Current leadership

The organisation is run by a 20 person elected board, comprising 10 Dutch-speaking and 10 French-speaking members. The chairman, elected for a three-year term, alternates between a Dutch and French-speaking member. The chairman is supported by two vice chairmen, two secretaries and a treasurer. The current chairman is Jean Cattaruzza, head of legal services at the Belgian branch of ING, the Dutch bank. The current vice chairman are Piet Bevernage, group legal counsel to Ackermans & van Haaren, and Nathalie Ragheno, legal adviser to the Belgian Finance Federation. The elected team is supported by Anne De Wolf, the organisation’s full-time general manager.

Membership

The organisation has around 1,300 individual members, all of whom work in-house. Approximately 60 per cent of the membership is Flemish (Dutch)-speaking, while 40 per cent are French-speaking. The overwhelming majority (75 per cent) of IBJ/IJE members are aged 30–50. Around 20 per cent of the organisation’s membership acts as their company’s sole legal counsel.

Status

Uniquely in Europe, the IBJ/IJE is a legally recognized statutory body, exclusively for in-house lawyers. While the organisation maintains friendly relations with local bar associations, in-house lawyers are not permitted to join these associations, which are reserved exclusively for private practice lawyers. Thanks to an agreement with the two major Belgian bar associations, trainee private practice lawyers can complete some of their professional training working in-house, without renouncing their bar membership.

Joining the IBJ/IJE gives members a special status in law. Its members enjoy the same level of legal professional privilege as their private practice counterparts, although they are in principle not permitted to appear in court on behalf of their employers.

The title “company lawyer” is reserved exclusively for IBJ/IJE members. All members must adhere to the organisation’s code of professional conduct, or face possible expulsion. This code is enforced by disciplinary bodies, which are chaired by magistrates. These magistrates are, in turn, appointed by the king of Belgium.

Organisation and objectives

The organisation aims to unite in-house lawyers from across Belgium, while fostering close relations with other branches of the country’s legal profession. The organisation regularly publishes policy statements dealing with current legal developments, where the issues are of interest to its members.

Benefits of membership

As well as offering members legal professional privilege and an officially recognised professional title, the association operates an extensive training programme. This programme is managed by the organisation’s in-house lawyer, Petra Heininger. Each of the seven specialist practice groups will meet typically meet around four times per year, while “managerial/best practice” events take place monthly.

A new practice group, dealing with international company law, is planned to launch in the next few months. A recently-established “deontology" (professional ethics) group is attempting to produce a “Frequently Asked Questions” (FAQ) guidebook for members, which will deal with commonplace ethical issues for in-house lawyers.

Each month, members are entitled to attend a free workshop exploring a topical legal issue, hosted by a law firm. Each November, the association also holds an annual conference, known as the day of the "Juriste d’entreprise/Bedrijfsjurist". The event comprises lawyers, academics and other professionals and aims to discuss one topic in depth. These sessions typically attract around 300 delegates.

In his own words

“After just six years’ in existence, the Institut des juristes d’entreprise/Instituut voor bedrijfsjuristen has already reached 1,300 members. This is a significant success for such a young institution – especially when you consider that it is not compulsory for Belgian in-house counsels to join the Institute.

Apart from the quality of our events and our training programme, we believe there is another reason to explain this rapid increase in our members. More and more CEOs of Belgian companies now realise that it is essential to have a well-staffed legal department. It is obvious that this awareness is also influenced by the increase of laws and regulations, the growing influence of Anglo-Saxon companies which use legal risk management techniques, and the fact that the number of legal claims against companies is increasing. And this isn’t just true for large companies.As an institution, we are convinced that mid-sized companies should minimise their legal risk by employing their own in-house counsels.

Generally, we believe the role of the in-house lawyer in Belgium is changing. To be useful, the advice given by in-house lawyers must be pragmatic, compliant and take into account the strategy of the company. Some companies are ready to take more risks than others. The company lawyer must take that reality into account when giving their advice.”