Michael specializes in EU trade and commercial law, the impact of EU and US sanctions and dispute resolution.
He has broad experience in litigation and arbitration advising and representing clients in disputes in various sectors including commercial distribution, construction, M&A, banking and finance, maritime, energy, oil & gas, transport and logistics, and customs-disputes, in both domestic courts, the European Court of Justice and commercial and investment arbitration procedures.
Michael has developed extensive expertise on the impact of EU financial and economic sanctions on commercial transactions and dispute resolution.
He has advised in the past year on several litigations and commercial arbitrations involving sanctions, including on a 100+ mio EUR complex M&A transaction affected by sanctions (ICC), advising a non-EU investor on a 2+ Bn EUR investment arbitration claim (UNCITRAL) involving expropriation and FET claims caused by EU sanctions and an ICC arbitration regarding non-delivery of machinery covered by EU industrial capacity goods designations. He also advised and represented international clients before national courts on several transactions and disputes involving sanctions related issues with corporate restructuring operations of a multinational group, procedures before national civil and administrative courts to recover funds, securities and SKR’s, and other economic resources frozen in financial institutions, recognition and enforcement of arbitral awards, and other commercial claims before national EU courts.
Michael also generally advises on EU law, EU sanctions and export controls, regulatory licences and the development of (EU) sanctions’ internal compliance programmes for clients in many sectors. He has particular experience advising on transactions involving financial intuitions and instruments, including on EU-RU divestment transactions in the financial sector and on banking relations.
Michael is a dual-qualified lawyer at the Bar of Brussels and New York. He holds a dual PhD from Ghent and Luxembourg University (2020), an LLM from Vanderbilt University (2014 – Dean’s List honors) and a Master of Laws from Ghent University (2013 – magna cum laude).
Before joining Acquis, he was a partner at a premier Belgian independent law firm and maintained academic positions as professor of EU law in The Hague, doctor-assistant in the law faculty of the College of Europe in Bruges, Research Fellow at the Max Plank Institute in Luxembourg.
He is fluent in Dutch, French and English.