Category: Association

For 25 years the Institute represents and protects the interests of the profession in general and of the company lawyer in particular. Through the institute more than 2 400 company lawyers in Belgium have a protected title and their legal advice to their employer is confidential. At IBJ/IJE Belgian company lawyers are subject to their own professional code of ethics, which guarantees their intellectual independence and continued training.

We congratulate for hosting such an outstanding and memorable festivity in the Skyhall of Brussels airport with 800+ registered participants, key-note speeches by the president of IBJ/IJE Nicolas ISTAS, and the minister of justice in Belgium Annelies Verlinden. Congratulations to all the past presidents, managers and supporters of IBJ/IJE for creating such a success story for 25 years: Els Steen, Marc BEYENS, Saskia Mermans, Hugues Delescaille, Pierre Schaubroeck, Jean CATTARUZZA, Pascal de Roeck, Philippe Marchandise, Julie Dutordoir, Simon Vander Putten, Anne De Wolf, Jettie Van Caenegem. With Stephanie Fougou, Mark Cockerill, Silvia Bonacossa, Waldemar Koper, Laure Lavorel, Richard Bacek, Eric Lennerth, Marcus M. Schmitt, Jonathan Marsh, Stéphane BARTHE, Philippe Coen and many more…

We look forward to continuing our great European partnership for further advancing our profession as in-house lawyers.

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Brussels, 19 March 2025

The European Company Lawyers Association (ECLA), representing the interests of the approx. 160.000 in-house legal professionals across Europe, expresses deep concern over recent executive orders by the current U.S. administration targeting law firms based on their client representations. These actions include the revocation of security clearances and the termination of federal contracts for law firms that represent parties against the government.

Furthermore, ECLA sides with the American Bar Association (ABA) and the chief justice of the U.S. Supreme Court in criticizing recent efforts to intimidate judges, by calling for the impeachment of judges simply because they do not rule as the government desires.

Law firms, legal professionals and judges play a vital role in ensuring access to justice and upholding the integrity of legal systems. The ability of lawyers to represent clients – regardless of political affiliations – and judges to make rulings based on their oaths to only follow the law, without fear of government retaliation is a cornerstone of democratic societies.

These unprecedented measures against law firms and judges pose a significant threat to the fundamental principles of legal independence, impartiality, public trust, attorney-client privilege, access to justice, the rule of law, and democratic legal systems.

ECLA stands in solidarity with the broader legal community in denouncing any interference that compromises the independence of legal practitioners and therefore infringes the democratic principle of the separation of powers. At a time when the global legal framework faces increasing pressures, it is crucial that we collectively uphold the core values of justice, fairness, and autonomy in jurisprudence. ECLA remains committed to safeguarding these principles and supporting all efforts to preserve the integrity of the legal profession and the rule of law.

For further inquiries, please contact:
Stephanie Fougou (President) / Marcus M. Schmitt (General Manager)
European Company Lawyers Association (ECLA)
www.ecla.eu
info@ecla.eu

To download the press release as a .pdf file, please click here.

Stephanie Fougou, President of ECLA and Marcus M. Schmitt, General Manager, spoke at the ELTACon in Paris, France last week focussing on the changing legal landscape…

The conference title ‘ReshAIping the Legal Landscape’ clearly gave the focus topic away. Stephanie was part of the opening panel ‘Legal Titans: How Will Large Legal Players Reshape the Legal Landscape in the AI Era?’ together with Isabel Parker, Caroline Hill and Grégoire Miot.

Marcus elaborated on the ‘evolving profession’ and the ‘highly diverse legal tech and legal operations landscape in Europe’ as part of the closing keynote panel together with Ana-Maria Drăgănuță Briard, Bradley Collins, Christiana Aristidou and Konstantinos P. Anagnostopoulos.

Legal Artificial Intelligence (L-AI) will be one of ECLA’s top-focus for the year 2025 with interesting opportunities for best-practice-sharing, networking possibilities, and continuous professional development events. Stay tuned!!!

Many thanks to European Legal Technology Association (ELTA) for the invitation.

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ECLA is pleased to announce the election of Ms. Stéphanie Fougou, SVP, General Counsel and Board Secretary at Technicolor Group SA, as its new president, effective immediately. This transition marks a significant milestone in the association’s history as it continues to advance its mission of strengthening the corporate legal profession across Europe.

Ms. Fougou brings a wealth of experience to the role, with a decades-long background in legal leadership positions at Executive Committee level. She is the first woman to serve as president of the association. Under her stewardship, ECLA will continue growing the representation and promotion of the profession at both European and at international levels, while further building relationships with existing organisations whose goals are aligned. Furthermore, she particularly aims to target contemporary legal and regulatory challenges and enable ECLA to provide increased value to corporate lawyers across Europe.

Comments from Leadership

“I am honoured to take on this role and continue the great work that ECLA has already done.” said Ms. Fougou. “My primary goal will be to enable ECLA to act as the European relay for national corporate lawyer associations and provide increased value to company lawyers across Europe. As an umbrella association, ECLA will strive to become both a lightning rod for regulatory and other advocacy-related challenges and act as an information and networking hub for all corporate lawyers based in Europe, among which the reflexions about the future of Corporate In-House Lawyers facing IA challenges and the CSR systemic litigation risks for companies. I look forward to collaborating with all our 22 member associations and stakeholders to achieve our objectives and with our 6 additional board members.”

Her tenure starts at a challenging time, as both geopolitical challenges and technological advancements have significantly impacted legal work in recent years. ECLA’s outgoing President Jonathan Marsh has been elected honorary president of the association, and commented as follows: “Current challenges require leadership to be both sharp and experienced in leading legal departments and advocating for the profession. I am delighted that our beloved association gains such an industry titan to steer us through the unknown. I am excited to see how ECLA will evolve further.”

Stephanie Fougou will serve as the 17^th president of the association. She has been elected for a 2-year term which will last until Spring 2026

About ECLA

The European Company Lawyers Association (ECLA) was founded in 1983 and is the umbrella organization of 22 different national associations of in-house counsel working in companies and organizations. For more than 41 years, ECLA has been committed to the profession of company lawyers throughout Europe and accounts for approximately 70,000 professionals in its network and represents the more than 160,000 company lawyers across Europe.

Download the press release here

History made: Stephanie Fougou elected President of ECLA… 🇪🇺

The 49th General Assembly just elected Stephanie Fougou (Director Legal, VP, Ex-Com member Technicolor Group) as the first ever female president in the 41 years of ECLA’s history. She follows Jonathan Marsh after his 8 years of presidency. Stephanie announced that she would continue on the successful path of ECLA of advocating for the in-house legal profession, offering a vital European network for knowledge transfer and assisting our profession in the ongoing transformation.

The General Assembly also elected Laure Lavorel (Senior Associate General Counsel at Broadcom) into the Executive Board as one of the four Vice Presidents of ECLA together with Mark Cockerill, Silvia Bonacossa, Waldemar Koper, as well as Eric Lennerth as Treasurer and Stéphane BARTHE as Secretary. Laure will support ECLA with her outstanding international network and experience.

Jonathan Marsh was elected Honorary President of the association and will continue advising the Executive Board.

The General Assembly also thanked Didier Pissoort of Belgium for his 41 years of service as ECLA Auditor.

We would like to thank Spotify; Miranda Espenäs and Åsa Henriksson for hosting the 49th General Assembly in its remarkable headquarters in Stockholm, Sweden 🇸🇪.

The 22 member associations are now closing the 49th General Assembly with a joint afternoon and dinner

Pre-evening of the 49th General Assembly in Stockholm, Sweden 🇸🇪

Starting with a scenic boat cruise visiting Stockholm’s archipelagos and a traditional Swedish dinner in the long summer sunset…

With our elections tomorrow ECLA will make history…stay tuned!

Many thanks to our Swedish member association Sveriges Bolagsjurister(Swedish Company Lawyers Association) and their entire executive board for organizing such a great evening for the representatives of our 22 member associations.