Member Profiles

Chris Van Olmen is co-founder of the law firm Van Olmen & Wynant and head of the employment law practice. He is also co-founder and managing partner of L&E Global, an integrated alliance of premier employment law boutique firms. Chris covers all aspects of employment and industrial relations, including employment-related issues connected to reorganisation and restructuring processes, collective dismissals and closures and individual and collective employment disputes, including litigation for the Belgian Labour Courts. His clients include national and international companies and top executives. Chris is a reguar speaker or moderator at national and international seminars and conferences. His recent publications include: "International Labour and Employment Compliance Handbook" (Wolters Kluwer 2023);  the Belgian Chapter in "Employment Law Review” (Law Business Research 2023);  “The On Demand Economy”, Report of the IBA Global Employment Institute, 2019;  "Le lien de subordination à l’épreuve de l’ubérisation de l’économie ?", Wolters Kluwer / Chr. D.S. – Soc. Kron., 2016, 07. Chris is listed as a leading individual in The Legal 500 (2023), in Chambers Europe (2023) and named as "Employment Lawyer of the Year, Belgium" in Best Lawyers (2023). The Legal 500 includes Chris in its “Hall of Fame” (2023). Who's Who Legal mentions Chris as one of the 3 "Global Elite Thought Leader" of Belgium in their WWL Thought Leaders Labour & Employment (2023). Since 1999 he has been lecturing on social law in the traineeship programme organised by the Brussels Bar. He also served as a member of the Brussels Bar Council and is Board Member of the “Association for Social Law”. Chris Van Olmen is past Chair of the Employment and Industrial Relations Law Committee and past Chair of the Global Employment Institute of the IBA (International Bar Association). He currently is a member of the Advisory Board of the IBA GEI.  Chris is also a member of EELA (European Employment Lawyers Association) and of the American Bar Association (Labour and Employment Law Section).

Dirk HUYGENS (°1967) is a sworn Belgian lawyer, registered at the Antwerp bar, and founding partner of the Antwerp based business law firm CORBUS. Dirk mainly works in national and international business law, focusing on corporate law, mergers and acquisitions, restructuring and insolvency. He is also active in IP/ICT law. As certified mediator in civil and commercial matters and member of VOBA (www.voba.be) and the Brussels-based mediation centre b-Mediation, Dirk has acquired considerable experience as a commercial mediator. Dirk is regularly appointed as arbitrator in national and international arbitration cases, and he is a member of Cepina and arbitrator at the Arbitration Institute (www.euro-arbitration.org).

Specialized in personal injury, traffic law, occupational accidents, medical liability law, civil liability law and insurance.

KEGELS & Co - Advocaten is a Belgian law firm near by the port of Antwerp with decades of experience in commercial law and more specific in the niche of international trade, maritime and transport law. The practice areas of the office include (not limited) maritime law, transport law, (international) commercial law, customs law and banking and insurance law. Our lawyers write and speak Dutch, French, English and German. Our lawyers are members of several international organizations such as the International Bar Association (IBA), the Comité Maritime International (CMI) and the International Association of the Rhine Ships register (IVR). Younger members of the office are member of the International Association of Young Lawyers (AIJA) and the Young CMI.

Rodwell is the Managing Partner of Barrow & Williams LLP and the head of the firm’s litigation practice group. He was admitted to practice in Belize in 1985 and is one of Belize’s leading practitioners in the area of commercial and corporate Law. He has prepared cases and represented clients in judicial hearings at every level of the court system up to and including the Caribbean Court of Justice Belize’s highest appellate court. Rodwell has extensive experience in all areas of the law and focuses his practice on Commercial, Corporate, Litigation, Offshore Services, Real Estate & Trusts. He advises a broad clientele of financial institutions and has a breadth of experience in the area of banking and finance. He specialises in contentious and non contentious commercial transactions. Rodwell also has vast experience working with complex multi-jurisdictional matters. Prior to founding the firm, he served as a Magistrate in Belize City during the years 1982 to 1984 and as Crown Counsel in the Office of Public Prosecution, 1984. He has also tutored in paralegal studies at the University College of Belize, 1991- 1996 and in the Certificate in Public Administration programme offered by the University of the West Indies Extra Mural Studies Programme (1986-1988). In 2008, he was made an Officer of the Order of the British Empire (Civil Division) – CBE for public and community service. He has participated in various conferences and written numerous academic articles. Rodwell is a member of various professional bodies, has served and serves on various committees, foundations and organizations at the highest level. Memberships & Key Positions Held: Bar Association of Belize (Vice President, 1988-1992 and 2000-2002) General Legal Council (Member,1989) Belize Offshore Practitioner’s Association, (President, 1990 – 2006) University College of Belize, (Chairman, 1992-1994) National Development Foundation of Belize, (Chairman, 1996-2001) Member of the Financial Services Commission (1999- Present) Habitat for Humanity Belize (President, 2003-2007) HelpAge Belize (Director, 2003-2007) Supreme Court Rules Revision Committee (Member, 2005) International Tax Planning Association (Member, 2005-Present) Society of Trust and Estate Practitioners (Member, 2005-Present) Scout Foundation of Belize, (Member, 2005-Present) National Trade Negotiating Commission (Member , 2006) Education: University of the West Indies (Bachelor of Arts Degree ( Hons.), 1979) University of the West Indies (Bachelor of Laws Degree (Hons.) 1982) Norman Manley Law School (Legal Education Certificate, 1984)