Deaths, Public Interest

Young Public Interest Lawyer Killed During Brussels Attacks

She was only four years out of law school.

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Lauriane Visart

Lauriane Visart (Photo via Facebook)

A 27-year-old public interest lawyer, Lauriane Visart, has been confirmed as one of the 35 people killed in last week’s bombing attacks in Brussels. She was only four years out of law school. According to her obituary in the New York Times, was was “intent on using her law degree for the public good.”

Visart received her law degree from the Université Catholique de Louvain in 2012, but before she graduated, she was part of an exchange program with Laval University in Quebec, Canada. One of her professors described her as an “intelligent student,” who was “all smiles and bubbly enthusiasm.” Visart’s first job out of law school was with the Union Nationale des Mutualités Socialistes, a group offering Belgians supplemental health insurance on top of their government-provided healthcare benefits, where she specialized in public procurement contracts.

As noted in the New York Times, her father, Michel Visart, said the following in a touching interview on RTBF after learning of his daughter’s death:

“Lauriane had extremely strong values, which she defended with great distinction and determination, values such as justice, fairness, equality between the sexes, tolerance,” he said, calling her a person “of great integrity.”

Asked if his daughter had a message to convey, Mr. Visart said he would not presume to speak for her. “But I’ll add this — and this is me talking — I think that building walls and exclusion, that fostering hate, that’s heading straight for disaster,” he said.

“I have no anger, because first, Lauriane is gone, so now it is to the future that we must look. I say this in all sincerity,” Mr. Visart added. “It’s very hard, but I believe that life must continue.”

We here at Above the Law would like to extend our sincere condolences to Lauriane Visart’s friends, family, and colleagues during this most difficult time.

Lauriane Visart, 27, Belgian Lawyer, Dies in Brussels Attacks [New York Times]
Invité : Michel Visart à propos du décès de sa fille Lauriane dans les attentats [RTBF]

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