Meet Carmen Verdonck

Telephone:

+32 2 426 14 14

Email:

carmen.verdonck@altius.com

Carmen advises a wide range of domestic and multinational clients about all aspects of Belgian and EU competition law, including cartel cases, distribution networks, technology transfer agreements, joint ventures, abuse(s) of dominance, and State aid matters. She also represents clients in antitrust proceedings before both the Belgian and European competition authorities and courts. Carmen regularly assists multinational clients with setting-up compliance programmes and training.

In merger control cases, Carmen assists clients with obtaining clearance from the Belgian Competition Authority and the European Commission and with coordinating merger filings across numerous countries.

In addition, Carmen has deep experience advising on a broad range of complex contractual matters and drafting various types of commercial agreements.

Carmen is an Assessor at the Belgian Competition Authority and Maître de Conférences at the University of Liège, where she teaches in the LLM programme in European Competition and IP Law. She is a Past President of the International League of Competition Law/Ligue Internationale du Droit de la Concurrence (LIDC), and currently serves as a board member of the Belgian Association for the Study of Competition Law (AEDC).

Carmen is an expert to the Advisory Commission on Commercial Distribution Agreements and is a member of the Legal Committee of the Belgian Franchising Federation.

Education

• LL.M. in European law (University of Bristol)
• Erasmus Exchange Programme (University of Bayreuth)
• Lic. Juris (University of Leuven – KU Leuven)
• Cand. Juris (University of Namur)

Languages

• Carmen is fluent in Dutch, French, English and speaks Italian, Spanish and German

Selection of publications

• “Sports and competition law: An overview of EU and national case law”, Concurrences, e-Competitions Sports, Art. N° 92775, 16 July 2020 (with H. Baeyens, Q. Silvestre and N. Methens)
• Contributor to The Merger Control Review, Twelfth Edition, Belgian chapter, Law Business Research Ltd. 2021

What our clients say about Carmen

‘She is proactive in identifying all the risks and covers 360 degrees of the matter.’ – Chambers Europe, 2025

‘Carmen has been very helpful in identifying all the pitfalls and how to tackle them. She has excellent experience.’  – Chambers Europe, 2025

‘Carmen Verdonck has a great reputation in Belgium and, after many years working with them and asking their advice, I confirm that she is one of the best for deep knowledge and responsiveness. Above all, fairness, respect of the rules, confidentiality.’ – Legal 500 EMEA, 2025

‘Carmen Verdonck and Beatrijs Gielen are both very efficient and easy to reach, pragmatic solutions, always friendly deep knowledge of Belgian competition law.’ – Legal 500 EMEA, 2025

‘Carmen Verdonk and Beatrijs Gielen are both very responsive and know their stuff. They have been involved in some of the most ground breaking cases year on year.’ – Legal 500 EMEA, 2025

‘Carmen Verdonck as partner and Beatrijs Gielen as counsel are both great to work with, efficient, fast, knowledgeable, and pragmatic’ – Legal 500 EMEA, 2025

‘Carmen Verdonck is very knowledgeable and is involved in top cases.’ – Legal 500 EMEA, 2024

‘Carmen Verdonck and her team are very knowledgeable, extremely responsive, and a pleasure to work with. Their advice is concise and business-oriented.’ – Legal 500 EMEA, 2024

‘What makes Carmen Verdonck stand out is that she is extremely well connected and often has valuable insights into current developments at the Belgian Competition Authority. In addition to her expertise, her understanding of the client’s needs and her business-oriented approach are particularly valuable.’ – Legal 500 EMEA, 2024

“We worked with Carmen Verdonck and Beatrijs Gielen. Both very professional, very knowledgeable, very responsive and to the point.” – Legal 500 EMEA, 2024

“Carmen Verdonck is very knowledgeable in multiple areas including franchise work, which is very important to us. Carmen is highly pragmatic and a pleasure to work with.” – Legal 500 EMEA, 2024

“She understands the problem immediately and, due to her lengthy experience, she will also come up with multiple solutions.” – Chambers Europe, 2024

“She will immediately understand the needs or wishes of the client and she will adapt.” – Chambers Europe, 2024

“I am very happy with the collaboration with Carmen Verdonck. She combines her strong legal knowledge with strong commercial understanding.” – Chambers Europe, 2024

“She is very good, solid, reliable and a good organiser.” – Chambers Europe, 2024

“She is a very strong, technical lawyer.” – Chambers Europe, 2024

“Carmen Verdonck has great experience with competition law matters in our sector and is available to discuss and willing to think alongside the business.” – Legal 500 EMEA, 2023

“Carmen Verdonck is excellent and I can only recommend her. She provides high-level work and is responsive to clients.” – Chambers Europe, 2023

“We can be sure we are in good hands with her.” – Chambers Europe, 2023

WWL Recommended – Competition