Legal insight - "by the book and to the bone"

Dispute Resolution

Client-centred, in-depth expertise on litigation before Belgian and EU courts and international commercial and investment treaty arbitration.

Sanctions Compliance & Sanctions Derogation Licencing

Demonstrated experience navigating clients through changing EU and US sanctions regimes, financial sanctions, securities frozen in Euroclear and corporate compliance.

Public International Law

Experience in advising governments, international organizations, and private entities on intricate matters of public international law

Recovery of Frozen Assets

Client-centred, in-depth expertise on litigation before Belgian and EU courts and international commercial and investment treaty arbitration.

Sanctions Monitoring & Training

Demonstrated experience navigating clients through changing EU and US sanctions regimes, financial sanctions, securities frozen in Euroclear and corporate compliance.

Commercial law

Experience in advising governments, international organizations, and private entities on EU regulatory and commercial law.

BOEX attorneys: an experienced partner-led bespoke team

BOEX aims to deliver top quality legal services in the field of EU sanctions and dispute resolution with a bespoke team of expert lawyers.  Dr. Michael De Boeck is the founder and managing partner of BOEX.

Michael specializes in EU sanctions, export controls and commercial and investment dispute resolution before national and international courts and tribunals, often linked to international sanctions .

Michael has a thorough expertise and academic background in international litigation and arbitration of commercial disputes, often involving a sanctions impact. He pioneers arguments in cases at the forefront of sanctions and arbitration developments. He advises and represents clients on investment and commercial disputes before EU courts and in international arbitrations related to banking & finance, M&A’s and corporate disputes, shipping and distribution, agency and franchising, international sale and purchase of goods (CISG), construction and steel, and energy, oil and gas sectors. He has a particular focus on banking and finance, distribution and energy projects, having advised widely on EU sanctions and export controls for financial institutions. He acts as arbitration counsel, and is listed as arbitrator at several arbitral institutions across the globe.

He also has experience advising clients across many sectors on all aspects of EU sanctions compliance and enforcement. His regulatory sanctions practice advises companies on the auditing and development of internal compliance programmes, risk assessments, transactional due diligence and export controls, divestment operations and M&A’s, and derogation licensing under EU sanctions regimes. He assists individuals and financial institutions with recovery of frozen assets, including in EUROCLEAR and CLEARSTREAM, and sanctions derogation licence requests.

He regularly speaks at events and conferences on developments of EU sanctions and in arbitration. Michael also teaches sanctions compliance for financial institutions at Febelfin Academy in Brussels. He is director of the Brussels Sanctions Institute (BSI), executive member of the European Dispute Resolution Society (EDRS), and a former professor of EU law.

He holds a dual PhD from Ghent and Luxembourg University (2020) on ISDS and EU law, a Master of Laws from Ghent University (2013 – magna cum laude) and an LLM from Vanderbilt University (2014 – Dean’s List honors).

Michael is a dual-qualified lawyer at the Bar of Brussels and New York.

He is fluent in Dutch, French and English.

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