Lothar Van Driessche
Lothar has profound transactional expertise and significant experience in energy law, construction law, public law, and project and infrastructure finance.
Lothar has profound transactional expertise and significant experience in energy law, construction law, public law, and project and infrastructure finance.
Lothar advises private, regulated, and public sector clients on topics of Belgian and European energy law. His expertise covers regulated infrastructure assets (power and gas transmission and distribution networks and interconnectors), power generation assets (including from renewable sources such as off- and onshore wind, solar and biomass, and related public support schemes), capacity remuneration mechanisms, gas and LNG facilities, and public infrastructure (such as roads, prisons, toll schemes, schools, etc.). Lothar combines a comprehensive understanding of energy markets and regulated infrastructure with experience in risk analysis, and negotiating and drafting contracts for a diverse range of domestic and cross-border public and private infrastructure finance (PPP/PFI) transactions within the energy and infrastructure space. He is also well-versed in industry standards such as FIDIC, NEC, and EFET.
Lothar holds a Master of Laws (LL.M.) degree with a focus on European economic regulation and energy law from Ghent University (2010) and a postgraduate degree in Business, Competition and Regulatory Law (MBL) from Freie Universität Berlin (2011), achieving both with a Magna Cum Laude distinction. Following his studies, he completed a 6-month traineeship at the European Commission's DG Energy, collaborating with senior Commission officials on the Energy Roadmap 2050.
Prior to joining Stibbe in August 2024, Lothar was a lawyer within the Brussels-based Real Estate & Development team (part of the global Energy & Infrastructure group) of a global law firm. During that time, he gained valuable experience as an overseas lawyer in Sydney, contributing to the Energy & Resources team (part of the Projects, Real Estate & Development practice) of another leading international law firm for 1.5 years. Lothar has contributed to numerous peer-reviewed journals and scientific publications in the areas of energy regulation and project finance, and he is a regular speaker at seminars and conferences on those topics.
