Delighted to make your acquaintance!
Come and meet the Nelissen Grade team in Leuven or at one of our other meeting places. Click and find out which areas of law our various consultants specialise in.
Pascal Nelissen Grade
Liability, insurance and traffic law Travel law Sports law Criminal law & fraud Persons and family law
Pascal Nelissen Grade has 25 years of experience and learned all about law from childhood on. With the same earnest and attention for detail, Pascal switches his lawyer robe for a race overall and helmet and goes out racing on circuits both in Belgium and abroad.
Pascal is also:
- Permanent member of the mixed commission for legal assistance and the commission for attorney’s fees.
- Member of the council of the Bar Association of Leuven.
- Chairman of the commission on fee litigations, estimations, arbitration and mediation (Bar Association of Leuven).
- Member of the commission on lawyer ethics (Bar Association of Leuven).
In 2014, he was featured in the Who's who Legal Sports & Entertainment.
Jan Stijns
Construction law Administrative law Estates
Jan Stijns graduated in 1987 as master of law at KU Leuven. In 2009 he also graduated as bachelor in philosophy at KU Leuven.
Jan entered the association in 1987. He is specialized in family property law and has specific attention for patrimonial law (real estate) and succession planning / taxability. He is also specialized in the fields of construction law and administrative law.
Joris De Roo
Corporate law Commercial & economic law
Joris De Roo graduated in 1992 as master of law at KU Leuven.
Immediately after his studies, Joris entered the association and in 1998 he became partner. He specializes in commercial and economic law and corporate law. He is also specialized in estate planning.
Kris Maes
Labour and social law Civil law
Kris Maes graduated as master of law at KU Leuven.
He is a member of the Bar Association of Leuven and Dendermonde.
Kris provides assistance and advice to individuals and companies on the subject of (individual and collective) labour law and social security. He is especially interested in providing thorough and permanent assistance on the subject of HR management. He is regularly invited as a guest speaker in seminars.
In the event of litigation, he prefers to come to a detailed and balanced solution after clear negotiations. But when legal proceedings are required, he is prepared to go to any length.
Alexis Lefebvre
Commercial & economic law Tax law
Alexis Lefebvre started his studies at FUNDP in Namur and graduated as master of law at UCL in Louvain-la-Neuve. After his education, Alexis entered the association.
He is specialized in litigation and providing assistance and advice in the fields of tax law, on the one hand, and economic, commercial and contract law, on the other hand.
He is a member of the Bar Association of Brussels and Leuven.
Frederiek Baudoncq
Civil law Arbitration and mediation Travel law Liability, insurance and traffic law
Frederiek Baudoncq is a member of the Bar Association of Leuven since 1998. From 1999 to 2005, he was part time assistant at the faculty of law of KU Leuven, department property and liability law.
He is (co) author of several books and contributions to books and articles and is a member of the editorial staff of three law journals. He completed the training to become a lawyer at the Supreme Court of Belgium, the Court of Cassation.
Alexis Hallemans
Intellectual property, ICT and GDPR, media law Commercial & economic law
Alexis Hallemans studied law in Namur (FUNDP), Belgium, at the Univeristy of Leuven and in Saarbrücken (Germany). He is a lawyer since 2003. He also obtained a LL.M degree European law in Germany and an additional Masters in intellectual property and IT law at the University of Brussels. He specializes in these subjects in which he has pleaded before the Court of Justice of the EU and the Constitutional Court in Belgium. He is recommended for these subjects in Belgium (Legal 500, Tier 2).
For several years now he is a Board member of the German, Belgian and Luxemburg Chamber of Commerce AHK DEBELUX. Alexis fluently speaks Dutch, French, German and English. This allowed him to develop a strong experience and track record in legally assisting international companies in Belgium, particularly German companies.
Alexis worked in large international law firms in Belgium and Germany (CMS Hasche Sigle) before joining Nelissen Grade as a partner in the department IP, IT and commercial law.
Joke Decabooter
Persons and family law Arbitration and mediation
Joke Decabooter obtained her master law degree at the Catholic University of Leuven in 2011. During her master years, Joke mainly focused on civil law, specialising in family law, family property law and liability law.
After her studies, Joke immediately joined the Bar Association of Leuven, as well as our firm. Based on her interest in private law, she mainly focuses on support, procedures and advice regarding all aspects of family law, as well as settlements and divisions. Nationality issues also fall within her expertise.
In 2015, Joke obtained her notarial profession master at the Free University of Brussels. Since 2019 she is recognized as mediator in family matters.
From the 2019-2020 academic year, Joke will be affiliated with the Catholic University of Leuven as a law assistant at the Institute for Family Law.
Karen Niesten
Tax law Commercial & economic law Estate planning
Karen Niesten obtained her Master's degree in Law at the Catholic University of Leuven (KUL) in 2012 and then completed an additional Master's degree in Taxation at the Université Libre de Bruxelles (ULB).
In 2013, she joined the Nelissen Grade office and the Leuven Bar.
Karen also completed a management programme at Solvay Business School of Economics and Management in Brussels and attended courses in Dutch taxation and inheritance law at the University of Maastricht.
Karen focuses on leading and developing the expert groups for tax law and estate planning.
On the one hand Karen focuses on financial and tax advice, including estate planning. On the other hand, she performs dispute resolution and litigation in various tax fields for the administrative authorities and tax courts in Belgium. In cooperation with Frederiek Baudoncq, she also conducts proceedings before the Court of Cassation.
From her tax background, she also supports the corporate law department.
Sarah Van Driessche
Liability, insurance and traffic law Sports law Criminal law & fraud Travel law