What Claeys & Engels does

Claeys & Engels is a Belgian law firm founded in 2001 by Thierry Claeys and Chris Engels, specializing exclusively in employment law and HR-related legal services. The firm operates from six offices across Belgium (Brussels headquarters, Antwerp, Ghent, Hasselt, Kortrijk, and Liège), employing approximately 95 lawyers and 50 administrative staff, and offers advisory, litigation, training, and legal interim services to Belgian and international companies, pension funds, and public sector organizations.

The firm's service stack centers on hourly-rate professional legal services, complemented by proprietary digital tools — the Opzegging.be notice period calculator (based on the founding partner's registered Claeys formula), Socialelections.be, GDPR Belgium, and the Compensation & Benefits tool — which extend the practice into packaged software-enabled services. It also runs the C&E Inhouse line, combining tailor-made training (C&E Training) and secondment of lawyers into client teams (C&E Legal Interim), and in January 2025 added an AI Literacy Training offering in partnership with UMANIQ.

Commercially, Claeys & Engels bills all services at applicable hourly rates per lawyer, served primarily through its six Belgian offices and internationally via the Ius Laboris alliance of leading employment law firms. The firm is privately held as a Belgian BV (Enterprise number 0473.547.070), holds ISO 27001:2017 and ISO 27701:2019 certifications for information and privacy security, and generates thought leadership through dual-language podcasts (#ZigZagHR Brainpickings in Dutch, De bouche à oreille in French) and its annual HR Beacon survey.

Name

Claeys & Engels

Legal name

Claeys & Engels BV

Website

https://claeysengels.be

Company type

Private

Founded year

2001

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

101–250 employees

Short description

Claeys & Engels is a Belgian law firm specializing exclusively in employment and HR-related legal services, serving Belgian and international companies, pension funds, and public sector bodies from six offices across Belgium with cross-border reach via the Ius Laboris alliance.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Employment Law Legal Services

NAICS

Offices of Lawyers (541110), Legal Services (5411)

SIC

Services-Legal Services (8111), Services-Educational Services (8200)

akta.pro primary industry

Employment & Labor Law (BPAHAAAD)

akta.pro secondary industries

Contract Lifecycle Management (CLM) & Document Generation/Templating (HDAEAGAL), Legal & Compliance (CLE, Paralegal CE) (EDAAALAB)

Keywords

• Employment law services
• HR legal advisory
• Labor law consulting
• Compensation benefits advisory
• Social elections compliance

Headquarters

HQ city

Antwerp

HQ country

Belgium

HQ region

Europe

Offices6 records

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Technology or R&D, Marketing or Sales, Infrastructure

Revenue model

1. Legal Advisory and Litigation Services: Professional legal services billed at hourly rates per lawyer, multiplied by hours worked. Services include employment law advice, litigation, negotiations, audits, and compliance work.
2. Training Services (C&E Training): Customized training programs for HR, Compensation & Benefits, and pensions departments. Training is delivered at client premises or in one of 6 offices, lasting half a day or full day.
3. Legal Interim Services (C&E Legal Interim): Secondment of experienced lawyers to client teams for autonomous HR or legal project support. The seconded lawyer works autonomously under Claeys & Engels deontological obligations.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels4 records

Marketing channels8 records

Core offering

Claeys & Engels is a Belgian law firm exclusively specialized in employment law and HR-related legal services, providing advisory, litigation, negotiations, audits, and compliance work through ~95 lawyers across 6 Belgian offices. The firm supplements core legal services with customized training (C&E Training), lawyer secondment (C&E Legal Interim, combined under C&E Inhouse), and proprietary digital tools (Opzegging.be, GDPR Belgium, Social Elections Platform, Compensation & Benefits Tool), with international coverage through the Ius Laboris alliance.

Product overview

Claeys & Engels is a Belgian law firm specializing in employment law and HR-related legal services. The firm operates a platform-plus-modules model consisting of core legal advisory services augmented by proprietary digital tools and training offerings. Key products include: C&E Inhouse (core offering combining training and seconded lawyers), C&E Training (tailor-made courses), C&E Legal Interim (seconded lawyers), and several web-based tools (Opzegging.be for notice calculations, GDPR Belgium, Social Elections platform, Compensation & Benefits tool). The firm also offers AI Literacy Training in partnership with UMANIQ. Additional value-added services include podcasts (#ZigZagHR Brainpickings in Dutch, De bouche à oreille in French) and the annual HR Beacon survey. The firm participates in the Ius Laboris international alliance for cross-border HR law services.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Brands

• C&E Inhouse: Training and legal interim services offered to clients, including C&E Training (tailor-made training courses for HR, Comp&Ben, and pensions departments) and C&E Legal Interim (seconded lawyers to assist client teams autonomously).
• Ius Laboris

Products and services

• Employment Law Advisory & Litigation Services Core legal services covering employment law advice, litigation, negotiations, audits, and compliance work, delivered by ~95 Belgian lawyers across 6 offices to Belgian and international companies. Services span individual and collective labor relations, compensation and benefits, pensions, immigration, restructuring, social elections, and corporate governance.
• C&E Training Tailor-made training courses for employees in HR, Comp&Ben, or pensions departments, delivered by Claeys & Engels lawyers. Training is interactive and practice-oriented, available in Dutch and French, and delivered at client premises or in one of 6 offices.
• C&E Legal Interim Secondment of experienced lawyers who work autonomously within client teams, trained by Claeys & Engels, speaking the language of business and accounting for company culture, providing interim HR or legal project support.
• C&E Inhouse Combined offering of C&E Training and C&E Legal Interim services for in-house legal and HR support, providing clients with embedded training and seconded Claeys & Engels lawyers.
• Opzegging.be (préavis.be) Termination Calculator Online notice period calculator tool for employment termination calculations, developed based on the Claeys formula for notice periods and termination indemnities in Belgium.
• GDPR Belgium Tool Online tool providing GDPR compliance guidance and resources for Belgian businesses to support data protection obligations.
• Social Elections Platform (socialelections.be) Online platform for managing social elections procedures in Belgium, providing a dedicated tool for the complete social elections process.
• Compensation & Benefits Tool (compensationbenefits.be) Online tool for compensation and benefits calculations and analysis, supporting HR and compensation professionals in Belgian organizations.

Quantifiable outcome

• Developed the Claeys formula, widely used in Belgium for calculating notice periods and termination indemnities

Named customers1 record

Segments3 records

Ideal customer profiles3 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

AI capability2 records

Feature5 records

Partnerships

Five partnerships are on record, tiered core and minor.

• UMANIQcoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 January 2025Strategic partnership to offer high-quality AI literacy training courses. UMANIQ specializes in data governance, AI risk management and compliance. Together they provide training covering AI fundamentals, practical applications, risks/opportunities, regulatory compliance (EU AI Act, GDPR), and practical guidelines. Training is designed for businesses to understand AI, evaluate risks, and comply with regulations requiring worker AI training by February 2025.
• Ius LaboriscoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerInternational alliance of leading employment law firms providing multinational clients access to labor law, social security, tax, pension and immigration assistance across all countries. Claeys & Engels serves as the Belgian member firm. The alliance offers coordinated approach by top law firms with consistent high-quality international service and cross-border service at competitive prices.
• AONminorOthersInsurance broker providing professional liability insurance coverage for Claeys & Engels and its lawyers. Maximum coverage amount is EUR 25,000,000.
• Capstan (France)minorStrategic or Co-development PartnerFrench law firm partner within Ius Laboris international alliance. Staff member worked at Capstan Paris office for 3 months as part of professional development.
• Lewis Silkin LLP (UK)minorStrategic or Co-development PartnerUK law firm partner within Ius Laboris international alliance. Staff member worked at London office for 3 months as part of professional development.

Scale indicators5 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Broad incumbents

• Eubelius: Largest independent Belgian law firm with broad practice areas including an established employment and pension law group; competes on large enterprise mandates where full-service coverage is valued.
• Stibbe: Benelux-headquartered full-service law firm with an employment & benefits practice across Belgium, Netherlands and Luxembourg; competes for cross-border mandates that Claeys & Engels routes through Ius Laboris.
• Linklaters: Global Magic Circle firm with a dedicated employment and incentives practice including Brussels-based lawyers; competes for premium multinational mandates and on inbound European restructurings.
• Bird & Bird: International firm with an employment-focused practice and Belgian presence; competes particularly on technology-sector employment and immigration mandates.
• Baker McKenzie: Global firm with one of the largest employment-law practices worldwide and a strong Brussels presence; primary international competitor for cross-border HR mandates that the firm accesses through Ius Laboris.
• Deloitte Legal Belgium: Big-Four legal practice combining legal advisory with consulting and tax; competes for integrated HR/employment mandates and cross-border restructuring projects in Belgium.
• Altius: Belgian full-service law firm with a notable employment, pensions and HR practice; competes for Belgian enterprise mandates alongside Claeys & Engels and the broader specialist boutiques.

Direct peers

• Lydian Lawyers: Belgian full-service law firm with a strong employment, pensions and benefits practice; competes head-to-head with Claeys & Engels for Belgian enterprise HR-law mandates.
• L&E Global: International alliance of employment-law specialists directly comparable to Ius Laboris; represents an alternative network Belgian multinationals and clients could choose, making it a peer network rather than a single firm.
• Van Olmen & Wynant: Belgian employment and pension law boutique with similar exclusive specialization in social law; the closest direct competitor in the Belgian pure-play employment-law segment.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat5 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• Facebookfacebook.com/ClaeysEngels
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/claeys-&-engels
• Instagraminstagram.com/stories/claeysengels
• Xx.com/claeysengels

Compliance2 records

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles1 record

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Claeys & Engels