Houthoff

Albert Knigge

Albert specialises in handling complex international disputes. He has considerable experience in advising financial institutions and companies in different sectors confronted with cross-border mass claims. Albert helps such clients manage the risks that these claims entail and find strategic solutions to minimise their impact on the business, taking into account the constant regulatory changes and developments concerning collective actions and mass claims. As head of the Competition Litigation Team, he is also involved in almost all of the seminal cartel damages cases currently before the Dutch courts. To that end, he works closely with the lawyers in our EU Competition practice group. Albert is also a Supreme Court lawyer. He has numerous publications to his name, particularly on civil procedure and liability law, and he is an editor for the publication Burgerlijke Rechtsvordering (Civil Procedure). In addition, Albert is a board member of the Dutch Association for Procedural Law, and a member of the Dutch Association of Civil Cassation Litigators, the Dutch Commercial Law Association, the Dutch Corporate Litigation Association, the Royal Netherlands Society of International Law and the Dutch Association for Civil Law. Albert was appointed to Houthoff's Board of Directors on 1 April 2017.

Alexander Kaarls

Alexander Kaarls’ practice focuses on corporate and securities laws, with a particular focus on cross-border mergers, acquisitions and capital markets transactions. He also regularly advises clients on corporate governance, joint venture, securities laws compliance, and general cross-border matters. Alexander has been ranked as the Netherlands’ ‘leading M&A lawyer’ by the predominant Dutch M&A website and database OverFusies several times (based on total deal value). Alexander has authored and co-authored articles published in, among others, the International Financial Law Review, the International Comparative Legal Guide to Mergers & Acquisitions, the International Law Practicum, the European Lawyer, Advocatenblad (the Netherlands Bar periodical) and Maandblad voor Vermogensrecht (a leading Dutch periodical on contract law). Alexander is a member of the Netherlands Bar (since 1993) and the California Bar (since 2002). He joined Houthoff in 2004, after spending ten years practicing with Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom LLP in London, Brussels and Palo Alto (California).

André de Neve

Angenita Pex

Angenita specialises in mergers and acquisitions. The majority of her clients are multinationals and private equity parties. Between 1995 and 1998, she worked for the European Parliament as a political adviser, following which she joined a US law firm in Brussels. In addition to mergers and acquisitions, she also advises on EU law and its implementation in Dutch law, and has been involved in several cases concerning State aid. Angenita is a board member of the Holland Chapter of the Association for Corporate Growth, and a member of the Supervisory Board of the Maaszicht Foundation.

Anna Wijnans

Bart van der Wiel

As a Supreme Court specialist, Bart has been involved in numerous landmark cases on finance, insolvency and liability law, acting for financial institutions such as Achmea, AIG, Allianz, ING and Nationale-Nederlanden. He has also litigated for the bankruptcy trustees of KPNQwest against shareholders and directors, and he represents the estate of Lehman Brothers Treasury, in matters that are vital for the resolution of these insolvencies. Bart received a Ph.D. in 2004 and has since authored many publications. He is a member of the editorial team of the Tijdschrift voor Civiele Rechtspleging journal and a highly sought-after speaker and lecturer.

Berry van Wijk

Berry van Wijk specialises in insurance law and liability issues. She advises and litigates in the fields of regulatory law, reinsurance, life and non-life insurance, distribution of insurance, the transfer of portfolios and the liability of insurers for their products. Berry has been a key voice in the nationwide discussions about unit-linked insurance since the debate began in 2006. This discussion has led and still leads to a variety of claims from different consumer organisations and individual policy holders. She advises a vast number of insurers, including Nationale Nederlanden, in such matters. Berry advises on the development of new life and non-life insurance products as well as new distribution forms. She helps clients in their contacts with the main Dutch regulators, the Dutch Central Bank (DNB) and the Netherlands Authority for the Financial Markets (AFM), and assists them with the implementation of regulatory requirements in the Netherlands. Berry further advises on the regulatory component of M&A transactions in the insurance industry. Berry is a trusted adviser to the legal counsel and board members of several insurance companies. She is a daily board member of the Association for Insurance Sciences (Vereniging voor Verzekeringswetenschap) and member of the Advisory Committee on Insurance of the Dutch Bar Association (Orde van Advocaten). She is also a member of the Advisory Council of the Albert Schweitzer hospital and of the VNAB (Dutch Insurance Exchange Association). Berry is an editor of the journal 'Liability, Insurance and Damage' (Aansprakelijkheid, Verzekering & Schade), writes a regular column in de Beursbengel and publishes in other trade journals. She is a lecturer on the post-academic Financial Law programme at the Eggens Institute of the University of Amsterdam and the Co-Insurance course (Leergang Co-Assurantie) at Erasmus University.

Bram Caudri

Bram specialises in mergers and acquisitions (including corporate takeovers, joint ventures and other types of collaborations). His work focuses on M&A transactions with an international dimension. He represents both domestic and foreign private equity investors and strategic parties. Bram is a member of the International Bar Association and the International Association of Young Lawyers.

Chantal Presilli

Christiaan Zijderveld

He assists clients that face financial difficulties. He also assists creditors (e.g. financial institutions and hedge funds) with distressed investments. Christiaan has been involved in the insolvency matters of Lehman Brothers Treasury Co B.V., Lehman Brothers Securities N.V. (Curaçao) and DSB Bank. In recent years, much of Christiaan's work has focused on cases relating to the real estate sector, the retail sector, and the oil & gas/offshore sector. Recently Christiaan led the Houthoff team that advises on the cross border restructuring of Agrokor, an Eastern European agri/food group. Christiaan leads the team that advises the committee responsible for drafting the Uniform Recovery Framework, a compensation scheme that allows Dutch SME's to be compensated for Interest Rate Derivatives they bought from the six largest banks in the Netherlands.

David Heems

David has a broad dispute resolution practice with a focus on commercial, finance and insolvency litigation, including proceedings in relation to directors' liability and annual accounts proceedings. He is regularly involved in cross-border restructurings, such as the litigation concerning Dümmen Orange, Steinhoff, Royal IHC, Oi and OSX. David is the co-chair of the Reorganisation and Workouts Committee of the International Bar Association. He is the co-author of a leading commentary on articles concerning the actio pauliana. David has been a lecturer on insolvency law at the University of Amsterdam for over ten years. He is also a senior lecturer at the Law Firm School.

Dirk Knottenbelt

Dirk leads Houthoff’s arbitration team and specialises in complex corporate law and commercial arbitrations and litigation. The majority of this work focuses on arbitration and other dispute settlement procedures with an international dimension. His clients are mostly Dutch, US and other international companies. Dirk represents clients in national and international commercial and investment arbitrations, under the auspices of the ICC, NAI, ICSID and other institutional rules, such as GAFTA, NZV, AVZ and FENEX. Dirk also acts as an arbitrator in ad hoc and institutional arbitrations, and as a deputy justice at the Dutch courts of appeal.

Edward de Bock

Edward was appointed to Houthoff’s Board of Directors on 1 January 2016, and since 1 April 2017 has been managing partner. Edward specialises in employment law and pensions law, in particular in the employment law and pensions law aspects of mergers, acquisitions and joint ventures. He advises on and litigates matters relating to employee participation law, the law on individual and collective pensions, and employment law, including the law on individual and collective employment termination. Edward is one of the Netherlands’ leading specialists on executive remuneration and the dismissal of board members and directors. Edward is head of Houthoff’s Employment & Pensions Team. Edward is a member of the Amsterdam and Rotterdam Associations of Employment Lawyers and the International Pension and Employee Benefits Lawyers Association. He regularly publishes and teaches on employment and pensions law at different institutes, universities, and for the professional training programme of the Netherlands Bar Association.

Emma Schutte

Ester de Boer

Ester specialises in real estate transactions and tenancy law. She has extensive experience in handling complex tenancy law-related cases (particularly commercial tenancy law) and overseeing real estate transactions and turnkey redevelopments. Ester is a member of the Dutch Lawyer’s Association and the Dutch Association of Tenancy Law Lawyers, and regularly gives courses on tenancy law. She also regularly publishes on tenancy law.

Fleur Tuinzing-Westerhuis

Fleur Tuinzing-Westerhuis specialises in technology-related intellectual property matters, with a focus on patents and plant variety rights. In her daily practice, Fleur represents a wide variety of domestic and international companies that are active in technology-intensive business sectors, such as agrifood and biotech. Fleur is an experienced patent litigator and is one of only a handful of lawyers in the Netherlands with extensive experience in litigation relating to national and Community plant variety rights. Furthermore, Fleur assists clients in implementing customs seizure actions based on the EU Anti-Piracy Regulation. Over the past 10 years, Fleur has litigated in various cases before the Dutch courts, the Dutch Board of Plant Varieties and the Office for Harmonisation in the Internal Market. Fleur has extensive experience in drafting and advising on licence agreements, R&D agreements, manufacture and distribution agreements and advising on technology transfer and know-how protection. Furthermore, Fleur frequently assists in technology-related transactions and corporate restructuring. Fleur regularly lectures on the protection of innovations and enforcement of intellectual property rights. Fleur is a member of the Houthoff AgriFood Practice Group. Fleur is a member of the International Association for the Protection of Intellectual Property (AIPPI), the Licensing Executive Society (LES), CIOPORA (the International Community of Breeders of Asexually Reproduced Ornamental and Fruit Plants) and the Associazione Internazionale Giuristi di Lingua Italiana (AIGLI).

Frank Mattheijer

Frank specialises in corporate crime and export controls. His experience includes advising on and litigating fraud and corruption cases. Frank represents both potential suspects and victims. He also has experience conducting internal investigations and advising clients on compliance-related measures. Frank regularly publishes on subjects in his field.

Frauke van der Beek

Frauke specialises in insolvency law and restructuring. Her work involves the settlement of complex bankruptcies, including that of DSB Bank and Lehman Brothers Treasury. She is regularly engaged as a restructuring adviser by international and Dutch companies. Frauke also works in the civil law practice. She regularly represents financial institutions (including banks) and bankruptcy trustees. In this capacity, she assisted the bankruptcy trustees of Lehman Brothers Treasury in the offering of a composition plan to creditors and represented the now-defunct company in proceedings against two bondholders. Frauke regularly lectures and publishes on subjects related to insolvency law. She is a member of the Insolvency Law Advisory Committee of the Netherlands Bar Association, the Dutch Association of Insolvency Lawyers (INSOLAD) and INSOL Europe.

Frédéric Verhoeven

Frédéric specialises in cross-border insolvency law and restructuring. He advises clients involved in an array of insolvency situations (companies, creditors, investments institutions and directors). Frédéric is also regularly appointed as a bankruptcy trustee and administrator by the district courts. In recent years, he has been engaged as a lawyer or bankruptcy trustee in international restructurings and bankruptcies in the Netherlands, including Lehman Brothers, Oi, OSX / OGX, SwissAir, Van der Hoop Bankiers, Joh, Enschedé and DSB Bank. Frédéric is the head of Houthoff’s Restructuring & Insolvency practice group. Frédéric teaches and publishes on insolvency law, and is a board member of the Dutch Association of Insolvency Practitioners (INSOLAD). He is also a member of the specialists’ association INSOL Europe and the International Insolvency Institute.

Freeke Heijne

Greetje Van Heezik

Greetje specialises in EU law and competition law, including State aid and market and government regulations. She advises companies and public bodies on the State aid aspects of strategic projects and public-private partnerships. Greetje also advises companies on the compatibility of business practices and various types of collaboration with the competition rules and a very wide range of EU regulations on agrifood, including the common organisation of the agricultural markets, food law, biocides, pesticides, and with regard to other medicinal products, medical devices and hazardous substances (REACH). Greetje has specific expertise on the interaction between the rules for the common organisation of markets and competition. Greetje is also involved in several national and European proceedings on matters related to her areas of specialisation. She has particular experience litigating before the European Court of Justice and the General Court of the European Union. Greetje regularly publishes on subjects related to her areas of expertise and is a member of the Dutch Association for European Law, the Dutch Competition Law Association, the Dutch Food Law Association and the Dutch Agricultural Law Association. Before joining Houthoff, she worked at the Legal Service of the European Commission for 8 years and the Ministry of Agriculture, Nature and Food Quality.

Guillette van Grinsven

Herman Lohman

Herman is co-head of the Real Estate practice group. He advises mainly international institutional investors and funds as well as large Dutch project developers. Herman assists clients with a broad range of real estate transactions, including real estate M&A, financing, project development, and the real estate aspects of business transactions and restructuring. Herman also gives advice on setting up investment vehicles and joint ventures, with a special focus on the international market and the most challenging, complex and high-profile matters, such as transactions and projects involving multiple jurisdictions. Herman is a member of the Dutch Association of Real Estate Lawyers and the Dutch Commercial Law Association.

Huib Lebbing

Huib specialises in civil liability matters, mainly in the context of health and safety law. He litigates, advises, and conducts confidential internal investigations for clients in relation to compliance with health and safety regulations. Huib is an experienced litigator and acts as a defence counsel in complex, media-sensitive cases, particularly relating to health and safety claims. His work involves class actions, as well as product liability and compliance in the area of employer liability. Huib advises industry organisations and companies faced with the consequences of a large-scale accident or disaster. He has considerable experience with class actions involving exposure to hazardous substances in the workplace. Huib also acts for companies confronted with product defects and possible product recalls. His experience with authorities such as the Netherlands Food and Consumer Product Safety Authority, the SZW Inspectorate and the Dutch Safety Board is extremely valuable in this context.

Isabelle van den Nieuwendijk

Isabelle specialises in international arbitration and litigation. She represents both companies and govermental bodies in high-value matters involving a wide variety of disputes arising under international contracts. Isabelle has a profound knowledge of and experience in investment arbitrations and international commercial arbitrations under, inter alia, the ICC, NAI, LCIA and UNCITRAL rules. She is also regularly involved in arbitration associated court litigation, such as the enforcement and setting aside of arbitral awards. Isabelle regularly publishes on civil procedure law and arbitration law. She was also a member of the working group that was involved in the amendment of the Dutch Arbitration Act.

Jacques Kröner

Jacques is an expert when it comes to assisting clients through corporate transactions. He has extensive experience in drafting and negotiating corporate agreements, managing due diligence procedures and auction processes, and providing advice on corporate governance. Jacques’ clients include large companies, investors and government bodies - the last particularly in matters where company law and government bodies (in the capacity of active shareholder) meet. Jacques teaches regularly, including as a guest lecturer on the mergers and acquisitions module of the Erasmus University Rotterdam and at Leiden University.

Jan Veeningen

Jan specialises in corporate finance, structured finance and real estate financing, with a particular focus on investment and construction financing. Before joining Houthoff in 2008, Jan worked for an international merchant bank for nine years, where he gained valuable knowledge and understanding of modern financial engineering.

Jan Cees Kuiken

Jan Cees specialises in real estate transactions, city centre redevelopment and turnkey projects. He also an expert in real estate-related company law, including the acquisition of real estate companies, the creation of CV/BV structures and other real estate-related collaborations. His clients are mainly national, international and institutional investors and developers, to whom he provides not only legal but also strategic advice.

Jan Willem de Groot

Jan Willem specialises in corporate and commercial litigation, with a focus on acquisition disputes, shareholder disputes, inquiry proceedings at the Enterprise Chamber and liability proceedings. He is a litigator and advises companies and national and international investment companies in complex proceedings often involving multiple jurisdictions. Jan Willem, among other things, led the team in the Elliott/AkzoNobel case. He is a lecturer at the Law Firm School, and a member of the Dutch Corporate Litigation Association and the Dutch Association for Procedural Law. Jan Willem also frequently publishes and speaks on topics related to corporate litigation.

Jeroen van Mourik

Jeroen leads Houthoff's Tax practice. He specialises in the application of tax treaties and BEPS. He is experienced in negotiating Advance Tax Rulings with the Dutch tax authorities. He advises private equity clients and financial institutions, as well as clients in the automotive, TMT and consumer products industries. Jeroen has more than 15 years of experience advising multinational clients (mainly Asian and US) on the Dutch corporate and international tax aspects of cross-border investments, reorganisations and mergers and acquisitions.

Jeroen Vossenberg

Jeroen specialises in banking and securities law, and in particular in acquisition financing, real estate financing, project financing, syndicated and bilateral loans, and structured loans. He advises clients on drafting and negotiating financing documents in distressed and non-distressed situations. Jeroen teaches on financing both within the company and at external institutes.

Jessica Terpstra

Jessica works at both the London and Amsterdam offices and specialises in international financial transactions, particularly in relation to project and real estate financing. She also advises clients on banking and securities law, in particular with regard to financial regulation. Jessica is a member of the International Bar Association and the Dutch Association for Securities Law.

Jet Stolk

Jetty Tukker

Juan Vervuurt

Juan is Counsel, specialising in Dutch and EU financial regulatory law. He has extensive experience in communicating with national and international financial supervisors, including the Dutch Authority for the Financial Markets (Autoriteit Financiële Markten (AFM)), the Dutch Central Bank (De Nederlandsche Bank (DNB)), the EU Single Resolution Board (SRB) and the European Central Bank (ECB). He advises financial companies, their shareholders and other stakeholders regarding market access, cross border services and licensing requirements, rules of conduct including advertising and product conditions, regulations related to crypto assets and compliance with anti-money laundering regulations. Juan was Senior Legal Counsel Regulatory at ABN AMRO Bank N.V. between 2015 and 2022, where he gained extensive experience in digitalising banking services, innovation and fintech. He also gained profound knowledge of the EU bank recovery and resolution regulations during this period. Before that, Juan was a financial regulatory law lawyer for more than ten years.

Jurre Reus

Kirsten Berger

Kirsten specialises in energy law and has extensive experience in the energy and industrial sector. She acts as counsel to various energy companies and industrial companies in respect of projects, transactions, commercial contracts, joint ventures, regulatory and financial matters. As a true sector specialist she has an extensive track record in respect of: projects and project development including wind parks (onshore and offshore), power plants, gas exploration and production and industrial plants (e.g. steam or hydrogen plants, LNG terminals, pipelines etc.); M&A transactions including controlled auctions for wind parks, interests in offshore gas fields and pipelines, industrial restructurings and private M&A transactions in the sector; commercial contracting including power purchase agreements (including corporate PPA's), (industrial) gas supply agreements (including natural gas, steam, hydrogen, nitrogen etc.), transport and storage agreements, tolling agreements and refinery gas agreements utilities agreements (including water and heat); joint ventures in relation to wind parks, power plants, upstream gas projects and for innovative projects such as a waste to chemicals project; regulatory matters including connection and transportation issues, third party access, gas quality matters, program responsibility and balancing, CO2 emissions trading, SDE subsidy aspects and EU Energy Regulations; real estate aspects including pipeline issues and lease and ownership aspects.

Kyoko Tollenaar

Kyoko specialises in corporate law, national and international mergers and acquisitions, joint ventures and restructurings. She is also an expert on corporate governance. She advises both national and international listed and non-listed companies on finding creative and practical legal solutions. As a member of Houthoff’s Equity Capital Markets team she has recently worked on the IPOs of DP Eurasia , Koninklijke VolkerWessels and Digi Communications and the preparations of the IPO of TMF Group. She also regularly assists public companies, including Kardan and Sligro Food Group, with respect to their annual general meetings and corporate governance.

Lisanne Haarman

Loet Venrooy

Loet is head of Houthoff’s Banking & Finance practice group and of the Financial Services section and he has a particular focus on cross-border banking and financing transactions, and financial restructuring. He has extensive experience in advising clients and with transactions in the financial sector, including in relation to acquisition financing, real estate financing, syndicated and bilateral loans, debt restructuring, and structured and asset-based financing. His clients include financial institutions, private equity parties and other funds and companies. Loet regularly lectures on banking and securities law.

Lucas Louwerier

Lucas specialises in notarial real estate law. His clients include institutional investors, private equity investors, pension funds and project developers, which he assists with matters such as commercial real estate transactions, project development, real estate financing and real estate-related contracts. Lucas is a member of the Royal Dutch Association of Civil-law Notaries, the Master of Real Estate (MRE) Alumni Society, and the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (the international network for real estate professionals). Lucas is a member of Houthoff's Executive Committee.

Marc Van Beuge

Marianne Bloos

Marjolein Heuten

Marloes Brans

Marloes specialises in environmental law and spatial planning law. She advises and litigates for the industry, project developers, investors and government bodies, and has extensive experience in liaising with the authorities (environmental permission authorities, the SZW inspectorate, and the Human Environment and Transport Inspectorate). Marloes is also regularly involved in due diligence and contract negotiations in M&A and transactions.

Marry de Gaay Fortman

Marry is a lawyer corporate governance and an expert in the field of governance and regulation. She is involved in research and regulatory matters and specialises in public economic law and corporate governance for large companies and public and semi-public institutions. She is also considered a trusted boardroom advisor, focusing on the governance dynamics between executive boards and supervisory boards, shareholders, and other stakeholders. Marry is a member of a multidisciplinary team that works at the intersection of corporate governance, regulatory and corporate litigation and that carries out governance stress tests that lead to recommendations for the improvement and strengthening of the governance within companies. Read more about the governance stress test. Marry combines her legal work with non-executive director roles, including as a supervisory director for De Nederlandsche Bank. Marry is also chair of theatre production company Internationaal Theater Amsterdam, International Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam and board member of the Dutch Lawyer’s Association and has previously served as a member of the supervisory board director for KLM, Royal HaskoningDHV, GVB Amsterdam and the health insurer VGZ. Marry also lectures on boardroom dynamics at the Governance University, is co-author of a chapter on the Dutch manual Handboek Corporate Governance. She also organises round table meetings for supervisory directors. Marry is a member of Houthoff’s Diversity & Inclusion Committee.

Marthe Bollen

Michel Klijn

Michel’s work focuses on projects, PPS, construction and procurement law, and public transport. He is actively involved in complex building projects and an array of contract types, including D&C, DBM, DBFM, DBFMO, concessions and alliances. Michel advises a wide range of clients in the construction, infrastructure, transport and energy sectors, on matters such as contracting, innovative procurement procedures, negotiations and litigation. Michel is also a civil engineer, and, prior to joining Houthoff, he worked at a large Dutch construction company for several years. He also teaches at the Dutch Institute for Construction Law and regularly publishes on forms of collaboration in the construction industry, and procurement law.

Michiel Pannekoek

Michiel specialises in mergers and acquisitions, and private equity. He has a particular focus on advising in the context of international acquisitions, management buy-outs and joint ventures. Michiel is one of the most prominent corporate and private equity lawyers in the Netherlands. He represents both listed and unlisted companies, and venture capital firms in an array of Dutch and cross-border transactions, transactions with restructuring elements, and large-scale projects. Michiel served on Houthoff's Executive Committee until 2018. Between 2010 and 2014, he headed the Corporate/M&A Team. Michiel is currently responsible for the international strategy and activities of the firm. He is also a board member of Lex Mundi, the world’s largest and most prestigious network of independent law firms. Houthoff is the Netherlands only member of this leading professional services network.

Monica Sonderegger

Monica specialises in advising on and litigating matters concerning general administrative law, procedural administrative law, and spatial planning and zoning law. She has experience with different facets of administrative law. Before joining Houthoff, she worked at the Legal Service of the Netherlands Competition Authority (which on 1 April 2013 joined forces with other authorities to form the Netherlands Authority for Consumers and Markets).

Murat Duman

Murat specialises in competition law. He focuses on mergers and acquisitions, intercompany agreements, abuse of dominance and abuse of significant market power. He is mainly involved in merger notifications at regulators such as the Dutch competition authority ACM, the Dutch Healthcare Authority NZa and the European Commission, as well as investigations by these bodies into violations of laws and regulations such as the cartel prohibition. Murat has considerable experience in healthcare and the application of competition law in this sector. He regularly advises on strategic partnerships between healthcare providers, and assists such parties with informal proceedings before the regulators.

Nathalie Amiel

Oscar van Angeren

Oscar heads Houthoff's Investment Management practice group and works at both the Amsterdam office and the London office. His work focuses mainly on the establishment of investment institutions, including private equity funds, hedge funds, real estate funds, retail funds (UCITS and non-UCITS) and funds of funds. Oscar also advises asset managers, pension funds and other institutional investors on matters such as discretionary and fiduciary/integrated asset management, asset pooling, and the laws and regulations that apply to collective and other forms of asset management. He frequently publishes and teaches on various subjects related to asset management and custody.

Paul Sluijter

Paul specialises in corporate, commercial and private international law. His focus lies on complex cross-border disputes, including competition law follow-on litigation, international mass claims, and proceedings concerning shareholder liability. His challenges lie in determining an international strategy in matters where several possible courts may have jurisdiction and foreign parallel proceedings are sometimes already pending. In this context, he advises on motions contesting jurisdiction, cross-border discovery, attachment, and the recognition and enforcement of foreign judgments. He also focuses on the question of which law applies to bundles of claims or contracts, particularly where strategic possibilities exist on the boundaries of procedural law and substantive law, and on the boundaries of company law and civil law. Paul is a member of the Dutch Association for Procedural Law and involved in the Houthoff Incubator Programme, a project that offers promising start-ups reduced-rate legal advice. He has provided private international law courses for the judiciary, and publishes on civil procedural law and private international law. Between 2007 and 2011, Paul conducted Ph.D. research as well as various other research and teaching assignments at Tilburg University, to which he is now affiliated as a research fellow.

Paul de Vries

Paul specialises in mergers and acquisitions, and other strategic corporate transactions. He has extensive experience in advising on joint ventures and corporate structures, corporate governance and cross-border reorganisations. His expertise extends to shareholder agreements, shareholder disputes, and the exit of shareholders. He advises large, mainly international companies, private equity parties and financial institutions. Paul regularly publishes and lectures on company law and corporate governance, including at the University of Groningen, the Grotius Academy and for the Professional Training Course for Civil-law Notaries. He is member of the editorial board of Sdu Comments on company law. Paul is a member of the Dutch Commercial Law Association, the Dutch Corporate Litigation Association, the International Bar Association and the Royal Dutch Association of Civil-law Notaries. Paul worked at Houthoff’s office in New York in 2015.

Philip van der Eijk

Philip specialises in national and cross-border M&A transactions. He advises corporates as well as private equity funds. He has extensive experience assisting in complex disentanglement transactions. Philip previously worked at Houthoff's Brussels office in the EU & Competition practice group and brings a thorough understanding of M&A related regulatory aspects to the table. From 2018 to 2019, Philip was seconded to Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison in New York. He was a nominee for the Dutch M&A Awards 2017 organised by Alex van Groningen, a leading M&A community in the Netherlands.

Philippe Stille

Philippe specialises in notarial company law which involves restructuring (of both for-profit and non-profit organisations), mergers and acquisitions, joint ventures, and venture capital and financing. He is also involved in the creation of security, in particular pledges on shares in public and private limited liability companies, memberships of cooperatives, and partnerships. After completing his studies in notarial law (real estate law, family law and the law of legal entities), Philippe joined Houthoff’s corporate law team in Amsterdam in 1999. In June 2001, he completed the professional training course for civil-law notaries. Philippe is a company law lecturer at the Legal Academy (Juridische Academie).

Philippe König

Philippe specialises in cross-border and Dutch company law, mergers and acquisitions, and financing. He advises on the establishment of national and international joint ventures, and has a special focus on transactions at the interface between company law, financing and tax law. Examples include participation schemes, and special projects: one-off projects that combine these aspects with creativity. He also focuses on public-private partnerships, investment funds and restructurings. Philippe finds creative solutions for projects involving ostensibly opposing points of departure. He lectures and is an adviser and coach for capital-intensive start-ups.

Remme Verkerk

Richard Witvliet

Rick Cornelissen

Rick specialises in competition litigation (private enforcement) with a specific focus on follow-on cartel damages claims. He also advises on and litigates contractual and other competition law disputes in civil proceedings, including disputes on access to distribution networks and the performance and termination of contracts. In what are often complex cartel damages claims, Rick helps clients determine the right strategy. This frequently involves a combination of cross-border claims. He uses his legal and practical skills and expertise to create an overview for the client by fulfilling a coordinating role at the required central or pan-European level. Rick also has extensive experience in advising on, negotiating and litigating many aspects relating to commercial contracts, particularly with regard to distribution, franchise, agency and e-commerce (with a focus on automotive and other high-end consumer goods).

Sander van den Boogaart

Sander specialises in projects and project financing, public-private collaboration, construction law and procurement law. He has extensive experience in drafting and evaluating complex construction contracts (including D&C, DBM, DBFM, DBFM(O) and project alliances) and advising on construction-related matters. Sander assists a broad array of clients in the construction, infrastructure, transport and energy sectors.

Sylvia Dikmans

Sylvia specialises in corporate tax and dividend tax, and in particular in relation to international structuring, private equity, fund structuring, mergers and acquisitions, with a focus on both Dutch and Luxembourg tax law and real estate. She gives tax advice to Dutch companies that operate internationally. Sylvia is a member of the supervisory board of the Dutch Association of Tax Advisers, the International Fiscal Association and the International Bar Association.

Thijs van Aerde

Thijs specialises in Supreme Court litigation, as well as representing clients before the European Court of Justice and the lower Dutch courts. Since Thijs joined Houthoff in 2006, he has litigated more than 100 cases before the Dutch Supreme Court and many cases before the lower Dutch courts. Thijs focuses on issues related to intellectual property law, contract law, tort law, and procedural law matters.

Thomas de Weerd

Thomas specialises in IT, privacy, outsourcing and intellectual property. His daily work involves advising a wide range of national and international clients on IT, privacy and intellectual property matters, technology-related transactions, outsourcing transactions, and technology contracts. He has experience as an in-house counsel for technology and internet companies. Thomas is a board member of the Netherlands Association for Information Technology and Law and the Dutch Privacy Law Association and a member of INTA and the Licensing Executives Society (LES).

Thomas Stouten

Thomas specialises in both (cross-border) court litigation as well as arbitration under the auspices of - inter alia - the ICC, DIAC, UNUM, UNCITRAL, ICSID and NAI. He has extensive experience in complex disputes, often with multi-jurisdictional aspects, covering a broad range of issues arising from both commercial and corporate transactions. Because of his international law practice, Thomas also worked in both the New York and London offices of Houthoff from where he coordinated multi-jurisdictional disputes. He coaches the team of Leiden University that participates in the Willem C. Vis International Commercial Arbitration Moot Court Competition and he acts as an arbitrator during this competition. Thomas also has acted as secretary in arbitrations in the past. He gives lectures regarding arbitration and frequently speaks at conferences. Thomas publishes in the Dutch Journal on Arbitration, the Dutch Journal on Property Law, Arbitration World (5th and 6th edition) and recently in the Dispute Resolution Journal of the ABA and also the Handbook on Third-Party Funding in International Arbitration.

Tom Hendriks

Tom is a lawyer in the Dispute Resolution, Investigations & Public Enforcement, and Public Law practice groups. He is a member of the Amsterdam Young Bar Association.

Vincent Affourtit

Vincent is head of Houthoff’s Investigations & Public Enforcement practice. He specialises in financial and economic public law. Vincent assists clients that are the subject of regulatory investigation, supervision and enforcement, or that have brought proceedings in relation to such matters, by swiftly and efficiently finding a solution for the problems identified during the investigation. Preventing or limiting reputational damage is an essential part of his work, as are ensuring a good relationship with the key stakeholders and providing effective and efficient assistance in the event of litigation.

Walter van Overbeek

Walter has a general commercial practice and specialises in contract law, litigation and competition law. He advises on and litigates matters concerning production, distribution and agency, and regularly assists producers, importers and retailers in disputes with other parties in the chain. He was a managing partner at Houthoff Buruma between 2012 and 2015. Walter also leads the Automotive Industry Group, representing mainly manufacturers and importers of luxury consumer products. Walter has successfully assisted several distribution network restructurings. He is regularly asked by manufacturers to coordinate large projects in different countries. Walter has been involved as counsel in many important legal disputes related to his area of practice. He also litigates with some regularity against non-authorised internet dealers of products - including cars, bicycles, electronics and cosmetics that are marketed within the EU via selective distribution systems - and is highly experienced in advising on omni-channel retaining in, among other things, the food and drinks industry. Walter is a guest lecturer in commercial contracts on the 'Zuidas Master' at the Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, and also the author of various publications. He has been a speaker at several conferences, including the annual conference on competition law in the automotive industry. He worked in EU competition law in Brussels for five years.

Weyer VerLoren van Themaat

Weyer specialises in competition law and leads Houthoff’s Competition practice group. He is also head of Houthoff’s Healthcare sector group. Weyer focuses in particular on merger notifications and cartel defence litigation. His work involves issues relating to regulation and competition in healthcare, and advising and assisting healthcare institutions in the context of partnerships. Weyer represented T-Mobile Nederland in the ‘mobile operators case’ brought by the Netherlands Competition Authority, which eventually resulted in the seminal ‘T-Mobile case’ at the European Court of Justice on the definitions of object and effect in the context of internal market restriction. He also represented Accell Groep, the second largest bicycle manufacturer in Europe, in an appeal against a decision of the Netherlands Competition Authority regarding alleged mutually agreed concerted practices in the form of information exchange. In relation to merger control, he was involved in the EU notification of TomTom’s takeover of TeleAtlas. In relation to healthcare, he assisted the mergers of the ErasmusMC and Havenziekenhuis, the St. Elisabeth Hospital and TweeSteden Hospital, the Kennemer Gasthuis and Spaarne Hospital, and the AMC and VUmc. Weyer was a resident partner of the Brussels office from 1997 to 2005. He is a member of the International Bar Association, the ABA, the Dutch Competition Law Association and the Dutch Association for European Law. He is also Chair-Emeritus of Lex Mundi's Antitrust, Competition and Trade group; non-governmental advisor of the Dutch Authority for Consumers and Markets; and chair of the advisory committee of the Netherlands Bar Association. Weyer is the founder and a board member of the competition law foundation Stichting Ontwikkelingen Mededingingsrecht, and has authored and co-authored various books on competition law, including European Competition Law (Edward Elgar) and Nederlands Mededingingsrecht (Kluwer).

Willem de Nijs Bik

Willem specialises in company law, corporate governance, and strategic and cross-border mergers and acquisitions between strategic companies, often in the financial and energy sectors. He advises both listed and non-listed companies, financial institutions and government bodies on a broad range of company law matters. He has experience resolving complex situations for directors and supervisory directors, and with hostile takeovers and companies in difficulty. Willem is a lecturer at the Law Firm School and regularly publishes on subjects in his field. He also has a book on corporate governance and the Dutch two-tier board system to his name.

Willem Liedenbaum

Willem works in the Corporate/M&A practice group and has extensive experience with complex cross-border mergers, acquisitions and capital markets transactions. He also regularly advises on corporate governance, joint ventures, securities regulatory compliance and general cross-border matters. Willem has co-authored articles published in The International Comparative Legal Guide to Mergers & Acquisitions, Global Legal Insights: Mergers & Acquisitions and SDU Commentaar Ondernemingsrecht (a leading commentary reference work on Dutch corporate law). Willem graduated from Radboud University Nijmegen with a degree in law in 2012. That same year, he joined Houthoff and was admitted to the Amsterdam Bar. In 2017, Willem worked as a legal counsel in Rabobank's Capital Markets and M&A department.

Wouter Ekkelkamp

Wouter works in the Real Estate practice group and specialises in real estate transactions and financing. Wouter has extensive experience working with international clients. Wouter is part of Houthoff’s blockchain team. He is a member of several professional organisations that focus on real estate and its financing.

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