About Me
Partner and founding member of KMS Partners, Patrick Kileste graduated with high honors in law from Catholic University of Louvain (UCL). He began his practice at the Brussels Bar in 1983.
He is regarded as one of the leading specialists in commercial distribution law (sales concessions, franchising, agency, commercial partnerships, affiliation, licensing, commission). In this field, he has been publishing reviews of case law since 1985 and has authored a book devoted to 50 years of application of the Act of 27 July 1961 concerning the unilateral termination of open-ended exclusive sales agency agreements.
In the field of motor vehicle distribution law, he is one of the few solicitors who only accepts cases on behalf of dealers against importers, or on behalf of importers against the manufacturers themselves, but never on behalf of importers against members of their own network.
In this capacity, he is a member of EDL (European Distribution Lawyer), an international association of lawyers and representatives of professional federations specializing in the field of automotive distribution but refusing to represent a brand. He was its president for a long time.
He was an associate member of the Belgian Franchise Federation and served as President of the College of Experts in 2011 before resigning in 2024 to maintain greater independence.
He also specialises in company law, particularly in relation to the resolution of shareholder disputes and directors’ liability.
He has authored numerous scientific publications (books dedicated to sales concessions, agency contracts, franchising) and is frequently a speaker in the areas in which he specializes.
He also acts as a national or international arbitrator and is a member of CEPANI (the Belgian Centre for Arbitration and Mediation), where he previously served on the Legal Committee. He has been appointed as a ‘third-party decision-maker’ by the French Bar Association of the Brussels Bar.
Passionate about alternative conflict resolution techniques, he has undergone extensive training in this area, particularly in principled negotiation and Nonviolent Communication.
This training enables him to effectively assist his clients in all negotiations, even in areas outside his primary fields, such as, for example, inheritance disputes.
He completed the training to become a mediator at the Brussels Business Mediation Center (BBMC, now bMediation) and is certified as a mediator in civil and commercial matters. He was a member of the mediation commission of the Brussels Bar.
He speaks French and English. He has a good knowledge of Dutch.
Other commitments
He is a founding member of the non-profit organisation ACNV Belgium.
He was the founder of the non-profit organization Alpha and Omega.
He conducts training in Nonviolent Communication in the legal sector and offers training or coaching services.
He taught a course on "mediation and commercial negotiation" for the French Order of Lawyers of the Brussels Bar for a long time.