Bird & Bird (Belgium)

Ideas are powerful. They help forge business empires, cure disease, inspire enduring creative work – and much more. Ideas generate IP. And because they’re at the root of innovation and growth, they deserve the very best protection.

Our expertise help some of the world's most prominent companies protect their IP portfolios and enforce their IP rights worldwide. They put their IP in the safe hands of specialist lawyers who cut their teeth at the forefront of pioneering technology and in well-known, IP-rich companies. So you’ll learn from a team rich in real world experience – and real industry insight.

Then it’s about going further. Mastering the detail. Simplifying and clarifying. Connecting with clients to immerse yourself in their IP challenges. And generating answers that can give them a competitive edge.

Tech excites us – and companies looking to take their business to the next level through tech transactions rely on our knowledge of the technology itself as well as corporate expertise. We work to make sure clients company will be more successful by maximising the value of technology and IP – a cornerstone of our practice.

To succeed in today’s fast-paced business environment, our clients turn to us as advisers that bring a commercial outlook and market perspective from the get-go. Our focus on pre and post-transaction aspects such as planning and post-merger integration leave no stone unturned.

We believe in practical, proactive advice with a personal touch. Our 200 lawyers across Europe, Africa, the Middle East, Asia-Pacific and North America advise on all forms of corporate finance from private and public M&A, to private equity, IPOs and joint ventures together with all of the corporate governance and company advice needed.

We use tech solutions to underpin smart, useful advice that benefits our clients – not for the sake of it.

Our Regulatory & Administrative Practice helps domestic and international businesses, banks, financial institutions and a wide range of other organisations achieve maximum benefit from their dealings with regulatory bodies and national, regional or local governments.

We advise on cutting edge regulatory and competition issues, from the perspectives of universal service providers and other, new entrant operators.

We can also help clients prepare for regulatory changes, manage their relationships with regulators and, where possible, help them achieve regulatory change or clarification. We advise on licensing issues; business strategy in the light of regulatory requirements; and the approaches of regulatory authorities, both at EU level and at national levels across Europe and Asia. We represent clients as defendants, complainants or interveners in regulatory and competition regulatory investigations by EU and national authorities.

Our approach, while founded on an in-depth understanding of the legal and regulatory landscape, has a strongly practical and commercial focus. We give clear explanations of complex issues, robustly promote and defend our clients' interests and add value wherever possible to their business.

We provide expertise in the following:

• authorisation/licensing proceedings
• supervision rights
• market entry
• parallel imports
• pricing policy
• R&D
• product regulation and authorisation
• new product design.

Nothing stays still. Technology is changing everything. We are tax specialists for organisations being changed by technology and the digital world.
With experts working together as a single, cohesive team across multiple jurisdictions, our Tax practice has a genuine global reach. Our team of tax specialists advises clients on all aspects of tax including:

• Tax Disputes and Investigations. From pre-emptive advice to litigation, we have experts dedicated full time to the resolution of disputes with tax authorities.
  Transfer Pricing. Our legal expertise and deep sector knowledge means that we can provide our multinational clients with a broad range of transfer pricing services.
• Indirect Tax. Our Tax practice helps clients manage their VAT, customs and excise duty matters to optimise cash flow and reduce exposures.
  Trade and Customs. We have extensive experience in helping clients with all aspects of international trade law, including customs, trade defence, export controls and sanctions.
• Corporate Tax. From start-ups to multinationals, our clients rely on us to implement the optimum structure for their business and to guide them through their transactions.
• Employee Incentives and Benefits. Our high-related team of specialists can design, draft and implement your incentive arrangements and advise a wide range of clients.
• White Collar Crime. Our Tax practice combines tax crime lawyers, financial and forensic crime specialists and change/behavioural management consultants to cover all areas of financial crime.

Clients turn to Bird & Bird because of the deep industry knowledge of our legal experts. We are at the forefront of technological and regulatory change, and understand the trends that are shaping markets and transforming industries. Working in tandem with other experts across the firm and leveraging our deep sector insight, our Tax practice can design tax strategies that work for your business as a whole.

In the digital world, with increasingly complex rules and heightened scrutiny, it has never been more difficult for individuals and businesses to navigate the global tax landscape. From transactions and structuring your tax affairs to defending and protecting your position with tax authorities, we are best placed to be your go-to tax specialists.

A good business understands that it’s the people behind the profits that makes an organisation successful. Our International HR Services group are on-hand to help clients get the most out of their talent and enable their businesses to thrive. 

From employment matters to business immigration and employee incentives & benefits, HR and people management can be a complex landscape to navigate. In a tech-driven digital world, how, where and when we work is changing. Our international HR experts partner closely with clients to develop practical, forward-looking strategies that will both evolve and grow as business does and deliver a long-term competitive advantage.

Whether working on a local or global scale, our one-firm approach means that we can mobilise the right team to support a client's needs – wherever they do business, and wherever their people are. Our teams across the world are experienced in navigating complex cross-jurisdictional issues and understand the complexities that clients with international interests and ambitions face. Additionally, we harness the power of legal tech and innovation to drive efficiencies in our workstreams and foster greater collaboration.

People can be the most complex asset a business has to manage. With a wealth of wide-ranging sector-specific expertise, we understand the commercial need to have a seamless HR strategy. We’ve worked with a variety of clients on reputational risk, compliance, talent attraction & retention to develop market-leading HR policies and systems.

As thought leaders in critical conversations around the future of the workplace, technology, and diversity & inclusion, we are best placed to keep clients ahead of the curve on industry trends.