On 1 January 2013, Wouter Neven took over the helm from Jan Hofkens as managing partner of leading law firm Lydian. Jan Hofkens had successfully led the firm since 2010 to the point where today it holds an enviable position as one of the top independent law firms on the Belgian market. Wouter Neven now faces the major challenge of ensuring that Lydian's success continues in a market that is extremely competitive and under serious pressure due to the economic and financial crisis.
The mandate of the former managing partner expired on December 31st and Wouter Neven took over on 1 January 2013 having been unanimously elected by the partners of Lydian.
Wouter will concentrate on further anchoring and strengthening Lydian as an independent multidisciplinary firm within the Belgian legal landscape. The firm today has about 100 collaborators, including more than 65 lawyers, and enjoys a strong reputation in a number of sectors such as pensions, insurance, employment law, property and PPP, energy, finance and ports and logistics. For this Lydian possesses well-developed practices including commercial, corporate, employment, real estate and tax law.
"Through our strong anchoring as an independent firm on the Belgian market, with extensive knowledge in all branches of the law, Lydian is very well-placed to assist our clientele with a 360° approach. This focus and expertise lie at the basis of the success of Lydian, which enjoys the confidence of major Belgian companies, organisations and government authorities that call on us for complex legal files and transactions. Lydian has a worldwide network of renowned, independent law firms to advise Belgian companies on international transactions. Thanks to our strong reputation, we are also the preferred Belgian partner of many multinational corporations. My ambition is to further deepen and strengthen our unique expertise and positioning. I thank my predecessors Hugo Keulers, Alexander Vandenbergen and Jan Hofkens for the enormous progress that has been made. Thanks to their work, Lydian developed in the space of 11 years into one of the most prominent law firms on the Belgian market," says Wouter.
As a lawyer, Wouter Neven is specialised in property and environmental law and heads the Real Estate and Regulatory practice groupat Lydian. In this capacity he has developed particular expertise in the field of commercial, office, large residential and retail trade projects; the building of shopping centres, business parks, retail stores, parking garages and residential projects; inner-city development, and PPP projects on the Belgian market. He also accompanies a number of his clients in their activities abroad. He acts on behalf of prominent public organisations and private companies. Finally, he is the author of a number of legal publications and a frequent speaker at congresses and seminars.
"Keeping Lydian's success going under the difficult market conditions we are seeing today is a major challenge for the partnership, and one for which Wouter Neven as 'primus inter pares' has the ideal profile. We thus wish him the very best of luck for the coming, very fascinating, years as managing partner of Lydian," says outgoing managing partner Jan Hofkens.
