Laurens van Puyenbroeck

Counsellor · International criminal defence · 3rd Dan JKA

Ghent Metropolitan Area

About

I represent those involved in demanding criminal cases and high-stakes conflicts, from the criminal courts of Flanders to the Kosovo Specialist Chambers at The Hague, where I was admitted as Specialist Counsel. I founded my boutique firm in 2020 to practise law with full independence — combining academic rigour with a pragmatic, results-driven approach. I research, teach and have written tens of articles on criminal law and procedure. In 2025 I was appointed visiting professor at Ghent University. But the work I find most meaningful goes beyond any single case or title. Over two decades as a lawyer, academic and karate instructor — a discipline that, at its core, is about reading people under pressure — I have developed the ability to analyse situations in their entirety: legally, strategically and humanly. That capacity — to see what people carry in them — is what I value most, and the thing that makes the most difference.

Experience

  • Ghent University (19 yrs 10 mos)
    • Visiting Professor
      Sep 2025 - Present · 11 mos

      Visiting professor of criminal law at the Faculty of Law and Criminology

    • academic assistant
      Oct 2006 - Sep 2025 · 19 yrs

  • Deputy judge in correctional cases at Rechtbank van eerste aanleg Oost-Vlaanderen
    Apr 2024 - Present · 2 yrs 4 mos

  • Researcher at IRCP - Institute for International Research on Criminal Policy
    Jan 2005 - Present · 21 yrs 7 mos

  • Special counsel at Kosovo Specialist Chambers
    Jan 2019 - Present · 7 yrs 7 mos

  • Founder at van Puyenbroeck advocaten
    Jul 2020 - Present · 6 yrs 1 mo