Sebastian Tytgat

Sebastian Tytgat

Counsel
Baker McKenzie BV/SRL

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 since 2018.

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 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.

Representative Legal Matters

  • Assisted a Belgian airline in a EUR 50 million commercial agency dispute and in summary proceedings regarding its activities at Brussels Airport.
  • Assisted a US-based motor vehicle manufacturer in several litigations flowing from the winding down of its Belgian-dealer network.
  • Assisted the international branch of a leading Belgian telecommunications company in an IT dispute.
  • Assisted 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.
  • Assisted several Big Oil companies (and affiliates) in commercial agency disputes, disputes regarding highway concessions and disputes regarding service-stations.
  • Assisted several companies in product liability litigation relating to heavy machinery, electric vehicles, industrial printers, consumer goods, etc.
  • Assisted 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.
  • Advised a manufacturer and distributor of eyewear on contentious and non-contentious matters regarding the operation of its Belgian franchise network.
  • Assisted the world's largest beer brewer in negotiations with the Belgian Competition Authority regarding its relationship with Belgian wholesalers (as in-house counsel).
  • Assisted the Belgian affiliate of a Silicon-Valley search engine tech company in EUR 7.5 million summary proceedings regarding the construction of a datacentre in Belgium.

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

Presentations

  • Speaker, “Supply Chain Disruption”, M&D Seminar, 2023
  • Speaker, “Consumer rights enforcement and sanctions”, Utopix Seminar, 2023
  • Speaker, "Selected topics of contract law in the light of recent legislative changes”, Utopix Seminar, 2022
  • Speaker, “The new B2B-Act. How about it in practice?”, Webinar Legal Learning, 2021

Publications

  • H. Matthys and S. Tytgat, "Supply Chain Disruption. Overmacht, verandering van omstandigheden en andere vaak voorkomende geschilpunten bij verstoring van de toeleveringsketen", TBH/RDC 2023/4, 489
  • N. El Houti and S. Tytgat, "Cass. 7 April 2023: Landmark shift in the arbitrability of distribution disputes", www.leuvenpubliclaw.com, 25 August 2023