Patrick is also a lawyer heading the E-business department of the Brussels based law firm DLA. He is recommended by the Legal 500 (2003) and European Legal Experts (2004) as one of the top tier lawyers in the field of ICT law in Belgium.
Patrick was a 2000-2001 research fellow at the Law School of Stanford University, California, finalising his PhD on the legal aspects of electronic signatures.
Until June 1999 he was appointed as the advisor to the Belgian Minister of Justice on the legal issues of the Information Highway and co-authored different laws in this area, such as the Belgian draft laws on electronic signatures, on computer crime law and on telecommunications interception.
As a national representative, Patrick was involved in the European Council debates on the directive on electronic signatures and the directive on electronic commerce.  He was also  advising the Economic and Social Committee of the European Communities on these matters. As the legal expert of the EESSI team (European Electronic Signature Standardisation Initiative) he was responsible for the legal issues related to the standardisation of electronic signatures.
Patrick is the author of diverse legal articles and books on computer crime, electronic signatures, electronic contracting and privacy and is a regular speaker on national and international conferences. Patrick also has a column on E-business and the law in the leading Belgian newspaper De Standaard.
Patrick can be contacted via patrick@vaneecke.com
