About us - Rawlings Giles

In a nutshell

The Firm

Rawlings Giles is an independent international law firm with a main focus on commercial and corporate law, with offices in Brussels, Antwerp, London and Paris.

More than 30 years ago Rawlings Giles originated in the merger of the legal practices of :

Patrick Giles in London,
Boynton Rawlings and Terence Dellecker in Paris
and Paul Sher in Brussels.

In 2005, the Brussels office has been joined by the firms of “Thielemans & Van Haelst” and “Platteeuw & De Neef”

In 2022 the Antwerp based law office Goemans Van Rooy Plavsic Lesaffer joined Rawlings Giles.

Since a few years, Rawlings Giles collaborates on a regular base with the Paris office of Kuntz & Associés, specialised in corporate recovery and mergers and acquisitions.

The firm’s lawyers have broad domestic experience in their local jurisdiction as well as in international issues, enabling them to provide commercial, industrial and financial companies both technical-legal knowledge and give them an understanding of the needs and goals of their clients. All lawyers are admitted to the Bar of their local jurisdiction, and some are also members of the bar in the United States and other jurisdictions both within and outside the EU.

Rawlings Giles is the Belgian based office of Rawlings Giles with offices in Brussels and Antwerp and offers expertise in corporate law, mergers and acquisitions, joint ventures and consortia, international contracts, real estate (including permits), intellectual property, media & communications, arbitration/litigation, mediation and dispute resolution, distribution law, franchising, financing, construction law, labour law and regulatory aspects of cross border activities within the EU.

The firm also advises individual clients on such issues as property purchases, family property law, gifts and estate planning.

Why we exist

Mission

Rawlings Giles places clients’ needs first. We build our relationships on a high level of service, effective communication, mutual trust, understanding and fair rates. To these we bring our strong commercial awareness, commitment, and legal focus.

We endeavour to go to the core of the issue in our advice, using the correct assessment of the problem, and we seek to obtain a practically achievable solution that is supported by both facts and the law.

First and foremost, we are solution driven. We prefer a quick balanced settlement over and above lengthy, costly, and uncertain litigation.

If and when we litigate, we are determined and unbendable. We present our case in the most clear way and with force.

When we negotiate we do not limit ourselves to a pure legal reasoning. We involve tactical and strategic elements until the desired result has been reached taking into account possible hidden agendas and our the strengths of our own case.

We talk straight. We do not take pride in using legal vocabulary just for the sake of it.

Finally we offer more than legal solutions. We believe in exceeding expectations by solving problems and creating value in unexpected ways. Our clients’ problems are our problems and our clients’ business is our business. We actively promote our clients and look for ways to grow their businesses and improve their lives. We encourage our clients and ourselves to reach beyond what is comfortable and usual, in order to see and achieve what is possible.

Clients

Our clients

Clients seek out our firm because we care passionately about helping them achieve their goals. We strive for long-term, close relationships with our clients by capitalizing on our expertise and experience to provide innovative, responsive, and cost-effective legal and business solutions. We have the experience, talent and resources to help our clients accomplish their business goals.

Corporate clients

Rawlings Giles’s clients operate in a multitude of sectors. We have experience in, among other areas, construction, real estate, retail, telecommunications & media, freight and logistics, pharmaceutical, publishing, retail, financial services, hotels, leisure services and manufacturing industry.

Rawlings Giles advises multinational companies as well as a broad range of domestic Belgian and UK companies, ranging from start-up over small and medium-sized enterprises (SME’s) to large companies and undertakings.

Private clients

We advise private individuals on a variety of matters.

Our work has encompassed the management of structured real estate transactions and building permits across various jurisdictions, estate planning, inheritance law, family property law and the resolution of visa issues.

Our approach

How we work

When a client needs legal advice, when the clients confidence in a contract party is broken, it is capital that the terms and conditions of his collaboration with his legal counsel are clear.

Rawlings Giles ensures complete transparency with respect to fees and costs. Fees and costs are agreed upon at the first meeting and upon request the assignment is taken up in a written agreement.

We normally charge a fee based on billable time recording, combined with an hourly rate. The hourly rate is fixed on the basis of the nature and complexity of the issue, the experience and the know-how our attorney-at-law that handles the case. The urgency of the file and/or the results achieved can also be taken into account as an alternative to the hourly rate.

The nature of the issue may also justify a fixed fee or a percentage of the achieved result, for example in the case of recovery of unpaid invoices or outstanding debt.

Cost of third parties such as bailiffs, notary publics, translators, technical experts,… will be communicated to the client in all transparency and before such costs are exposed.

Clients

Affiliations

Rawlings Giles is a founding member of the Bridge Group, a network of mainly US and UK law firms, giving clients seamless access to the best advice available. For more information on the Bridge Group: www.thebridgegroup.co.uk

Rawlings Giles has close relationships with law firms throughout Europe in order to provide the necessary high standard legal advice to its clients in international issues requiring the expertise local attorneys-at-law and their knowledge of their jurisdictions.