New legal venture Ask Q will change the game for in-house legal teams

Law firm Quinz launches a new legal venture

Ask Q will change the game for in-house legal teams

• Ask Q is a new innovative venture that will operate as an extension to in-house legal teams. This new firm will offer fully-customized managed services and secondments on a long-term or ad hoc basis. Several top lawyers have agreed to join the venture in the coming weeks. For  its future growth, Ask Q will soon attract, train and mentor additional extraordinary legal talent.
• Ask Q and the established top-tier boutique law firm Quinz will be working closely together
  but as two distinct companies.
• Both companies have common founders, common interests and a shared business culture, but a distinct focus and a separate leadership team will pursue Ask Q’s own investments, innovation and strategies.
• This new venture, Ask Q, embodies the entrepreneurial ambitions of Quinz’s partners and institutes a path forward, not only for the modernization of the legal industry, but also for talent recruitment.

Quinz, the Brussels-based top-tier boutique law firm, announced the start of a new venture that will be a game changer for in-house legal teams. Ask Q will become the trading name of a new company that will enable the seamless extension of in-house legal teams by offering customized managed services and secondments, effective January 19, 2021.

Marieke Van Driessche will be leading the new company as General Manager. Marieke was a senior associate in Quinz’ Life Sciences department and is one of its rising stars.

Marieke Van Driessche said: “I am driven to look beyond the traditional paths of law in today’s fast-moving legal business world. Our clients’ needs are changing and we need to respond by providing legal talent that operates as an extension to our clients’ legal teams. The experience gained during our work for the in-house legal departments of world-leading companies and the company culture that characterizes Quinz as an organization have been incorporated into our solutions”.

“Marieke’s promotion demonstrates her depth of experience and her ability to lead a team. It also reflects her professional expertise and her capacity to design innovative solutions to complex and challenging legal issues. It also shows our commitment to putting young entrepreneurs on the map”, stated Olivier Van Obberghen, one of the partners at Quinz.

“World-leading companies already turned to Quinz for support to their in-house teams. With this new venture, Ask Q, we can now offer full-service solutions to the in-house teams Quinz’ existing clients and also to new clients that will come to form part of Ask Q’s new client base”, said Pieter Wyckmans, a partner at Quinz.

The Ask Q management team will be coached and mentored by Dieter Honoré, an ‘entrepreneur in residence’ in this start-up. Dieter was the founder and CEO of Legal Forces, a Belgian market leader in legal staffing, which was later sold to USG People and rebranded as USG Legal. Dieter is a renowned executive coach and start-up mentor.

“All of the ingredients for a success story are there. Several top lawyers agreed to join the venture in the coming weeks. Numerous client interviews have shown that in-house teams have an urgent need for this type of legal services. Also, the backing and guidance of Quinz will provide an exceptional advantage that will allow us to hit the ground running”, added Dieter Honoré.