Exits and referral slump see Lawfort shut up shop

Belgian independent firm Lawfort has disbanded its partnership after suffering years of lawyer defections and diminishing instructions following its split from PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC).

Lawfort was founded in Brussels in 1997 and once boasted 125 lawyers across offices in Brussels, Antwerp, Ghent, Liège and Prague, as well as exclusive relationships with Turkish firm Pekin & Bayar and Sweden's Delphi & Co.

The firm was previously the Belgian arm of PwC's Landwell legal network. In 2002 Bogaert & Vandemeulebroeke severed its link with the accountancy firm.

The firm changed its name, rebranding itself as Lawfort, but was unable to recover from the loss of work.

The lack of referrals drained the firm of partners. This year saw the departure of head of tax Ignaas Behaeghe to Eversheds, while corporate partner Marie Evrard left for Field Fisher Waterhouse.

It is understood that Bogaert managing partner and co-founder Marc Vandemeulebroeke has returned to PwC.