About
The firm: Our firm has been active in China under the leadership of Jan Holthuis since 1995. In 2004 we were the first Dutch law firm to establish a fully licensed foreign law office in China with the approval of the Chinese Ministry of Justice. Holthuis International Lawyers & Advisers (HIL) and Buren merged in October 2016. Now that the integration is completed, BUREN has over 120 employees, consisting of approximately 75 lawyers, civil-law notaries and tax advisors supported by paralegals and other staff. The firm has the largest China-focused law practice in The Netherlands.
The firm’s office locations are Amsterdam, Beijing, The Hague, Luxembourg and Shanghai. The BUREN China Practice Group is managed by Jan Holthuis in China, and by Steven van der Waal in the Netherlands.
Today BUREN’s China practice is spread over three offices comprising of integrated teams of in total 15 fully licensed Chinese lawyers and foreign lawyers. Our main practice areas are corporate and commercial, agro- and food, insurance, technology transfer, litigation and arbitration.
Areas of practice: BUREN has a long established corporate and commercial practice in China. We assist in foreign direct investment by way of greenfield operations, acquisition of equity stakes in Chinese companies and the set-up of joint ventures. In addition, we advise on a wide range of agreements on, among others, distribution, agency, technology- and trademark licensing. Lately, e-commerce and IP protection have become a substantial part of our advisory.
The agro- and food law expertise has organically developed from the earliest stages of our firm’s activities in China. Dutch companies are known for their high quality agricultural products, and innovative and efficient production methods. BUREN has supported many Dutch agro- and food companies in China. Furthermore, Jan Holthuis is chair of the Agricultural Workgroup of the IBA, which was founded upon his initiative in 2015. Jan Holthuis, together with colleague Li Jiao, also teaches a masters course in Chinese agriculture law at Wageningen University every year.
BUREN has an exclusive partnership with Deken PRC litigators. Deken litigators exclusively handle all litigation cases for BUREN clients in China and is fully independent from local interests while adhering to the highest professional rules of conduct. Deken lawyers handle commercial, corporate, IP, insurance (product liability) and employment cases in Chinese courts. In June 2018, BUREN’s China Practice was invited to join the Global Insurance Law Connect network, which is a formal alliance of specialized insurance law firms. GILC assists large insurers to handle insurance legal challenges around the globe.
With particular strength in international related disputes and cross-border transactions, BUREN handles high-stake arbitration cases before, among others, the Singapore International Arbitration Centre, China International Economic and Trade Arbitration Commission (CIETAC), the International Court of Arbitration (Switzerland), Shanghai International Arbitration Center (SHAIC) and the Netherlands Arbitration Institute (NAI). Jan Holthuis is a registered arbitrator at CIETAC and SHAIC.
Beijing: As China’s economic development is strongly government led and Beijing presents China’s political center our office here opens up possibilities for our clients. With detailed insight in the Chinese policies and laws, we keep our clients up to date and help them anticipate on trends and regulatory in the world’s largest and most dynamic market.
We have been active in China since 1995 and opened a rep office in Beijing in 2009 to follow new policy trends and regulations and continuously update our knowledge on a day-to-day basis. Our office consists of a diverse team of specialists servicing multinational corporations across all sectors.