The Benelux Union or Benelux is a politico-economic union and formal international intergovernmental cooperation of three neighbouring states in Western Europe: Belgium, the Netherlands, and Luxembourg. The name is a portmanteau formed from joining the first few letters of each country's name and was first used to name the customs agreement that initiated the union. It is now used more generally to refer to the geographic, economic, and cultural grouping of the three countries.
Linklaters LLP is a British multinational law firm, headquartered in London, England. Founded in 1838, it is one of the five prestigious "Magic Circle" law firms known for their corporate and financial expertise. It currently employs over 3100 lawyers across 31 offices in 21 countries.
BNP Paribas Fortis is an international bank based in Belgium and a subsidiary of French banking group BNP Paribas. The bank was created in May 2009 after BNP Paribas acquired 75% of the Belgian Fortis Bank from the Federal Participation and Investment Company. It was formerly, together with Fortis Bank Nederland, the banking arm of the financial institution Fortis. After the ultimately unsuccessful ABN-AMRO takeover, the subprime crisis and subsequent global financial crisis (GFC) led to the sale of the Dutch and Luxembourg parts of the banking branch to the Dutch and Luxembourg governments. Fortis Bank itself was first partly bought by the Belgian government, then fully purchased by the government and sold to BNP Paribas.
Clifford Chance LLP is a British multinational law firm headquartered in London, England, and a member of the "Magic Circle", a group of leading London-based multinational law firms.
Addleshaw Goddard LLP is an international law firm headquartered in London, the United Kingdom. It is structured as a fully integrated LLP and has more than 1,700 lawyers including 429 partners in 19 offices located in Aberdeen, Berlin, Doha, Dubai, Dublin, Edinburgh, Frankfurt, Glasgow, Hamburg, Leeds, London, Luxembourg, Madrid, Manchester, Munich, Muscat, Paris, Riyadh and Singapore and an affiliated office in Tokyo. The firm advises FTSE 100 and other major companies across corporate, commercial, finance and project, real estate and litigation business divisions with specialist fields such as private capital; energy, financial services, health and life sciences, real estate, retail and consumer, construction and transport sectors; and has a strong interest in tech.
The Belgium–Luxembourg Economic Union, abbreviated to BLEU or UEBL, is an economic union between Belgium and Luxembourg, two countries in the Benelux Union.
Bird & Bird is an international law firm that was founded in London in 1846. The firm has since expanded to over 31 offices in Europe, Asia, and the Middle East, and has a particular focus on the technology, media, and telecommunications sectors. In addition to its core practice areas of intellectual property, litigation, and corporate and commercial law, the firm also covers areas such as employment, competition, and regulatory law. Bird & Bird's clients are based across 118 countries worldwide and 75% of major clients work with more than one office, making it a collaborative international network.
Herbert Smith LLP was a multinational law firm headquartered in London, United Kingdom. The firm was founded in the City of London in 1882 by Norman Herbert Smith and merged with the Australian law firm Freehills on 1 October 2012, forming Herbert Smith Freehills. At the time of the merger it had 13 offices across Europe, the Middle East and Asia, around 240 partners and 1,300 fee-earners. It was regarded as forming part of the "Silver Circle" of leading British law firms.
Axel Miller is a Belgian businessman. From January 2006 to September 2008, he was chief executive officer and chairman of the management board of Dexia S.A. Since 2009, he is partner of Petercam, a Belgian financial group, active in private banking, institutional asset management and corporate finance.
Brussels (Belgium) is considered the de facto capital of the European Union, having a long history of hosting a number of principal EU institutions within its European Quarter. The EU has no official capital but Brussels hosts the official seats of the European Commission, Council of the European Union, and European Council, as well as a seat of the European Parliament. In 2013, this presence generated about €250 million and 121,000 jobs. The main rationale for Brussels being chosen as "capital of the European Union" was its halfway location between France, Germany and the United Kingdom, the three countries whose rivalry played a role in starting the two World Wars and whose reconciliation paved the way for European integration.
Loyens & Loeff N.V. (L&L) is an international law and tax firm headquartered in Rotterdam. It has offices in the Netherlands, Belgium, Luxembourg and Switzerland, as well as representation offices in major international financial centres. It is ranked as the second firm in the European 100 ranking by The Lawyer. The firm has about 1.500 employees, including more than 800 tax and legal advisers. Loyens & Loeff and its professionals regularly appear in national and regional rankings in the top tiers. Loyens & Loeff was presented with the "Law firm of the year: Benelux" award by The Lawyer in its European Awards 2021.
The Benelux Parliament is one of the institutions of the Benelux economic union. The Parliament was established by an agreement signed by Belgium, the Netherlands and Luxembourg on 5 November 1955, which means it had already existed for three years when the Benelux Union was signed on 3 February 1958. The Benelux Parliament provides the governments with advice on economic and cross-frontier cooperation. Its recommendations may also concern other matters if common interests or current events so dictate. The parliament also keeps the three governments informed about the opinions that move in the parliamentary assemblies from which its members originate.
Fieldfisher LLP is a multinational law firm headquartered in London. The firm has 26 offices located in countries around the world. It advises national and multinational corporations, financial institutions and governments.
Wragge & Co LLP was a UK-headquartered international law firm providing a full range of legal services to UK and international clients. Wragge & Co merged with the London law firm Lawrence Graham in May 2014, forming Wragge Lawrence Graham & Co. In 2016, Wragge Lawrence Graham & Co merged with the Canadian law firm Gowlings to become Gowling WLG.
Houthoff is an independent full-service Dutch law firm that focuses on full-service legal services. In addition to lawyers, the firm also employs notaries and tax specialists. With leading practices in Corporate/M&A, Litigation & Arbitration, Real Estate, and Restructuring & Insolvency, the firm provides strategic legal solutions for national and international listed and unlisted companies, financial institutions, private equity investors, and governments. Houthoff has offices in Amsterdam, Rotterdam, Brussels, London, and New York, and is represented in Tokyo. Houthoff is recognized by leading legal guides and provides global support and service to its clients through exclusive memberships in Lex Mundi and TechLaw and by collaborating with the best law firms in the world. The headquarters of Houthoff is located on the Amsterdam Zuidas.
Osborne Clarke is an international legal practice headquartered in London, England, UK with offices in the United Kingdom, Germany, Italy, Belgium, Spain, Sweden, France, the Netherlands, China, India via BTG Legal, Singapore, the United States and Poland. The firm has over 320 partners and more than 2,440 employees spread across its 25 offices around the world. The firm's headquarters are located in London, United Kingdom.
Herbert Smith Freehills (HSF) is an international law firm with headquarters in London, England and Sydney, Australia. HSF has been widely acknowledged as one of the world's most elite and selective law firms, and, as of 2021, was the 33rd largest by revenue. It was formed on 1 October 2012 by a merger between the United Kingdom-based Herbert Smith, then a member of the Silver Circle of leading UK law firms, and Freehills, one of the Big Six Australian law firms.
Gleiss Lutz Hootz Hirsch, frequently referred to as Gleiss Lutz, is a business law firm headquartered in Stuttgart, Germany. It is one of Germany's largest law firms, with eight offices worldwide in Berlin, Düsseldorf, Frankfurt, Hamburg, Munich, Stuttgart, Brussels and London. The firm formerly had offices in Prague. As of 2017, Gleiss Lutz has the seventh-largest number of Chambers-ranked lawyers in Germany. Gleiss Lutz is a full-service business law firm and covers, amongst others, legal areas including corporate law, mergers & acquisitions, competition and antitrust law, labour and employment law as well as litigation and arbitration. Additionally, the firm offers industry-specific groups such as automotive, healthcare or energy.
In 2019, the top 50 Dutch law firms had around 4,476 attorneys and the top 30 law firms had around 183 notaries and 527 candidate notaries. According to the Chambers and Partners legal directory, the top five law firms in the Netherlands are Allen & Overy Netherlands, De Brauw Blackstone Westbroek, Houthoff, Loyens & Loeff and Stibbe. Every year advocatie.nl publishes a list of the 50 biggest law firms in headcount.
The Archdiocese of Belgium and exarchate of the Netherlands and Luxembourg is a jurisdiction of the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople, covering the Low Countries.
