Practice Area
Jan co-heads the digital law team of EY Law in Belgium.
Jan has more than 32 years of experience as a lawyer. He started his career in 1991 as a general corporate lawyer focusing on M&A but quickly started specializing in digital law since 1998. He has since then acquired an extensive knowledge in this field and is regularly required by national and international corporations and non for profit organizations in all sectors of society to assist them in mid-seized and larger domestic and cross -border projects directly or indirectly related to the digital era.
Jan has a multidisciplinary background but has been mainly focusing for over more than 20 years on all aspects directly or indirectly related to digital (regulatory) law, such as:
- Data and cyber law;
- Artificial Intelligence and robotics;
- E-commerce (B2B and B2C);
- Technology, Media and Telecommunications (TMT);
- (Digital) Intellectual Property;
- Legal Due Diligences with special focus on data protection, IP and IT;
- Online gaming law.
Jan’s data protection practice has gained substantial importance in recent years in light of the evolving EU legislation (in particular the GDPR) and currently represents a large part of his practice.
He is also regularly consulted by clients to guide them through all the legal aspects related to the digital transformation process of their businesses or operations.
Additional Info
Background
Jan joined EY Law in September 2018 to co-head the digital law team as an associate partner. Prior to joining EY Law, he was founding partner of KOAN where he co-headed the TMT-department and corporate department for 14 years
Jan joined the Brussels bar in 1991 and he is also qualified as a solicitor of the Senior Courts of England & Wales since 1998, which allowed him to practice in law firms in London and acquire an in-depth knowledge of the Anglo-Saxon business law and practices.
Jan has a Master degree in Law at the KU Leuven and at the College of Law in London. He also obtained a bachelor degree in the Thomistic Philosophy at the KU Leuven.
Publications, contributions and presentations
Co- author of a legal edition on the laws of games of chance under the auspices of professor Nele Hoeckx (2015);
Several publications and contributions in miscellaneous magazines on mainly TMT and Data Protection related topics;
Speaker and expert panel member at over approximately more than 400 seminars, congresses and workshops in Belgium and abroad on mainly M&A related topics, gaming law and TMT and Data Protection related topics.
Mandates
Jan has several mandates such as:
Special counsel to the board of DNS Belgium (the official Belgian Domain Name Registrar Organization);
President of the Arbitration Commission for Professional Conduct Rules and Ethics in the Pharmaceutical Industry (pharma.be);
Board member at the Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB Belgium) between 2005 and 2017 and expert member of the legal taskforce of the Belgian Association of Marketing (BAM) as of 2018;
Judge at the Dispute Resolution Commission of the Belgian Football Association (KBVB/URBSFA);
Arbiter at Cedires (Centre for Dispute Resolution).
Languages
Dutch (native), English (fluent), French (fluent) and Spanish (conversational).
