Jacques Bourgeois is a consultant in the firm's Regulatory and Government Affairs Department, and a member of the Antitrust and Competition, European Regulatory, and International Trade, Investment and Market Access Practice Groups. He joined the firm in 2007.

Mr. Bourgeois advises the firm and its clients on all aspects European Union law, specifically in relation to EU competition matters and international trade law. He has over four decades of experience in both private practice and public service in these areas, including having served with the European Commission for over twenty-five years. Mr. Bourgeois works closely with WilmerHale attorneys resident in the Brussels office and across the US, UK, Germany and China, providing the invaluable support to the firm’s international practice.

Practice

In his private practice, Mr. Bourgeois has represented clients before the European Commission, the Council of the European Union and other EU institutions, and in EU courts. He advised clients on EU competition matters in the areas of restrictive business agreements and dominant positions, as well as in mergers and acquisitions. He also has extensive experience advising on matters related to the World Trade Organization, and has represented clients in WTO dispute settlement proceedings.

Between 1983 and 1991, Mr. Bourgeois was a senior official with the European Commission. From 1987 to 1991, Mr. Bourgeois was principal legal adviser of the Commission, where he was in charge of foreign trade policy and, later, antitrust policy. Previously, he served for several years as head of the Trade Policy Instruments Division in the Directorate General for External Relations, and was responsible for the implementation of the EU's regulations on antidumping and subsidies, as well as for safeguard measures and protection against illicit commercial practices. Mr. Bourgeois originally joined the Commission as a member of Legal Service in 1965. In his initial role as a legal advisor to the Commission, Mr. Bourgeois was responsible for personnel issues, matters of institutional domain, agriculture and fisheries policy, and external relations.

Professional Activities

Mr. Bourgeois is a professor of the College of Europe (Bruges), a guest professor at the University of Gent and was a visiting professor at the University of Michigan Law School in 1976. He was nominated to the Jean Monnet Chair at the University of Bonn during the 1992-1993 academic year. Mr. Bourgeois has been appointed Chairman of the Competition Commission advising the Belgian government.

Mr. Bourgeois is a member of the board of directors of the Belgian Association for European Law, the board of the Foundation for Scientific Research and Educational Exchange, and the Scientific Board of St. Gallen University and of the Academic Council of the College of Europe. He is also a member of the Institut Royal des Relations Internationales and the International Law Association. He is a former president of the Fulbright Alumni Association of Belgium and Luxembourg.

Mr. Bourgeois is member of the board of editors of Sociaal Economische Wetgeving, a Belgo-Dutch European law review, the Journal of World Intellectual Property and La Revue du Droit de l'Union européenne, and a past editor of the European Merger Control Reporter. Mr. Bourgeois is the author of numerous articles and has edited several books on European Union law and international trade law, including Trade Law Experienced: Pottering about the GATT and WTO (Cameron May, London, 2005).

Honors and Awards

Recognized in the Best Lawyers in Belgium 2009 list in the areas of Competition/Antitrust and Trade

Recognized as a leader in his field in the 2009, 2010 and 2011 editions of Who's Who of Competition Lawyers and Economists

Ranked as a "Senior Statesman" and a leader in the area of International Trade/WTO in Chambers Europe (2008, 2011)

Recognized as a leader in the WTO/International Trade field in the 2008, 2009, 2010 and 2011 editions of Chambers Global: The World's Leading Lawyers