Our lawyers

Jan Ghysels specialises in administrative and constitutional law. He mainly practises town and country planning law, environmental law (environmental permits, soil pollution, waste, noise, odour), expropriations, public contracts and public procurement, liability of the State and public authorities, environmental criminal law, energy law, construction law and real estate issues, medical administrative law (e.g. law on medicines), the law applicable to civil servants, the law applicable to the functioning of municipalities and provinces (administrative areas governed by local public authorities). According to Professor Herman Cousy (Katholieke Universiteit Leuven), Jan Ghysels belongs to the endangered species of multidisciplinary lawyers.

Jan Ghysels has wide practical experience in all the above-mentioned fields. He advises project developers, businesses, individuals and public authorities. He frequently represents clients before the Council of State (the highest administrative court), the Constitutional Court and the courts of the Judiciary. He also assists public authorities in the drafting of regulations. Jan Ghysels is closely involved in conflict prevention and has developed a strong reputation in the field of negotiation with or on behalf of public authorities. He also has valuable experience in the field of conflict management.

He combines his practical experience with academic activities. Jan Ghysels frequently organises conferences and is also much in demand as a speaker. He is one of the founders of the legal journal Publiekrechtelijk Kronieken, which is a leading journal in the field of public law. He is also a founder and Chairman of the Centrum Recht, Onteigening en Waardering (CROW - Centre on Law, Expropriation and Valuation).

Jan Ghysels is also the co-founder and managing member of Genootschap Advocaten Publiekrecht (GAP), a non-profit association of attorneys-at-law specialising in public law. He has also been a member of the Council of the Dutch-Speaking Bar of Brussels and is currently involved in the Public Law working group of the Flemish Bar.

Within the firm Janson, he leads a strong team which has numerous publications within its various fields of expertise. The Public Law department (Dutch-speaking) focuses on Flanders and Brussels. Thanks to its wide experience, this department also supports the other departments in the firm whenever public law issues arise. Jan Ghysels' team is therefore used to working in an interdisciplinary manner, both with attorneys-at-law specialising in other fields of the law and with other experts.