Contact

philippe.devos@rabotlaw.be

+32 (0)477 518 380

• Lawyer at the Ghent Bar since 1980 (internship in the office of the late Mr L.J. Martens)
• Studies: philosophy and law at the UFSIA and the KUL.
• Specialisation: maritime and inland navigation law at the UA.

• Founder: Tijdschrift voor Gentse rechtspraak, now TGR/TVWR.
• Through maritime and inland navigation law, he came into contact with the international trade and distribution world and immersed himself in European and International private law and distribution law.
• In 1995, he published the first doctrinal work on the new Commercial Agency Act.
• Meanwhile, he was closely involved in setting up the international lawyers' network Consilium Iuris, based in Frankfurt, of which he has been Vice-Chairman continuously since 2000.
• He gave lectures on maritime law at home and abroad and, as a shipowner, was involved in drafting the chapter on maritime privileges and mortgages of the new Shipping Code.
• He is the author of several articles on maritime l

Specialisations

• International distribution contracts, agency contracts, franchising and other cross-border commercial contracts. 
• Commercial leases, competition law, market practices, export licensing, recall procedures, product safety and intellectual rights are also among his areas of expertise.
• Certified mediator in commercial matters
• Appointed by the Enterprise Court as a mediator in disputes between partners with particular expertise in disputes of exclusions and exits of partners.
• Has successfully assisted many struggling companies in their reorganisation in the context of judicial reorganisation proceedings.
• He handles maritime and inland navigation cases as well as maritime industrial accidents on a daily basis.
• He was also repeatedly appointed by the Attachment Judge of the Court of First Instance of East and West Flanders as ship's liquidator of maritime and inland vessels.
• In 2022, he was sworn in as ship liquidator and as liquidator of the maritime limitation fund under the new Shipping Code.