Belgian law firm Liedekerke Wolters Waelbroeck Kirkpatrick announced today that lawyer Cécile Coune is set to join its insurance team as a partner with effect from 1 January 2009. Cécile Coune has been practising law in Brussels since June 2004. Her practice focuses on insurance law and property and casualty insurance in particular (non-life).
After obtaining a law degree with distinction from the Catholic University of Louvain-la-Neuve in 1985, and completing an internship at the Commission of the European Communities, Cécile Coune began her career in the insurance sector in 1987 and currently has over fifteen years of experience.
She has focused on developing liability insurance for company representatives and professional liability insurance for the American company Chubb, as well as blanket insurance for banks. In 1992 she became senior manager of this company's divisions in Belgium and Luxembourg.
Cécile Coune subsequently managed a corporate insurance broker and most recently a company
specialising in insurance for the art market as well. The appointment of Cécile Coune underscores Liedekerke’s ambition to position itself as the top firm in the insurance sector.
Regarding this appointment, Pol Glineur, head of the insurance team at Liedekerke Wolters Waelbroeck Kirkpatrick, comments: “we are very pleased about the appointment of Cécile Coune as a partner in our firm. She is a highly dynamic lawyer who is committed to her clients. Her experience in property and casualty insurance is the perfect addition to our insurance team.
Liedekerke can now pride itself on an unrivalled capacity to meet the growing needs of its clients in all insurance and reinsurance business sectors (life, property and casualty, and transport) as well as in the taxation of insurance companies and payment. Tackling these issues with lawyers who are trained in these technical subjects is a unique approach on the market, and generates high added value”.
Liedekerke Wolters Waelbroeck Kirkpatrick’s insurance practice
The insurance practice is one of the focal points of development at Liedekerke. Partners in the insurance team include Pol Glineur, a lawyer specialising in life insurance and the taxation of insurance companies, associate professor at the Free University of Brussels and the University of Mons-Hainaut, author of numerous publications and substitute judge at the Court of Appeal of Brussels, and Marc Godfroid, a lawyer specialising in transport law and insurance, who is also the author of numerous publications and case law reviews; both joined Liedekerke as partners at the beginning of the 1990s.
The insurance team, which now comprises around ten specialist lawyers, assists Belgian and foreign clients in all aspects of life insurance and non-life insurance law
(property and casualty, and transport), relevant to insurance and reinsurance companies, brokers and policyholders. Working in French, Dutch and English, the insurance team at Liedekerke provides advice and assistance with transactions, ensures regulatory compliance, develops insurance policies, and undertakes insurance litigation before the Court of Cassation and the Court of Justice of the European Communities as well.
