Legal correspondence

The professional law in Germany requires the lawyer to send his client copies of the exchanged correspondence. The correspondence is expressly not confidential.

In Belgian professional law, the reverse is true. Correspondence is always confidential. The lawyer is prohibited from sending his client the documents sent by the other party (with the exception of court writs) unless these are expressly marked as “official”. However, the lawyer will normally inform his client of the content of the correspondence.

The discrepancy between these rules regularly leads to problems in German-Belgian litigation, as the expectations of the respective clients cannot be met even by means of the practical concordance provided for in the CCBE rules on this matter. We inform our clients and the lawyer of the opposing party about the above at the beginning of the mandate so that no problems arise in the mandate from the conflicting requirements of the German and Belgian codes of conduct.

Contact

Guido ImfeldLawyer/Rechtsanwalt/Avocat/Advocaat