Real Estate - Rank 2
"CMS DeBacker boasts corporate real estate as a major practice area. For the third year in a row, the firm’s real estate practice, led by Bruno Duquesne, has been performing extremely well. The most notable deal of 2007 involved acting for the Belgian Federal Government in connection with the widely publicised sale and lease-back through a public tender of 62 public buildings to Befimmo, a Belgian REIT. Antwerp is also increasingly becoming a real estate market in its own right and the firm’s Antwerp office has assisted several parties in real estate investments."
Labour and employment - Rank 3
"CMS DeBacker ’s employment department grew with the arrival of Jef Degrauwe from DLA Piper to its Antwerp office. Rivals agree that ‘the firm has made a good hire’ in Degrauwe. Stanislas van Wassenhove and his team of three partners and seven associates operating out of Brussels and Antwerp, maintains its position as one of the top employment teams in the country. Michaël De Leersnyder has been very successful in developing a service to provide clients with urgent employment-related solutions."
Dispute resolution - Rank 3
"With a high reputation in the field of corporate governance, shareholder relations and directors’ liabilities, CMS DeBacker’s Jean-François Goffin acts for directors in complex intragroup litigation. Highlights include involvement in asbestos litigation in connection with the Berlaymont building and assistance to AgfaPhoto on a distribution-related dispute. ‘We like CMS DeBacker ,’ says one lawyer. ‘They have very good lawyers.’ In Antwerp, Trudo Motmans and Margareta Bresseleers have assisted clients in areas such as bankruptcy and construction."
Information technology - Rank 3
"CMS DeBacker has Tom Heremans, who is a specialist in domain name disputes, and has represented the “.be” registry and the “.eu” registry in several court cases as well as conducting domain name litigation for international trademark owners. Recent cases include ones for a large Dutch IT company, a large US database company and a Belgian internet company against an international media group."
Intellectual Property - Rank 3
"CMS DeBacker is expert in trade mark cases, with a particular focus on international and national trade mark litigation, as well as patent litigation. The firm assists many national and international trade mark owners, including a US computer and MP3 player producer, a German sports shoe manufacturer, and an international football association. Tom Heremans, Veerle Raus, and Renaud Dupont are recommended."
Tax - Rank 3
"CMS DeBacker together with CMS Bureau Francis Lefebvre has developed considerable expertise in assisting French nationals in complex estate planning matters and has gained significant market recognition for this specialism. The practice additionally advises on the tax aspects of corporate restructurings and PPP. Eric De Plaen and Didier Grégoire are recommended."
Corporate and M&A - Rank 4
"CMS DeBacker has seen steady growth in M&A activity, acting on 38 transactions in a year. Carl Leermakers and his team acted for the shareholders of steel group Duferco in connection with the sale of a 50% interest therein to the Russian steel manufacturer Novolipetsk. Trudo Motmans is recommended in Antwerp. One rival says: ‘I like their work and they have been busier this year.’ "
Banking, finance and capital markets - Rank 5
"Catherine Houssa at CMS DeBacker has developed a service tailored to clients’ needs in different areas such as asset finance, property finance, project finance and regulatory matters."
Competition - Rank 6
"At CMS DeBacker Georges Vandersanden and Laure Levi have a high profile in EU and international civil service-related matters. They have also a recognized expertise in OLAF cases and proceedings."