De Clercq Advocaten Notariaat

Employment, Employee Participation & Mediation

Partner

Henriëtte is a creative, dedicated and expert professional. In her work as an attorney and mediator, her client’s interests are always her top priority. Henriëtte advises a wide variety of clients, from museums, universities and school communities, to public and private limited companies, large SMEs, healthcare institutions and charitable foundations. She also assists individuals holding the position of DGA (director and principal shareholder), CEO, director or manager. Broadly speaking, her advice concerns employment law and cooperation, and includes matters such as drafting employment contracts, internal codes of conduct and other rules and protocols, dismissal law in relation to both individuals and collectively, and summary dismissal, incapacity for work, and unsatisfactory performance, including unacceptable behaviour and employment participation.

Henriëtte commenced her law career as a broad legal practitioner, only later coming to focus on employment law. She subsequently added a mediation practice, specialising in employment matters and cooperation problems within partnerships, management boards and works councils. She approaches her work with a great deal of enjoyment and enthusiasm that she communicates to her clients, and solutions are often quickly found.

Together with Renate Vink-Dijkstra, Henriëtte also thoroughly enjoys leading her team of outstanding and committed professionals. There are few things she is so passionate about as passing on her legal and solution-oriented experience to others.

Her numerous ancillary activities demonstrate her broad view of the profession and a similarly broad interest in the people and world around her, particularly with respect to diversity, equity and inclusion. Another priority for Henriëtte is a sustainable society. With this in mind, she has served as Chair of the SPARK Leiden Foundation – promoting enterprise with impact – and has been Chair of the municipality of Leiden’s Circular Value Committee (Commissie Circulair Verwaarden), allocating grants for the best circular and innovative initiatives aimed at preventing or re-using waste.

Henriëtte’s involvement in her ancillary activities has not gone unnoticed. In 2018, Into Business magazine named her Leiden’s Most Powerful. Since 2022, Henriëtte has also been listed among the Top 50 women in Leiden who have had an impact in a variety of ways.

After obtaining two degrees from Leiden University in 1989, Henriëtte started her career as the first female attorney at De Clercq. Ten years later she became one of the firm’s partners. Henriëtte went on to take NMI-accredited mediator training in both 2002 and 2012. She has been registered as a mediator with the Netherlands Federation of Mediators (Mediatorsfederatie Nederland, MfN) since 2014. In order to competently perform her supervisory role, Henriëtte successfully completed the Supervisory Board Cycle at Nyenrode in 2013. In 2021, she also successfully completed training in solution-focused coaching.