Photo of Zoë Deblander

Zoë Deblander

Litigation, Arbitration & Investigations Associate, Brussels

“I assist national and international clients in complex and business-critical disputes in civil and criminal matters, with a special expertise in business crime and anti-money laundering regulation.”

Overview

Professional experience

Education and qualifications

Published works

Overview

Zoë joined the Belgian Litigation, Arbitration & Investigations practice in 2021 as a Junior Associate.

Zoë assists national and international clients across a wide variety of sectors. She advises them in complex and business-critical disputes, including corporate litigations and (extra-) contractual disputes. Zoë has a special expertise in business crime and anti-money laundering regulation.

Work highlights

Zoë has acted in a wide range of commercial and criminal disputes. Those that can be disclosed include:

  • assisting an insurance company in both arbitration and court proceedings in the context of post-M&A claims, including fraud claims;
  • successful defence of a multinational engineering company in criminal proceedings resulting from a fatal industrial accident;
  • defending ageas in numerous legal proceedings that have been launched following the rescue transactions that safeguarded the continuity of Fortis Bank in 2008, including claims for damages by former shareholders.

Professional experience

Zoë has been part of the Litigation, Arbitration & Investigations Practice Group in Brussels since 2021.

Education and qualifications

Zoë studied Law at the University of Brussels (VUB, Master of Law, magna cum laude). She also holds an LL.M degree in International Business Law from the University of Brussels (ULB, magna cum laude).

She speaks English, Dutch and French.

Published works

  • Schending van het beroepsgeheim (art. 458 Sw.): “bekendmaken” vereist effectieve kennisname van het geheim, Nullum Crimen 2023/2, pp. 126-129 [Breach of professional secrecy: “disclosure” requires actual cognisance of the secret (case note on Court of Cassation 29 June 2022)] (co-author);
  • Zoë is an author at Wolters Kluwer, contributing to the article-by-article commentary on judicial law.