ADVOCANT - Dirk Grootjans

Dirk Grootjans holds a Law Degree of the University of Ghent (1973) and joined the Antwerp Bar that same year. In 1992 he became a founding associate of the law firm that now goes by the name AD­VO­CANT.

From 1985 to 1989 he was a board member of the Antwerp Young Bar, in 1987 as speaker and during the judicial years 1988-1989 he was chairman of the Young Bar.

In 1987 he helped kickstart the computerisation of the legal profession in Belgium, having designed software for the administration of law practices. In 2012 he provided the Antwerp Bar with an electronic notification system on the status of hearings in the Courthouse.

From 1990 to 1994 and from 1998 till 2000 he was member of the Council of the Antwerp Bar. In October 2000 he was elected municipal councillor and from January 2001 till December 2006 he sat on the College of Mayor & Aldermen of the city of Antwerp as Alderman for integral safety management.

In October 2006 he was re-elected municipal councillor but he didn’t take up the function in order to engage himself fully in his legal profession again. In 2008-2009 he was elected Vice-President of the Antwerp Bar and in the years 2010-2012 he served the Antwerp Bar as Dean.

He has considerable expertise in criminal law and is very familiar with the specificity of criminal procedure. He assisted clients in numerous high)profile cases and is often solicited by other law firms to assist their clients in criminal proceedings.

Besides criminal law and criminal procedure he also gained expertise in aspects of banking law, personal and family law, construction law and social security law in order in function of specific clients.