VANDENBULKE CELEBRATES 20TH ANNIVERSARY
2025 is a landmark year in our firm’s history. It is the 20th anniversary of the founding of VANDENBULKE.
On the 15th day of 2005, Denis Van den Bulke established a boutique law firm in Luxembourg, focusing on three of the country’s most dynamic and promising legal practices—corporate, finance, and tax. He was soon joined by Laurence Jacques, the firm’s first associate.
Denis brought to Luxembourg a wealth of international experience, including roles in international organizations and banking industry, as well as a seven-year tenure as a partner at the distinguished U.S. law firm Dorsey & Whitney LLP. There, he served as a corporate finance lawyer for its continental European operations, working alongside prominent figures such as the late Vice President Walter Mondale and Zachary Carter, then Corporation Counsel for the City of New York.
From its inception, VANDENBULKE pioneered a new model in the Luxembourg legal landscape, drawing on his Anglo-Saxon legal experience to implement a pragmatic, results-oriented approach inspired by leading Wall Street firms. The firm quickly gained recognition for its unique blend of international sophistication and corporate legal expertise—qualities that became its signature.
Since its auspicious beginnings, VANDENBULKE has grown in stature, forging a distinctive identity and setting new benchmarks for quality and excellence in lawyering.
It has been an incredibly exciting and rewarding 20 years. Over the two last decades, we have expanded our scale, sharpened our capabilities, and extended our geographic reach— promoting a lean structure, while remaining proudly independent, and true to a human-centric culture that continues to set us apart.
Built on complementary strengths in corporate, finance & banking, and tax, we’ve developed a renowned, synergistic practice that consistently attracts some of the most complex, high-stakes, and intellectually rewarding work in Luxembourg.
We’ve handled corporate and finance transactions for clients from all five continents across a wide range of industries. Our compact but highly skilled team has been sitting on legal panels of NYSE, FTSE, or ASX-listed companies and has acted for leading European and U.S. banks, prominent Chinese financial and industrial conglomerates, and some of the world’s largest publicly traded private equity firms.
We’ve served in high-level advisory and expert roles—acting as judicial experts for the U.S. Department of Justice and the Internal Revenue Service, and as judicial receiver in the landmark Billion-dollar insolvency of the Portuguese Espírito Santo Group. We have advised on governance matters and served as board counsel and independent directors for some of Europe’s largest corporations.
With our VDBTRUST Corporate & Trust division, we’ve provided corporate, accounting and tax support to market leaders, through every stage of their corporate lifecycle, representing them in their most important transactions, and helped them shore up their financing or secure trial wins.
Over the years, we’ve established worldwide strong relationships with leading law firms across major global financial centres and acted proactively as members of several elite international networks. Many of the lawyers we’ve collaborated with have become close and lasting friends.
Since 2006, we’ve been consistently recognized by the world’s leading legal directories, Legal 500, IFLR and ranked in Chambers for 16 consecutive years. In 2020, The Lawyer (London) named us “European Specialist Law Firm of the Year,” and we have been repeatedly shortlisted over the past 14 years for “Best Benelux Law Firm,” “European Specialist Law Firm of the Year” and with Denis Van den Bulke repeatedly named among the top five “European Managing Partner of the Year”.
Despite the growing presence of global law firms in Luxembourg, VANDENBULKE has maintained its position as a leading independent law firm, combining deep local knowledge with a global outlook. We remain one of the few independent firms in the Luxembourg market offering specialist expertise with the autonomy, agility, and dedication to bespoke client service.
For over twenty years, we’ve demonstrated that small is mighty—and can be the next big thing—in an increasingly globalized and competitive world.”
The firm today stands as a testament to our unwavering commitment to excellence, high ethical standards, collegiality, and a profound sense of duty to our clients.
As we reflect on the journey of the past 20 years, we are proud of what we’ve accomplished and in the values that continue to define us.
We express our sincere gratitude to all who have placed their trust in us over the years, and we look to the future with confidence and resolve as we embark on the next chapter of our legacy.
VANDENBULKE