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Pieter De Koster

Head of Employment Belgium
Belgium

About Me

I am Head of Employment in our International HR Services group in Brussels with over 30 years' experience of advising on contentious and non-contentious issues in employment and benefits, including high profile employment litigation, boardroom advisory work, strategic change management, industrial relations, compliance and reward issues.

Clients come to me for all aspects of employment & benefits law, preferably complex, sensitive and cross-border ones, including compliance issues, works council and industrial relations matters, remuneration and benefits. Combining bespoke, in-depth yet hands-on advice and counseling with strategic insight and proper business perspective is in my view the key role of a senior and experienced partner. That is where clients need me most.

My client base ranges from start-ups, over SME's through global (top-branded) organisations including authorities, in all lines of business and industry.

I have published extensively, and I am a regular conference speaker and commentator in the consumer and trade press on legal HR issues. I am a guest and practice lecturer at KULeuven Law School. I work in Dutch, French and English.
Experience
  • Board room adviser to many Belgian and international clients in a variety of industries on sensitive matters, incl FMCG, financial services, heavy industry, high tech etc.
  • Advising on and managing programmes of national/cross-border structural change, including employee restructurings, closures, (out/in)sourcing, acquisitions and disposals.
  • Advising on and managing industrial relations issues, from local to European works councils.
  • Handling benefits-related matters, from incentives, equity compensation to international mobility.
Education

Studied

  • Northwestern University Pritzker School of Law, LLM,
  • Lic Droit européen, UCL, Master in European Law
  • Katholieke Universiteit Leuven, Master's Degree, Law
  • KU Brussels, Bachelor's Degree, Philosophy

Admissions

  • Brussels Dutch-speaking Bar in 1990
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Best Lawyer: Employment

Belgium Best Lawyers 2019

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