Professional & Academic
Background
Me Dr. Guillaume LOONIS QUÉLEN
Attorney-at-Law, Paris
EU/EFTA List, Geneva
Paris Bar Association, France
Since 2022, Maître Dr Guillaume Loonis Quélen has been admitted to the Paris Bar. Founded in 1340, the Paris Bar Association is one of the French bar associations represented at the national level by the Conseil national des barreaux (CNB), the institution that speaks for the legal profession as a whole.
Geneva Bar Association, Switzerland
Since 2023, he has also been registered on the EU/EFTA Roll of the Geneva judiciary and is a member of the Geneva Bar Association (ODAGE). As such, he is affiliated with the Swiss Bar Federation (FSA), the umbrella organization of the legal profession in Switzerland.
Thanks to his professional affiliations in both France and Switzerland, Maître Dr. Guillaume Loonis Quélen benefits from a solid institutional foundation and an active professional network at the national, European, and international levels. These affiliations strengthen the reach of his practice, particularly in cross-border matters and multijurisdictional legal contexts.
Professional Background
Maître Dr. Guillaume Loonis Quélen’s career is distinguished by its depth and diversity.
From 2003 to 2006, he served as an Associate Expert with the United Nations, assigned to the International Labour Organization (ILO). Selected by the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Ministry of Transport—following a competitive examination organized by the ILO—he contributed to the drafting of the Maritime Labour Convention (2006) and the Work in Fishing Convention (2007).
Within the International Labour Standards Department, he also contributed to the supervision of the application of maritime conventions, developing acknowledged competence in maritime law and international labour law.
He later worked as an independent consultant, notably collaborating with the Directorate-General for Energy and Transport (DG TREN) of the European Commission, within the framework of the Horizon Europe programme. These successive assignments provided him with in-depth knowledge of research.
Academic Background
Maître Dr Guillaume Loonis Quélen’s academic focus centres on maritime law and space law—two cross-cutting fields at the intersection of international, European, and domestic legal systems.
PhD in Law
Maître Dr. Guillaume Loonis Quélen’s PhD, entitled “Piracy and Armed Guards”, examines the intersection of various branches of public and private law. Defended in 2019, this research pursues a socially relevant objective through a technical and interdisciplinary approach. It focuses on the attractiveness of French law in light of contractual practices related to arms control and the globalisation of economic interests. The thesis provides quantitative data on maritime piracy and practical insights into private maritime security operations. It details the relevant international legal and institutional frameworks, compares the respective statuses of pirates and armed guards, and likens the regulated profession of the latter to that of seafarers. It also highlights the minimum conditions necessary for work on board ships. This original research has been presented at various forums organised by the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD), NATO’s Maritime Interdiction Operational Training Centre (NMIOTC), the French National Assembly, the Strategic Research Institute of the French Military Academy (IRSEM), and the European Bars Federation (FBE), among others. Field visits—to the Port of Galle in Sri Lanka, the International Maritime Bureau in Malaysia, the ILO, the IMO, and others - also contributed to the study.
Maritime, International, European & Space Law
Maître Dr. Guillaume Loonis Quélen obtained his Certificate of Aptitude for the Attorney-at-Law Profession (CAPA) in 2021 from the Paris Law School (EFB). His legal training was further enriched by an academic experience at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Lausanne (EPFL), where he studied law applicable to space debris, health and safety of space participants, intellectual property, and export controls.
He also holds a Master’s degree (Master II) in Maritime Law, during which he wrote a thesis on shipwrecks hazardous to navigation. His conclusions contributed to improved marking of the wreck of the Tricolor, which sank in 2002 in the Strait of Dover - one of the busiest maritime passages in the world.
In 2000, he was selected to attend the European Centre for Space Law (ECSL) Summer Course on space law and policy, held in Cologne. The course focused on the commercialisation of the International Space Station and the legal frameworks governing space activities.
During his Master I in European Law and Bachelor’s degree in International Law at the University of Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne, he deepened his understanding of inter-State relations and global legal issues. His academic work included analysing the influence of the European Convention on Human Rights on the case law of the Court of Justice of the European Union.
With a diverse background as a lawyer and recognition before national and international bodies, Maître Dr. Guillaume Loonis Quélen offers comprehensive legal services tailored to the needs of his clients. He is also actively involved in legal training, sharing his practical and cross-disciplinary perspective on contemporary issues in Maritime, Space, European, and International Law.