ECLA was created in 1983. It is an international non-profit association governed by Belgian law. The Articles of Association were approved by Royal Decree on 25 June, 1990. ECLA is the umbrella organisation for 17 company lawyers associations in Europe. Through its members ECLA represents more than 20.000 company lawyers in 17 countries. Membership is open to company lawyers associations only.  While individuals are not members of ECLA directly, each company lawyer, who is a member of a national company lawyer association, can benefit from ECLA’s activities as outlined in its programme below and which include many benefits, among which are discounts to conferences, legal education training, publications.