Erik De Caluwé

My name is Erik De Caluwé.

I was born in 1978 in St.-Niklaas.

After successfully completing an Erasmus-exchange program at the Universitat Autònoma of Barcelona (Spain), I graduated from the Vrije Universiteit Brussel (VUB)  and got my law degree magna cum laude in 2001.

Although I remained interested in academic work, I first and foremost wanted to practise  law. As from the beginning of my career in advocacy at the Brussels Bar in 2001, I therefore combined academical work (a.o. for Prof. Dr. A. Van Oevelen and Prof. Dr. S. Gutwirth) with lots of disputes resolution work and court pleading.

The main focus of my practise has always been commercial law in the broad sense, covering most legal aspects a business can encounter in its day-to-day life.

In 2007 I obtained an additional degree in Business Administration magna cum laude.

In that same year I took on the challenge of starting at legal powerhouse Baker & McKenzie, where I was a member of the trade & commerce-group, drafting and revising a broad scope of commercial contracts, but mainly continued practising as a disputes attorney. Here, I handled both classical commercial litigation, such as supply chain disputes and liability claims (medical, construction,…) and corporate litigation, as well as complex multi-party, multi-jurisdictional litigation concerning real estate projects and post-closing M&A disputes.

I have handled cases both before the ordinary Courts and Tribunals, as before various arbitral courts. Furthermore, working for multinational companies, I am well-acquainted with the international aspects of enforcement (see a.o. the Belgian chapter of the Kluwer Law International book on Simplification of Debt Collection in the EU which I wrote (European Monographs 90, 2014, 263-325).

In 2014, I also successfully terminated a course allowing me to act as trustee in bankruptcy and liquidator.

In 2014-2015 I worked as a senior lawyer for the Belgian multinational company PURATOS, manufacturer of raw materials for bakery, patisserie and chocolatiers, where I handled legal affairs for its subsidiaries and joint-ventures in the Americas, Spain and Portugal.

In September 2017, I joined ORYS Advocaten, although Decalex remains. 

I am fluent in Dutch, English, Spanish and French and look forward to speaking you soon!