Sebastian Tytgat
Biography
Sebastian Tytgat is a counsel in the International Commercial & Trade Practice Group in the Brussels office. He joined Baker McKenzie in 2021.
Sebastian has also been a civil procedure teaching assistant at KU Leuven from 2018 to 2024.
He started his career as a lawyer at a first-tier independent Belgian law firm and continued as in-house counsel at the world's largest beer brewer, where he advised on contentious and non-contentious matters for the leisure and hospitality business in Belgium and Luxembourg.
Practice Focus
Sebastian advises national and international clients on contentious matters before judicial and arbitral courts. He also advises clients in various legal aspects of business, commercial and consumer protection law as well as the drafting and negotiating of a wide range of commercial agreements inter alia in the fields of agency, franchising and distribution.
Sebastian was recognized as a Rising Star in "Retail" in Legal 500 (2023).
Representative Legal Matters
- Assistance to several listed biotech companies in multijurisdictional securities and shareholder activism disputes.
- Assistance to several companies in multijurisdictional post-M&A disputes.
- Assistance to a Belgian airline in a EUR 50 million commercial agency dispute and in summary proceedings regarding its activities at Brussels Airport.
- Assistance to a Clinical Research Organization in the defence against a threatened EUR 23 million supply chain London Court of International Arbitration (LCIA) claim.
- Assistance to a public international organization in several attachment litigations, involving questions of claims against sovereign states and immunity of execution.
- Assistance to a famous US motor vehicle manufacturer in several litigations flowing from the winding down of its Belgian-dealer network.
- Assistance to the international branch of a leading Belgian telecommunications company in a EUR 8 million IT dispute.
- Assistance to various national and international suppliers in distribution, franchising and agency litigation, before Belgian courts, with a particular focus on the automotive, jewellery and watches, aviation, fashion, food & beverage, pharmaceuticals, medical devices, printing and energy industries.
- Assistance to several Big Oil companies (and affiliates) in commercial agency disputes, disputes regarding highway concessions, and franchising disputes.
- Assistance to several companies in multijurisdictional product liability litigation relating to food products, heavy machinery, electric vehicles, industrial printers, consumer goods, etc.
- Assistance to several of the world's largest food and beverage companies in supply chain disruption disputes, notably regarding pricing discussions following the COVID-19, Ukraine, energy and cost of living crises.
- Advising a manufacturer and distributor of eyewear on contentious and non-contentious matters regarding the operation of its Belgian franchise network.
- Assistance to the world's largest beer brewer in negotiations with the Belgian Competition Authority regarding its relationship with Belgian wholesalers (as in-house counsel).
- Assistance to the Belgian affiliate of a Silicon-Valley Big Tech company in EUR 7.5 million summary proceedings regarding the construction of a datacentre in Belgium.
- Assistance to a Silicon-Valley printer tech company, a US multinational denim clothing company, several motor vehicle and motorcycle manufacturers, and a Dutch cosmetics company in the enforcement of their selective distribution systems in Belgium and the EEA.
- Assistance to US multinational denim clothing company in a multijurisdictional claim of more than EUR 1 million brought by an alleged broker.
- Assistance to Belgian electricity and natural gas company in post-acquisition CEPANI arbitration proceedings.
Admissions
- Brussels~Belgium (2015)
Education
- U.L.B. (Additional Law Degree - magna cum laude) (2015)
- Katholieke Universiteit Leuven (Law Degree - cum laude) (2014)
Languages
- Dutch
- English
- French