Freshfields Hires Top Brussels Litigation Team Strengthening its Global Disputes Practice

17th February 2020

Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer LLP (‘Freshfields’) announced today the addition of a top litigation team in Belgium, led by highly respected litigation lawyer Nathalie Colin, in a move that will further enhance the firm’s global dispute resolution practice and establish its litigation offering at the top of the Belgian market. Nathalie will be joined by principal associates Alexandre Hublet and Nino De Lathauwer. The team will be based in the firm’s Brussels office, providing advice to clients globally, and will work particularly closely with Freshfields’ leading disputes practices across continental Europe.

With more than 25 years of experience in commercial and corporate litigation, Nathalie is widely recognised as a go-to litigation lawyer for leading corporate and private equity firms and financial institutions facing cross-border and domestic disputes, white collar crime and regulatory investigations. Her practice encompasses both judicial proceedings before courts and arbitration proceedings under the aegis of the ICC or CEPANI. Nathalie is a member of the Brussels Bar and of CEPANI, and speaks French, Dutch and English. She studied law at the University of Louvain (UCL) and holds a Special Master in European Law from the University of Brussels (ULB).

Alexandre has strong experience in international dispute resolution, domestic and international arbitration, complex commercial and corporate litigation, as well as white collar crime and regulatory investigations. Alexandre has been appointed as sole arbitrator by the CEPANI and sits as secretary of a CEPANI arbitral tribunal. He graduated from the Free University of Brussels and the New York University School of Law. He is admitted to the Brussels and New York bars and speaks French, Dutch and English.

Nino is an experienced litigator who specialises in complex domestic and cross-border corporate and commercial disputes, white-collar crime, regulatory investigations, insolvency and arbitration. Nino graduated from the Catholic University of Leuven, the University of Chicago Law School and the ESSEC Business School. He speaks Dutch, French and English.

The Freshfields dispute resolution practice spans 19 offices with more than 800 lawyers and is recognised as having market leading litigation, arbitration, investigation and risk management practices across the globe.

Recent notable successes for the global dispute resolution team include helping Mastercard defeat a £14bn consumer class action claim and acting for Volkswagen in its global defence during the diesel emissions scandal.

Commenting on the appointment, Vincent Macq, managing partner of the Brussels office at Freshfields, said: “Litigation is one of the key pillars of our business. We are thrilled to welcome Nathalie, Alexandre, and Nino, who bring substantial litigation experience to the firm, further strengthening our capabilities as a strategic advisor to our clients in Europe and globally. These important hires build on our success in the Belgian market and strategically enhance our Belgian offering, especially as we look to advise clients involved in increasingly sophisticated and complex disputes, investigations and arbitration cases.”

Andrew Hart, global head of dispute resolution at Freshfields, commented: “Nathalie, Alexandre, and Nino bring market-leading experience in global and Brussels-based litigation to our existing international team. We are seeing more and more client demand to provide combined teams across continental Europe in areas such as follow-on damages, class actions and investigations. The addition of this top litigation team confirms our ability to offer this with a strength in depth across the spectrum that puts us right at the top of the field. I am delighted to have them join the firm.”

Nathalie Colin added: “I am very pleased to join this first-class global law firm and look forward to further strengthening its ability to advise and defend clients on local and international litigation and arbitration matters.”

These appointments build on Freshfields’ momentum from a series of high-profile disputes hires in the past couple of years, including Professor and renowned arbitration lawyer, Christophe Seraglini, in Paris, and four US-based partners: leading litigation lawyer, Meredith Kotler; former director of litigation at the US Department of Justice, Eric Mahr; former counsel to the director of litigation at the DOJ, Andrew Ewalt; and Eric Bruce, a former Counselor to the US Attorney General and one of the country’s leading white-collar lawyers.

For more information, please read the press release.

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