The firm of « Cruyplants, Eloy, Wagement & Partners » brings together men and women who have chosen to exercise their profession by sharing common values: professional expertise, trust and confidence, ethical behaviour, commitment as well as respect for others and for personal development.

The quality of our services is grounded in a common culture:

Ability to listen, availability, meeting of expectations, practicality of solutions, quality of contact and communication
Specialized knowledge, experience, professionalism
Clarity as to the cost of our services
Collaboration with correspondents who share the same values

With our thoughts firmly fixed on the future, in the exercise of our profession we defend traditional values
such as integrity, independence and honesty and with our clients we build relationships of trust founded
on ethical behaviour and transparency.

We undertake to use our best efforts to provide the services agreed with our clients in a diligent and lawful manner and in accordance with our professional rules. We keep our clients regularly informed of progress on the matters that they have assigned to us and we put forward those measures designed to protect their interests.

Unless agreed otherwise, our professional liability is limited to an amount of 2.478.935,25 € per matter in respect of all the lawyers working on the matter. This amount corresponds to the cover that we have under our professional liability insurance.

We remind our clients that in accordance with the Law of 12 January 2004 on money-laundering we are obliged to obtain from them certain information based on specified documents with a view to their identification at such time as we first enter into a professional relationship with them.

Our clients are informed of the name of the lawyer(s) who are responsible for their file. We reserve the right to sub-contract particular aspects of the matter to other partners and associates as well as the right, under our own liability, to request advice and assistance from external lawyers.

We undertake to inform our clients of the various legal solutions open to them and to put into effect, with the greatest possible diligence, the particular solution agreed with our client. Unless they promptly issue instructions to the contrary, our clients are presumed to agree and accept the strategic choices that we recommend, as such appear from our correspondence with the client, in respect of actions and procedures to be undertaken or commenced.

Unless agreed otherwise, our fees are calculated on the basis of the time spent on the matter. The applicable hourly rates are communicated in writing to our clients prior to work beginning on their file. Any variation in these rates or in the scale of charges in respect of expenses will only be applied after it has been communicated to our client.

In addition to fees calculated on the basis of hourly rates we reserve the right to also charge our clients a success fee based on the amounts at stake, including principal and interest, the nature of the matter and the result obtained.

Expenses incurred in providing our services are charged out to clients as a lump-sum percentage of fees, calculated in accordance with the following scale :

Opening, closing and archiving for 5 years of file : 100€
Correspondence (e-mail, fax and letters), per page : 10€
Document reproduction, per page : 10€
Photocopies, per page : 0,25€
Travel by car, per kilometre : 0,40€
Other expenses : At cost

Irrespective of the expense-charging method chosen and communicated in writing to our clients at the beginning of work on their file, all service, court and related costs ( writ costs, bailiff expenses, expert and translation costs etc.) are in any event charged out to our clients at cost.

The statements of fees, expenses and costs that we send to our clients are payable immediately in cash. In the event of late payment late payment interest and collection costs are due and payable in accordance with the Law of 2 August 2002 on the fight against late payment in commercial transactions.

In general, requests for retainers or intermediate statements are regularly sent to our clients. The latter may request us at any time to send them an intermediate statement.

The amount that may possibly be obtainable from the other party as a contribution to legal costs is calculated on a lump-sum basis. Our Bar authorities are of the opinion that the rules of professional secrecy do not allow the details of our services and a fortiori the file itself to be produced in support of any such application. It is explicitly agreed that our fees are calculated in the manner indicated above and are irrespective of the amount to which the opposing party may be condemned as a contribution to legal costs.

Our obligation to provide service shall in any event cease at the latest at such time as we send our final statement of fees and expenses to our client.

We are free to choose the bailiffs that act on behalf of our clients. The choice of other service-providers ( notary, chartered auditor, technical advisor etc) is made after consultation with the client.

Unless agreed otherwise, we are responsible for the archiving of files, which includes the keeping of the principal elements in a file for a period of five years as well as the possibility of consulting and making copies of same during the said period. In the absence of any request to the contrary during the said five years the entire file will be destroyed at the end of the said period.

Our relationship with our client is governed by Belgian law and any dispute in respect thereof shall be subject to the exclusive jurisdiction of the Courts of Brussels, without prejudice to the jurisdiction of our bar authorities to which we are subject with respect to our professional rules and disputes as to fees.