Meet Vinciane Rysselinck, Senior Counsel at Osborne Clarke Belgium and Legal 500-recommended employment lawyer known for her creative, reliable and people-focused approach. With nearly 25 years of experience and a founding role in the firm’s Belgian office, she guides clients through cross-border challenges, evolving workplace trends and the growing impact of AI and regulation. In this interview, Vinciane shares insights on the value of genuine client relationships.

Interviewed by Anastasiia Hresko

You are recognised for your expertise in employment law. What first drew you to this area and what keeps it exciting for you after more than two decades of practice?

What drew me to employment law is that people are at the centre of everything here, be it HR processes or litigation. I love meeting people and my job allows me to meet our clients and learn a lot about them and their businesses. Being a part of their company and businesses is enriching, as it allows me to have human connections with clients.

There are rarely two identical days: you can have your agenda fully planned, and then your whole day get flipped upside down because there’s an emergency, a collective dismissal, a strike where employees would block access to the company. Only about 20% of my working time that is spent on routine activities because there’s also litigation. There are, of course, similar queries from clients, such as dismissals, but in addition to general employment laws in Belgium, there are also sector-specific rules, company rules and company-specific agreements. Therefore, even in similar cases, solutions will be tailored.

I had thought about becoming a general or legal counsel in a company after my lawyer traineeship, but I became the only one from my cohort who stayed a lawyer. It’s been almost 25 years already and the sparkle is still there and real.

I was drawn to employment law because people are at the centre of everything, and nearly 25 years later, that human connection is still what keeps the sparkle alive and makes this profession so enriching.

In your work advising companies on cross-border employment, how have recent EU and global developments changed the types of challenges your clients face?

COVID times  brought the most changes not only to cross-border employment but also to employment in general. Our clients faced multiple challenges and legal questions related to employees working from home and potentially from different countries as well. Although this initially seemed unproblematic in a remote work setting, such a setup triggers many legal queries, particularly around which employment law applies. This is because working for a certain amount of time in another country can trigger mandatory local rules. It also raised issues around data protection, security, taxation and social security. As a result, companies changed their ways of working, became more flexible and set up remote working policies to ensure that all the legal issues are addressed in a timely manner.

COVID brought the challenge of new ways of working, with younger generations expecting higher degree of flexibility at the workplace. We’ve also seen that return to office policies are not successful. Various EU laws impacting employment, such as Compliance with AI Act, Digital Markets Act, Digital Service Act also need to be mentioned. More layers of regulatory obligations need strong legal teams to manage, compliance and reporting.

You specialise in the retail sector. Are there any sector-specific challenges you can mention and how are they adapting?

The retail sector is incredibly diverse and this diversity shapes the challenges companies face. For instance, the realities of working in a brick-and-mortar store are completely different from those in e-commerce. In physical retail, presence on site is essential: employees must be in the store, interacting with customers and managing day-to-day operations. In contrast, online retail relies heavily on logistics hubs, warehouses and fulfilment teams. Even within a single sector, the nature of work varies so significantly that the issues related to returning to the workplace, staff expectations or operational pressures are far from uniform.

Another major shift that is common for many industries is the impact of AI. As a legal advisor, I have not yet seen restructuring driven solely by AI adoption, but we are already anticipating it. AI is already starting to absorb certain repetitive or administrative tasks. This won’t be limited to retail: even in the legal profession, roles typically held by junior lawyers will evolve.

The key response for companies and for individuals is upskilling. Organisations need to invest in equipping their workforce to work with AI rather than feel threatened by it. At our law firm, we’re already experimenting with tools like our internal ChatGPT and platforms such as LIGORA or Harvey. Despite these tools, most of our value still comes from human judgement, expertise and creativity. That may eventually shift and we’ll have to adapt just like everyone else.

You are listed in the Legal 500, where you are described as “open-minded and creative” as well as “reactive and reliable.” How are these qualities reflected in your career, and how do you bring creativity into a field that is often seen as highly technical?

What I appreciate most about these Legal 500 recognition is that it truly reflects who I am, both as a lawyer and as a person. For those familiar with the Legal 500, it is well known how significant it is because it’s public, peer-reviewed and incorporates feedback from clients and colleagues across the legal profession.  Seeing descriptors that align so closely with my personality is therefore genuinely meaningful.

I’ve always approached my work by partnering closely with clients. Before giving any advice, I want to understand their concerns, goals and constraints. That’s where creativity comes in. Instead of giving a straightforward legal “no,” I explore how something can be done in practice, while staying fully compliant. My aim is to deliver solutions, not roadblocks. At Osborne Clarke, this mindset is shared. We’re not traditional lawyers delivering ten-page memos filled with references unless that’s specifically needed. In day-to-day advisory work, we are solution-driven.

As for being reactive and reliable, those qualities come naturally to me. I always put myself in the position of a client: I know how frustrating it is to send an email and receive no answer for weeks. So I respond quickly, keep my promises and deliver within the timelines I committed to.

Of course, employment law is highly technical, but real-life situations rarely fit neatly into a textbook scenario. There is almost always a grey area, something between two rules and that’s where a pragmatic, creative approach becomes invaluable. Thus, part of being reliable also means knowing when to say no, especially when timelines or expectations simply are not realistic.

What I appreciate most about the Legal 500 recognition is that it truly reflects who I am, both as a lawyer and as a person.

As a founding member of Osborne Clarke Belgium, what were the biggest challenges in establishing the employment practice, and how did your experience influence the solutions you implemented?

When we launched Osborne Clarke Belgium in June 2013, we started as a cohesive group of eight lawyers who had known each other before coming from a local Belgian company. It felt less like starting from scratch and more like starting a new chapter together.

Our clients followed us quite naturally. The relationship between a lawyer and their client, particularly in employment law, can be as personal as the relationship with a doctor. When there is trust, clients tend to follow the person rather than the brand. So Therefore, the real challenge was not about convincing them to stay with us. Where we did face challenges, however, was in growing the team and establishing our name on the Belgian market. Osborne Clarke, being originally a British firm, was not yet well known in Brussels at the time. Younger lawyers sometimes hesitated because the international name sounded intimidating, imagining an enormous U.S. or UK-style structure where they might lose their voice or feel anonymous.

We therefore focused on visibility and authenticity and made sure to be present: speaking at events, networking, simply meeting people face-to-face, etc. We wanted potential recruits and clients alike to understand who we were - a growing, dynamic team with an international outlook but a very human way of working - and it worked well.

The relationship between a lawyer and their client can be as personal as the relationship with a doctor. When there is trust, clients tend to follow the person rather than the brand.