Osborne Clarke appoints Benjamin Docquir and Joan Carette as IT and FinTech Partners to Brussels office

BRUSSELS: International legal practice Osborne Clarke has hired two new Partners to further strengthen its offer in its Belgian office. Benjamin Docquir brings a wealth of experience in the domains of privacy and data security and information technology law to Osborne Clarke, while Joan Carette’s expertise in banking and financial law, and especially her focus on FinTech, helps the firm to grow its footprint in these areas.

Benjamin Docquir is an expert in intellectual property and technology. He specialises in privacy and data security and information technology law, assisting clients with the digital transformation of business processes and the mitigation of risks associated with information security and information management.

Benjamin brings more than 15 years of both contentious and advisory experience in software licensing, open source projects, databases and software patents, IT outsourcing and cloud computing agreements. His practice covers advertising and consumer protection, as well as cross-border aspects of e-commerce including freedom of services and freedom of establishment as well as private international law. He regularly assists national and international clients in structuring, drafting and negotiating IT contracts, outsourcing and other ICT or e-commerce related projects.

Joan Carette specialises in banking and financial law, with a particular focus on FinTech, payment services and e-money, banking and financial services and the prudential supervision of financial institutions.

Prior to joining Osborne Clarke, Joan worked in a major Belgian law firm for over ten years, and for more than two years, she worked for the national supervisory authority (ex-CBFA) in the prudential supervision department which supervised banks, money exchange, investment firms and payment institutions. She also undertook two secondments as the head legal counsel for a company active in payments and for an entity operating within FinTech.

Thierry Viérin, Managing Partner of Osborne Clarke’s Brussels office, comments:

“Our goal is to become the market leader in helping our clients navigate the complex legal issues their businesses will face in tomorrow’s world.”

“Many of these issues sit increasingly within tech, media and comms, and so Benjamin and Joan’s respective expertise in IT and FinTech make them a great fit for our business both nationally and internationally. We are confident that they will play a large and successful part in helping us achieve our goal.”