Olislaegers & De Creus BV is a law firm registered in Brussels, RPR/VAT BE0878.383.795.
1. For each assignment entrusted to and accepted by Olislaegers & De Creus, a letter of engagement may be sent to the client confirming the identity of the client and the applicable charging rates at the date of the engagement letter. All engagements will be governed by these general terms of engagement, with the exclusion of any general or specific purchase terms of the client or third-party payor (e.g. shared services center, insurer).
2. We are undertaking each engagement by establishing an attorney-client relationship with the legal entities so identified in our client engagement letter and neither with any other corporate entity (such as parent companies or subsidiaries), nor client of an instructing law firm in case such law firm is instructing us. We will apply the ethics rules relating to conflicts of interest only with respect to our client so identified in our engagement letter.
For certain matters, such as company law matters or real estate transactions, mandatory law for the prevention of money laundering requires law firms to not only identify their clients and the client’s director(s) and agent(s) but also the natural persons who are the ultimate beneficial owners (UBO) of the client and the client’s director(s) and agent(s). The ultimate beneficiary is any natural person who owns or controls the client or the client’s agent on whose account the transaction is being carried out. For companies or associations, these are the natural persons who hold, directly or indirectly, 25% or more of the voting rights or of the ownership interest in the company or association, or who have control of the company or association through other means. If no natural person has at least 25% of the voting rights or ownership interest, the senior management staff shall be considered to be the ultimate beneficiary of the company or association. By consulting our firm, the client accepts to provide us with any and all information that is required by law or which we are legally required asking our clients and to keep that spontaneously up to date.
As a client you are legally obliged to provide us with a recto/verso copy of the identity card of the director(s)/agent(s) (of the aforementioned client-legal entity) who directs the matter and who is the contact for our firm, before or at the latest at the beginning of our business relationship and to keep us spontaneously informed of any changes to this information or documents. Failing that, our service can be suspended or discontinued until you comply.
3. Our services are always deemed to be performed in the registered offices of our firm, where our invoices are payable.
4. Our fees are based on the time spent on the matter by the concerned persons. In this respect, we apply hourly rates that reflect the seniority and experience of the involved lawyers and staff, as well as the urgency and complexity of the matter. The hourly rates are annually reviewed and indexed, typically as from 1 January or 1 September, and may be increased based on inflation in accordance with the evolution of the consumer index or other relevant increase of costs. When the rates are increased, the new rates will be reflected in the first invoice after the date of the change.
5. Out-of-pocket expenses (such as costs of translation, costs of a notary public or court bailiff, travel expenses, court fees, express courier deliveries, etc…) are charged separately at cost price to our firm.
6. Legal services by Belgian lawyers are subject to VAT. Therefore VAT will be added to our fees whenever required by relevant VAT regulations. Services provided to legal entities are deemed to be provided for and in the interests of the professional purposes of that legal entity. The client must inform us if that is not the case.
7. A breakdown of time spent, and detailed description of the work carried out, will be provided with our invoice. Those details are subject to legal privilege and professional secrecy and in principle made available to our client, or his insurance company, only.
8. Our fees are invoiced in euro and on a monthly, quarterly or annual basis, depending on the amount due and status of the matter at the end of such period.
9. Invoices are payable in euro by wire transfer, within 21 days of issuance, to our bank account mentioned in the original fee note and net of bank charges. No protest with respect to a fee note will be accepted upon expiry of that period.
10. Amounts that remain unpaid as of maturity date will automatically and without notice generate a penalty interest set in accordance with the legislation applicable in case of late payment in the jurisdiction of the Firm that invoiced, as well as a lump sum indemnity of 10% of the amount that remained unpaid. We also reserve the right to stop without warning providing services to a client or in a specific matter whenever an invoice addressed to that client or concerning that matter remains unpaid after its due date. We do not accept any liability for damages or disadvantages arising after the due date of a not timely or incompletely paid invoice, or following the suspension or cessation of our services due to the late payment of our invoices.
11. All our documents and communications in client matters are subject to legal privilege and professional secrecy imposed by Belgian and European mandatory law, as well as to confidentiality as regulated by the Brussels Bar Rules. We shall at all times respect client confidentiality and the confidentiality of any information or materials provided to us, subject only to restrictions which may be imposed by law or by professional ethics. We cannot be held liable should, despite all reasonable precautionary measures adopted by our IT services provider, third parties become aware of confidential information or materials in connection with you or your file.
12. Our liability and the liability of our partners, associates and staff is limited to the insurance cover provided by the generally applicable professional liability insurance organized by the Flemish Bar Association (Vlaamse Orde van Advocaten) and applicable to each member of that Bar Association (NOAB). In the event where a liability should arise which is not covered by our professional liability insurance, then that liability shall be limited to the higher of the following two amounts: (i) half of the total amount of legal fees paid by the client (or group of jointly instructing clients) to our firm over the calendar year concerned in the matter concerned; or (ii) € 25,000 per client (or group of jointly instructing clients) for all of the combined claims by that client or group of clients.
13. When we complete a particular matter or sub-matter, we will keep the essential records relating to our work for you for five years following the date of the last correspondence in that matter or sub-matter. Your identification data will be kept, as required by anti-money laundering legislation, for a period of ten years.
14. The relationship between the client, a third-party payor and our firm is exclusively governed by Belgian law and the courts of Brussels have exclusive jurisdiction for any and all disputes that would arise in the context of the services provided, including the recovery of outstanding invoices. Litigation will be in the Dutch language only. We do neither accept the applicability of foreign law, nor the jurisdiction of foreign courts.
15. Based on the client contracting with Olislaegers & De Creus, we assume until written notice to the contrary, that that the client is not eligible for legal aid. As part of our ethical obligations, we wish to inform the client of the possibility for a private person with limited resources to request legal aid if the client would be eligible. We do not make that assessment in the client’s place and advise the client to consult additional information on this subject through the Brussels Bar Association.
16. When the client can benefit from legal aid or legal insurance or other insurance that would cover the services of Olislaegers & De Creus, the client must immediately take the necessary steps to report the sinister to its broker and insurer. Any financial or other cover limits or exclusions that the client has agreed with its insurer or which are invoked by that insurer, as well as any protest or discussion of our invoices by the insurer of the client, are not binding on Olislaegers & De Creus. In the absence of timely full payment of our invoices by the insurer, the client must immediately proceed to the full payment of the outstanding invoices and provide an appropriate retainer or security for the payment of the services by Olislaegers & De Creus in the concerned matter. Any costs or services relating to the discussion or protest of our invoices by the insurer of the client, will be invoiced to the client at the applicable hourly rates and will be fully due by the client irrespective of the outcome of such discussion.
17. The client is expressly advised that disputes may, at any moment during legal proceedings or arbitration, be settled by mediation, reconciliation, or negotiation. The choice of the method applied for the resolution of a dispute should be considered by the client before and during the proceedings as this may have a significant impact on the cost, the duration of the dispute resolution and the acceptability of the result achieved. It is the exclusive responsibility of the client to consider or reject an amicable settlement and to make an opportunity choice in this regard, also taking into account the factual evidence, elements and arguments that the client has or can supply.
18. For the Olislaegers & De Creus policy on the protection of personal data, we refer to the separate document that can be consulted on the website www.odc.law and the document attached to the engagment letter of Olislaegers & De Creus which who the client contracts (if any).
Terms and Conditions release date August 2026