is a member of CEPANI /CEPINA (Belgian centre for arbitration and mediation). Olivier has published articles and books on civil procedure, arbitration and pharmaceutical law.

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