Bilge Tuygar studied law at the Catholic University of Leuven and in 2023, she obtained
her Master of Laws degree. During her studies, she had already delved into criminal procedural law and corporate law.

On 3 October 2023 she took her oath as a lawyer before the Antwerp Court of Appeal. She was registered on the list of trainees of the Antwerp Bar Association.

Under the guidance of her training supervisor, lawyer Jo De Meester, she mainly focuses on criminal procedural law, traffic law and corporate law.

Bilge Tuygar works meticulously and diligently represents the interests of her clients.

Martine de Leur graduated from the University of Antwerp in June 1988. She was sworn in as a lawyer that same year and started an internship at the office of the late Mr. André De Roeck After her training, she went on to develop her own office and later acceded to our law firm at Justitiestraat 31.

There she focuses mainly on the handling of dossiers regarding utilities, legal recoveries and family benefits. She also handles disputes concerning rent, purchase contracts, tort law and family law. Finally, she handles dossiers regarding the violation of traffic regulations that are brought before the Police Court.

Karin Ottelohe obtained her Law Degree in 1983   from the “Katholieke Universiteit Leuven” (“Catholic University of Leuven”). During her apprenticeship, she was supervised by the late Professor André Lepaige.
She began her career as a generalist but has focused over the years more and more on intellectual property rights.  Of course this evolution had everything to do with the profession of her father who was a patent, trademark and design attorney.
‘Intellectual property rights’ always refer to creations of the mind, being original, new, inventive or distinctive and complying with the relevant legislation. These “creations of the mind” include among other things inventions, including medicines, know-how, plant varieties, brands, geographical indications and designations of origin, literary works, music, paintings, sculptures, movies, photos, performances, broadcasts, recordings, software, databases, design and so on.
The foregoing ‘creations of the mind’ can rely on protection by way of patents, plant variety rights, trademarks, geographical indications of source, designs, copyright, neighboring rights, legal protection of software, domain names and trade names. Sometimes protection can be sought via the Belgian legislation on market practices.
Karin Ottelohe is involved in giving legal advice, in negotiating and drafting contracts, including confidentiality agreements and license agreements, as well as in litigation.
In 2000, she obtained, cum laude, from the “Katholieke Universiteit Brussel” (“Catholic University of Brussels”), a Master’s Degree in intellectual property rights. The paper written for this degree: ‘Slogans en Slagzinnen: bestaat er naast een verschillend woordgebruik ook een verschillende juridische benadering voor de bescherming ervan in Nederland en België?’’ (“Slogans” and “catchprases”: is there apart from a different use of words, also a different legal approach in the Netherlands and in Belgium?), was awarded with a magna cum laude.
Karin Ottelohe is also a member of i) the International Association for the Protection of Intellectual Property (AIPPI), ii) the Belgian National Association for the Protection of Industrial Property (BNVBIE -ANBPPI), iii) the Benelux association for the trademark and design law (BMM) and iv) the INTA (International Trademark Association).
It is also worth mentioning that she has been designated “Third-Party Decider” by the Belgian Centre for Mediation and Arbitration (CEPANI) in order to assess disputes about .be domain names.
Karin Ottelohe also analyses for Darts-ip, being the leading database for European intellectual property case-law, all the decisions regarding patents, issued by Belgian courts. In conclusion, she constantly attends seminars, in Belgium as well as abroad, in order to stay updated about all developments in the area of law of intellectual property.

Jo De Meester obtained his licentiate’s degree in Law with distinction from the University of Leuven on 13 July 1988. On 1 September 1988 he was sworn in as a lawyer by the Court of Appeal of Antwerp, with Jo Stevens as his internship supervisor.

After his apprenticeship he remained an associate of the office Nelis – Stevens – Samyn – Grootjans, where he later became a partner.

Besides commercial and financial law, he has also built up a strong reputation for media law, personal and family law, construction law as well as in an entirely different area: criminal law.

He made his debut in the criminal courtroom alongside the former President of Bar Dirk Grootjans and has ever since assisted several defendants, defending them before the criminal chambers of several Courts of First Instance and several Courts of Appeal, as well as before several Courts of Assizes.

In construction matters, confronted with technical aspects and expertises, his working knowledge of the construction process comes in very handy.

Although the Belgian media landscape is not comparable with for example the English one, also in Belgium the number of media law court cases continues to grow.
Together with his partners, associates and employees he strives to offer a complete package of services to SME’s, preferably with the aim of achieving a quick and amicable settlement.

Jo De Meester was a board member of the Antwerp Bar for several years. He is also a Deputy Judge and a member of the Belgian Luxembourg Union for Criminal Law, Lawyers without Borders and Alumni Lovaniensis.

Dirk Grootjans holds a Law Degree of the University of Ghent (1973) and joined the Antwerp Bar that same year. In 1992 he became a founding associate of the law firm that now goes by the name AD­VO­CANT.

From 1985 to 1989 he was a board member of the Antwerp Young Bar, in 1987 as speaker and during the judicial years 1988-1989 he was chairman of the Young Bar.

In 1987 he helped kickstart the computerisation of the legal profession in Belgium, having designed software for the administration of law practices. In 2012 he provided the Antwerp Bar with an electronic notification system on the status of hearings in the Courthouse.

From 1990 to 1994 and from 1998 till 2000 he was member of the Council of the Antwerp Bar. In October 2000 he was elected municipal councillor and from January 2001 till December 2006 he sat on the College of Mayor & Aldermen of the city of Antwerp as Alderman for integral safety management.

In October 2006 he was re-elected municipal councillor but he didn’t take up the function in order to engage himself fully in his legal profession again. In 2008-2009 he was elected Vice-President of the Antwerp Bar and in the years 2010-2012 he served the Antwerp Bar as Dean.

He has considerable expertise in criminal law and is very familiar with the specificity of criminal procedure. He assisted clients in numerous high)profile cases and is often solicited by other law firms to assist their clients in criminal proceedings.

Besides criminal law and criminal procedure he also gained expertise in aspects of banking law, personal and family law, construction law and social security law in order in function of specific clients.