Expertise

Renate Barbaix is specialised in family property law, specially in inheritance law. Her research is both individual and as a promotor of several PhD students.

Technique

Legal research

Users

Academic and practical

Keywords

Inheritance, Patrimonial family law

Legal expert in animal law and rights of nature.

Technique

Legal doctrinal research, comparative research, fieldwork, qualitative interviews.

Users

Legal scholars, students, media, ngos, organizations, animal researchers.

Keywords

Animal law

Publications (esp) on construction law (e.g. Handbook Construction Law, 2013)

Technique

Publications and lectures

Users

lawyers in general, notaries, judges, attorneys, governments, building sector ...

Keywords

Theoretical study, Administrative structure, Vulnerable groups

I study civil law from a law-in-context perspective. My research applies comparative, socio-legal, theoretical and policy-oriented analyses to a range of civil law issues. It deals with the theoretical and ideological foundations of private law, with a focus on family and family property law, and (private) law and gender My recent work has examined the impact of gender legal theory for private law; unmarried cohabitation; and cross-border successions.

Technique

- Comparative law analysis - Socio-legal theories, with an emphasis on gender studies and socio-demographics - Policy-oriented

Users

- Policy-makers - Legal scholars - Civil society - General public

Keywords

Gender, Comparative law, Family law, Law of inheritance

Karl Hendrickx's research focuses on plain and correct legal language in different types of legal texts. He analyses the lexical and syntactic characteristics of legal letters, judgements, notarial deeds and legislative texts.

Technique

- revision and rewriting of legal texts based on the plain language principles - supervision of studies in readability using the thinking aloud method - supervision of studies in readability using the plus-minus method

Users

- lawyers, magistrates, bailiffs, notaries, legal consultants - politicians and public managers dealing with legal and government communication - law students

Keywords

Professional communication, Institutional communication, Legal skills, Communication skills training, Readability

Health and liability law

Technique

Advice practice and procedures

Users

Health care providers and lawyers

Keywords

Health law, Liability law

Publications, speeches, seminars, research project, educational assistance concerning tax law (especially: the repartition of tax powers in the Belgian federal state; general principles of tax law; local taxes; family tax law)

Technique

Legal research

Users

Governments, researchers

Keywords

Repartition of tax powers, Family tax law, Tax law, Local taxes, General principles of tax law

Conflict resolution is an important mission of any legal system. Traditionally, there is a public perception that the courts end conflicts; however, the legal reality is different. Many conflicts are resolved not by a judge, but through alternative dispute resolution. This research analyzes conventional out-of-court solutions that derive their binding force and legal effect from contract and contract law. As a generic umbrella term for these instruments (e.g., settlement agreements and binding third-party decisions), this book uses the term “settlement agreement. This term is not known as such in Belgian law, but a number of applications can be found in the law, case law and legal doctrine. Although ending a conflict is of primary importance to the parties, case law shows that a settlement agreement does not always provide the desired legal certainty. This seems to conflict with the raison d'être of alternative dispute resolution. In addition, it is a fundamental principle of law that everyone should have access to a judge. Without the court's power of review, one cannot counter possible abuses. Therefore, it is also defensible that parties cannot simply sideline a judge. Thus, there seems to be a tension between the parties' need for maximum legal certainty through a settlement agreement and the peopler

Technique

Comparison of legal doctrine Analysis of law Analysis of case law and legal doctrine

Users

Legal doctrine; legal practicians

Keywords

Liability law, Company law, Civil law

Legal advice and consultancy for private individuals and private and public organisations Speeches, seminars, education Supervision of projects of policy or basic research projects

Technique

Legal-dogmatic research Socio-legal methods (social theory; qualitative empirical research)

Users

Individuals and families Public and private organisations Academic research units

Keywords

Family law, Art and law, Nationality, Law of persons, Youth law, Human rights, Inheritance

My research concerns an analyses of the legal issues that may be raised by potentially controversial interventions in the fields of health law and, to some extent, kinship. My research subjects include, but are not restricted to: abortion; euthanasia and medically assisted suicide; (living) organ donation and organ trafficking; prenatal testing, medically assisted procreation, surrogacy; biobanking; human subjects research; coercive measures. Apart from using a strictly legal approach, I als apply insights from ethics and philosophy of law.

Technique

The main research technique is desk research of national, international and supranational regulations, case law, and doctrine.

Users

The findings of my research will be useful to legal experts, physicians and other health professionals, bioethicists, and governmental agencies working in the field.

Keywords

Civil law, Kinship, Criminal law and procedure, Human rights law, Bio-ethics and law, Medical law, Philosophy of law

Legal psycholoy research on the pre-trial stage in criminal proceedings, such as police interviewing, interrogation of juvenile suspects, legal assistance, use of suspect's rights. Legal psychology research on legal decision making in criminal cases, in particular evidential value of criminal evidence. Expert-witness in criminal cases. Training of legal actors (police, lawyers).

Technique

Qualitative and quantitative research methods of empirical research in social sciences.

Users

Academics, police, lawyers, magistrates (prosecutors, judges).

Keywords

Legal decision making, Legal aid, Legal assistance, Investigative interviewing

Expertise in the topics at the intersection of family law, children's rights and private international law (including the hearing of children, international child abduction, international surrogacy, adoption in general) and in the meta-legal topic of how to deal with fields of law that interact with each other.

Technique

The following methods were used in the research: - Classical legal research (analysis of legislation, case law, legal doctrine) - Comparative legal research (mainly between Belgium, the Netherlands, England & Wales, Ireland and Switzerland) - Use of NVivo to collect, code and analyse case law

Users

The direct stakeholders are first, all the legal actors that are or can be involved in cross-border civil proceedings that involve children. These include the judges, registrars, family lawyers, family mediators and central authorities. Second, the direct stakeholders also include all the actors that can decide or can influence how cross-border civil proceedings are conducted. These include national and EU-lawmakers, authorities in the field of children’s rights (e.g., Children’s Commissioners or Ombudsmen, NGO’s), and academics. The indirect but final stakeholders are the families and children involved in cross-border proceedings.

Keywords

Human rights law, Family matters, Children's rights

Legal consult, research projects and educational assistance on all research topics mentioned here : the law of obligations, contract law, tort law, insurance law, environmental law and medical law

Technique

Conceptual analysis.

Users

Public and private sector

Keywords

Liability law, Insurance law, Medical law, Tort law, Law of obligations, Contract law

Insurance fraud.

Technique

Legal research.

Users

Insurance companies, legal advisors, students, the media.

Keywords

Internal law