Team

Erik De Caluwé - Orys Advocaten

Erik De Caluwé
lawyer and partner at ORYS

Expertise

  • Corporate and company law
  • Real estate law and construction law
  • Commercial rental and retail
  • Complex disputes and proceedings
  • Seizure of property
  • Insurance law and liability
  • Intellectual property law and copyright, creative content protection, AI
  • Hotel and hospitality
  • Logistics, supply chain and transport law

Studies

Erik graduated magna cum laude as Master of Laws from the Vrije Universiteit Brussel (VUB) in 2001. During his studies, he participated in the Erasmus programme at the Universitat Autònoma in Barcelona (Spain), where he also learned Spanish, which he has since mastered perfectly.

Corporate law in the broad sense

At the start of his career, he combined academic work with a lot of contractual work, as well as pleading in proceedings before all courts. The main focus of his practice has always been corporate law in the broad sense. This includes most of the legal aspects with which a company can be confronted on a daily basis.

Erik obtained an additional degree with great distinction in business management in 2007.

In the same year, he started work at the Belgian branch of the global law firm Baker McKenzie. He was part of the ‘Trade & Commerce’ practice there, with a focus on the drafting and reviewing of a wide range of commercial contracts. As a member of the ‘Dispute resolution’ practice, on the other hand, he was also pleading in major commercial disputes regarding distribution, liability and company law. He also gained valuable experience in complex multi-jurisdictional disputes; this included real estate projects and post-closing disputes in Merger & Acquisition transactions.

Erik pleads before conventional courts and tribunals, as well as before various arbitration tribunals. As a legal counsel to many multinational corporations, he is thoroughly familiar with the international aspects of proceedings and implementation (see, among others, E. De Caluwé, “Belgium” in V. Rijavec, T. Keresteš & T. Ivanc (ed.), Simplification of Debt Collection in the EU, European Monographs 90, Kluwer Law International, 2014, 263-325.).

Curator and liquidator

In 2014, Erik successfully absolved a training course as curator and liquidator.

Erik worked as senior lawyer for the Belgian multinational PURATOS, a producer of raw materials for bakers, pastry chefs and chocolatiers, from 2014 to 2015. There, he handled the legal files for the subsidiaries and joint ventures on the American continent (North and South), as well as Spain and Portugal.

Active in the real estate sector, hospitality sector, creative sector and logistics

Since then, he has been working as a legal counsel in:

  • The real estate sector, as legal counsel for promoters, owners (private persons, companies and funds) and managers of real estate and real estate funds, with a particular focus on the retail sector
  • The hospitality sector, as legal counsel for various hotel chains
  • The creative sector, as legal counsel for artists and companies with regard to intellectual property rights (IP) and creative content protection, but he also closely monitors the developments in AI and their legal impact
  • The logistics sector, as legal counsel for both logistics companies and customers of logistics services

Erik joined ORYS in September 2017, where he is head of the Civil and Corporate Law Unit.

Languages

Dutch, French, English and Spanish

Would you like to meet lawyer Erik De Caluwé?

He will be pleased to assist you!

Call him at +32 (0)2 410 10 66 or