Avocat
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Joost Verlinden est l’un des "litigators" (avocats plaidants) les plus expérimentés de Belgique. Il représente les clients devant tous tribunaux et cours ordinaires et devant des instances arbitrales.
Joost compte plus de 30 ans d’expérience dans un large éventail de litiges commerciaux: litiges en matière de responsabilité civile, litiges bancaires, affaires immobilières et de construction, litiges contractuels, litiges en matière de droit de la concurrence, droit de l’insolvabilité, droit pénal des sociétés, responsabilité du fait des produits, contentieux entre sociétés (y compris réclamations entre actionnaires et litiges "post-acquisition") et litiges dirigés contre des États étrangers.
Références
Joost Verlinden est l’auteur de plusieurs articles de doctrine sur l’arbitrage, les recours collectifs, le droit judiciaire, le droit de l’insolvabilité, la responsabilité du fait des produits et le contentieux commercial en général. Joost est titulaire du diplôme de formation professionnelle dans les procédures en cassation, organisé par l’Ordre des Avocats près la Cour de Cassation. Dans "Chambers" et "Legal 500", Joost figure en classement "tier 1" dans la catégorie "réglement des litiges et arbitrage". Il figure également dans le classement de "The Legal 500 Hall of Fame" parce qu’il a été reconnu par ses clients comme "litigator" de premier plan pendant au moins sept années consécutives. En outre, Joost est reconnu comme l’un des meilleurs avocats belges par "Who’s Who Legal" et "Leaders League" (catégories Commercial Litigation, White-Collar Crime et International Arbitration).FormationAprès ses études à la KU Leuven (lic. en droit, 1988), Joost est devenu assistant à l’Institut de droit judiciaire de la KU Leuven sous la direction du Professeur Paul Lemmens (aujourd’hui juge belge à la Cour européenne des droits de l’homme) et membre du barreau d’Anvers. Après ses études en Allemagne (D.A.A.D, 1991), il est devenu membre du barreau de Bruxelles et a rejoint le cabinet De Bandt, van Hecke & Lagae (aujourd’hui Linklaters LLP). Joost a été associé chez Linklaters LLP entre 1998 et 2018. Il a dirigé le département "Contentieux & Arbitrage" de Linklaters LLP en Belgique entre 2007 et 2015. Depuis le 1er septembre 2018, il est associé chez Arcas Law.
ExpertiseLanguesNéerlandais,Anglais,Français,Allemand -
Experience in arbitration, mediation and ADR
Joost Verlinden has been active as counsel and arbitrator in handling and resolving disputes in national and international arbitration for over 25 years. He has a proven track record in advising and defending clients in arbitral proceedings under the rules of Cepani, the Federation of Belgian Diamond Bourses (FDBD), ICC, SCC, Uncitral, and the Belgian Court of Arbitration for Sport (BAS/CBAS).
The types of parties that have been involved in the arbitrations handled by Joost include companies from these industries and sectors:
- chemicals
- construction and engineering
- diamond mining
- expropriations and land reform (victims)
- food supply
- fresh fruit and vegetables
- furniture manufacturing (outdoor and bathroom furniture)
- high-tech and software
- holdings and family businesses
- industrial manufacturing
- insurance
- law firms
- management consultancies
- pharmaceuticals
- professional services
- publishing
- railways
- river transport
- satellite communications (equipment and technologies development and manufacturing)
- sports management
- states and state-owned entities
- steel manufacturers
- telecommunications
Significant Arbitration, Mediation and ADR Matters
- presided as chairman of the arbitral tribunal over a case on the construction of a power-generating facility
- assisted a US pension fund, which had invested in Belgian real estate, in an arbitration (and subsequent annulment proceedings) after it had decided to suspend its European operations in the aftermath of the financial crisis
- assisted a trading company in the exequatur and enforcement of an ICC award against the Democratic Republic of Congo and a Congolese state entity
- assisted victims of expropriations and land reforms in the exequatur and enforcement of an ICSID award
- represented a leading international sports agent before the Belgian Court of Arbitration for Sport in a matter linked to a criminal investigation into alleged money laundering and corruption
- presided as arbitral tribunal member and ruled on the binding nature of a term sheet and the liability for failed negotiations in a dispute between two competitors in the food sector
- defended a European construction group in a case governed by Spanish law that concerned the construction of an oil refinery in the Antwerp port area
- assisted a telecom operator in a contractual dispute with a wholesale customer on a price adjustment mechanism, which was heard in a mini-trial
- presided as arbitral tribunal member and ruled on a dispute arising from a management services contract between a law firm and its former COO
- assisted a leading independent manufacturer of sealants and adhesives in an M&A dispute with certain selling shareholders after its acquisition of the sellers’ company in China, and coordinated its defence in Belgium, China and Hong Kong according to the arbitration rules of CIETAC (China), HKIAC (Hong Kong), and SHIAC (Shanghai)
- assisted a stainless steel producer in a multi-party arbitration relating to the liability of subcontractors in the framework of complex technical services
- presided, as sole arbitrator, over a post-acquisition claim and various disputes on the adjustment of the purchase price, earnout payments etc., in a matter between companies that develop and service feed-industry-specific software tools
- defended a diamond manufacturer before the Federation of Belgian Diamond Bourses in Antwerp in an action for damages as a result of the termination of an agency agreement and in subsequent annulment proceedings following the debates about the impartiality and independence of the arbitral tribunal
- presided, as sole arbitrator, over a contractual dispute and ruled on the termination of a management services agreement between parties in the electronic payments sector
- defended a telecom operator in its claims against the Democratic Republic of Congo in a contractual dispute arising from the termination of an agency agreement
- presided, as chairman of the arbitral tribunal, over a contractual dispute relating to the repair of river barges
- defended a family-holding company against a post-acquisition claim relating to tax and state aid issues
- successfully obtained the suspension of an arbitral award enforcement on grounds of defective and contradictory reasoning and violation of Belgian public policy rules
- defended a satellite communications equipment and technology design, development, and manufacturing company in a contractual dispute relating to the sale and supply of local hubs and satellite interactive terminals and software development, and in subsequent annulment proceedings
- assisted the world’s largest consulting firm in a post-acquisition claim following the sale of its environmental services business unit
- assisted a medical device, pharmaceutical, and consumer-packaged goods manufacturing company in two mediations (one under the rules of the Centre for Effective Dispute Resolution (CEDR)) and another one organised by Independent Mediators) and in subsequent arbitration proceedings about a contractual dispute following a change of control
- assisted the national railway company in various post-acquisition claims following the sale of its subsidiary (an international freight forwarding and logistics service provider) to a private equity company;
- assisted a Belgian trader in a dispute with a Ukrainian contractor about the manufacturing of wood pellets, and in the subsequent enforcement of the arbitral award
- assisted a media company, after a contractual dispute, in proceedings challenging the arbitral award on grounds of alleged violation of the Belgian Constitution and the European Convention of Human Rights’ articles on freedom of speech, allegedly defective and contradictory reasoning of the award, and alleged violation of public policy rules
- defended a leading test- and mechatronic-simulation software provider against a damages claim and coordinated its defence in Belgium and in the US
- assisted an outdoor and bathroom furniture manufacturer in a post-acquisition claim on grounds of breach of representations and warranties
- presided, as sole arbitrator, over a dispute between a company and its shareholders concerning the financial architecture of the business
- defended a steel manufacturer against a Swedish competitor in a contractual dispute relating to the use of electron beam technology
- assisted a pharmaceutical company in a post-acquisition dispute about historical soil pollution after it had divested its chemical division
- defended a British insurance and reinsurance company in a matter relating to the annulment of an arbitral award that concerned the shipping business
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Publications
- International Arbitration, Chapter on Belgium, in The International Comparative Legal Guide to Arbitration 2017, pp. 268-277
- The Product Regulation and Liability Review, Chapter on Belgium, Law Business Research Limited, London, 2016, pp. 26-35
- Enforcement of Foreign Judgments, Chapter on Belgium, in The International Comparative Legal Guide to Enforcement of Foreign Judgments 2016, pp. 18-22
- Class & Group actions, Chapter on Belgium, in The International Comparative Legal Guide to Class & Group Actions 2016
- “Vorderingen door of tegen de vennootschap in procedures tot uitsluiting of uittreding van aandeelhouders”, TBH 2015, pp. 465-470 [Claims by and against the company in squeeze-out proceedings against shareholders]
- “De gerechtelijke reorganisatie door overdracht onder gerechtelijk gezag”, in De nieuwe wetgeving betreffende de continuïteit van de ondernemingen, Vormingsinstituut Nederlandse Orde Advocaten Balie Brussel VIA-NOAB, Knops Publishing, 2010, pp. 75-101 [Judicial Reorganisation by Transfer under Court Supervision]
- “De gerechtelijke reorganisatie door overdracht onder gerechtelijk gezag in de Wet Continuïteit Ondernemingen”, TRV 2009, pp. 709-725 [Judicial Reorganisation by Transfer under Court Supervision in the Law on the Continuity of Enterprises]
- “Veiligheid van producten en diensten en productaansprakelijkheid”, in Huur van diensten. Aanneming van werk, Orde van Advocaten van de Balie van Kortrijk (ed.), Larcier, 2007, pp. 45-93 [Safety of Products and Services and Product Liability]
- “Twintig jaar productaansprakelijkheid. Een stand van zaken” in Aansprakelijkheidsrecht. Actuele tendensen (M. Debaene en P. Soens, eds.), Larcier, 2005, pp. 29-65 [20 Years of Product Liability Law. A Status Report]
- International Product Liability Law - A worldwide desk reference, Chapter on Belgium (Gregory L. Fowler, editor), Aspatore, 2004, pp. 71-91
- “Beoordeling van de rechten van partijen en belangenafweging in kort geding” (noot onder Cass. 6 juni 2003), TBH 2004, pp. 262-267 [The Examination of the Rights of the Parties and the Balance of Interests in Summary Proceedings]
- “De beoordeling van het tijdstip van staking van betaling bij een faillietverklaring volgend op een gerechtelijk akkoord” (noot onder Cass. 10 januari 2003), TBH 2003, pp. 313-317 [Judicial Composition followed by Bankruptcy: When did the Trader Cease Making Payments?]
- Witnesses, European Counsel, February 2000, pp. 25-27
- Litigating across Europe, Chapter on Belgium, European Counsel, April 1999, pp. 41-43
- “Overzicht van de nieuwe wetten betreffende het faillissement en het gerechtelijk akkoord”, TRV 1997, pp. 513-549 en TRV 1998, pp. 3-23 [Overview of the New Bankruptcy Law and the New Law on Judicial Composition]
- “Het vorderingsrecht van milieuverenigingen na de Wet van 12 januari 1993”, TRV 1993, pp. 287-296 [The Right of Action of Environmental Organisations after the Law of 12 January 1993]
- “Gerechtelijk Privaatrecht”, 1991 (co-author) [Civil Procedure]
- “Toegang tot de rechter in milieuzaken”, in Rechtspraktijk en milieubescherming, 1991, pp. 225- 266 (co-author) [Access to Justice in Environmental Matters]
- “De toepassing van artikel 6 EVRM in strafzaken buiten het stadium van het vonnisgerecht”, Panopticon 1989, pp. 6-19 en pp. 103-119 [The application of Article 6 of the European Convention on Human Rights in Criminal Matters outside the Trial Court Phase]
- “Het belang als ontvankelijkheidsvoorwaarde voor de rechtsvordering (art. 17 en 18 Gerechtelijk Wetboek)”, Jura Falconis 1987-88, pp. 19-59 [The Personal and Direct Interest as Basic Requirement for the Right of Action - Articles 17 and 18 of the Judicial Code]