Liedekerke's large regulatory practice handles a significant volume of high-profile environmental matters encompassing both advisory and contentious work. The practice is led by François Tulkens and Dominique Devos, who are well-versed in public law litigation and real estate matters and frequently advise public and private clients on on issues related to soil pollution, waste management, and nuclear regulations as well as on high-profile noise limitation and noise nuisance cases. Filip De Preter, who has ‘deep understanding of Flemish urban planning law’, and Bert Van Herreweghe also play key roles in the practice.

Legal 500 Editorial commentary

Testimonials

Collated independently by Legal 500 research team.

‘I enjoy working with Liedekerke Environment team. They have a high level of expertise, are pragmatic, solution oriented and efficient.’
‘I've worked with François Tulkens. I value his expertise, his ability to understand one's needs and to come up with creative and pragmatic solutions as well as his availability.’
‘Team members I've worked with are reliable, calm and confident, experienced lawyers.’
‘In my personal experience, Dominique Devos has in-depth knowledge of environmental law matters (Flemish Region) and more specifically of soil sanitation. Clients and even parties on the other side of the table strongly rely on that knowhow.’
‘The Liedekerke team is well equipped with a large team, working on both French and Dutch language cases. They provided us with a pragmatic advice and thorough assistance in legal procedures. ’
‘Dominique Devos (environment - Flemish region): Dominique has a long experience in environmental law matters, helping us mostly in environmental permitting and environmental compliance questions. He provides a clear advice, alerting us for possible legal risks but providing pragmatic solutions to go forward. We also appreciate him being readily available, especially with deadlines sometimes being short.'
'François Tulkens (environment - Walloon region): As with Dominique, François too has a broad experience in environmental law matters. He has assisted us in complex permitting procedures as well as with more specific matters of environmental law. We deeply appreciate his pragmatic approach, providing to the point advice over an unnecessary theoretical discourse. He is one of the references in Walloon/Brussels environmental law, and for good reason.'
'Filip De Preter (urban planning- Flemish region): Filip has assisted us in a legal procedure. He appreciated his proactive approach in that procedure and in the permit matters associated with that procedure. He has a deep understanding of Flemish urban planning law and his experience in other cases helped us build a strong defense and ultimately win a tricky case. ’

Key clients

Brussels Capital Region
Matexi Projects
LIDL (Europe’s retail leader)
TotalEnergies (Belgium’s leader of oil and petrochemicals, incl. its different subsidiaries active in Belgium)
City of Bruges
ELIA (the single power transmission system operator in Belgium)
Bruxelles Environnement
Veolia
STIB (Brussels Public Transport Company)
Engie Electrabel (Market leader for electricity)

Work highlights

Advising the City of Bruges regarding several aspects of the permit application for a new football stadium for Club Brugge, the most succesfull Belgian footballclub in the last decade.
Assisting LIDL with the development of new state of the art distribution centres in Herentals (Flemish Region) and La Louvière (Walloon Region), including advising on all permit aspects and environmental assessments.
Advising TOTALENERGIES with their energy transition, more specifically guiding them through the permitting process of a huge industrial solar panel site in Wallonia.