Thomas P. Vandenabeele

Biography

Born and raised in France, Thomas P. Vandenabeele received a Juris Doctorate (“maîtrise”) and a Master of Laws (“D.E.A”) from the University of Lille 2, France, and his LL.M. from Indiana University School of Law-Indianapolis. He represents individual and corporations including a variety of French entities in commercial litigation matters in the United States and is president of the French American Bar Association. He also serves as General Counsel of the French Consulate General in New York (“Avocat-conseil auprès du consulat general de France à New York”). He is also an adjunct professor at Fordham University School of Law and a Visiting Professor at EDHEC Business School, Lille, France. Mr. Vandenabeele represents French businesses and individuals in their commercial litigations in the United States. He also obtains recognition and enforcement of foreign money judgments in New York. Mr. Vandenabeele practices complex commercial litigation with a focus on bank fraud, money laundering, investigations and hidden asset recovery, which cross international jurisdictions to include, France, Switzerland, the British Virgin Islands, Panama, and Liechtenstein. Mr. Vandenabeele has been part of a team that obtained a $264 million judgment in a high-profile matter, representing French interests that allege loan monies and collateral were fraudulently stolen using a web of offshore entities and accounts. Mr. Vandenabeele also frequently lectures on international litigation topics. Mr. Vandenabeele is an Adjunct Professor at Fordham University, School of law, where he teaches the class of "doing business in the E.U." He is also a Visiting Professor at EDHEC Business School, Lille, France. Mr. Vandenabeele earned his J.D. ("maîtrise") from Université de Lille II in Lille, France, in 1999, and a Master of Laws ("D.E.A") with a concentration on European construction issues from the same institution in 2001. He further pursued his legal education with an LL.M. at Indiana University School of Law in Indianapolis. Admitted to the New York State Bar in 2006, he is also licensed to practice in the U.S. District Courts for both the Southern and Eastern Districts of New York. Since 2008, Mr. Vandenabeele has served as President of the French American Bar Association, which he co-founded in 2007. Additionally, he is a Board Member of the Committee of French Speaking Societies, Union des Français de l’Etranger, the American Society of Le Souvenir Français, and the Association des Cadres de Réserve Français aux Etats Unis (ACREFEU). His native language is French.