De Clercq Advocaten Notariaat

Employment, Employee Participation & Mediation

Partner, Attorney at law & Mediator

Ernst is recognised as an experienced consultant/mediator specialising in assisting directors and works councils of large international corporations, as well as many non-profit organisations such as orchestras, museums and provincial authorities. As a former musician himself (trumpet player), he provides advice to many in the arts. He is also a mediator to medical partnerships of professionals, based on his previous role as a dean. Ernst is regularly sought out as a business mediator and arbitrator through parties such as the Netherlands Arbitration Institute (Nederlands Arbitrage Instituut).

In 1983, Ernst became an attorney alongside the eponymous Paul de Clercq, with whom he went on to form the partnership De Clercq and Van Win Lawyers in 1987. He became a registered and certified business mediator in 1996. Ernst was one of the initiators of the Grotius Employment Law specialist course and has lectured in this, as well as in rules of conduct at the Professional Law School. He joined the Supervisory Council in The Hague in 2006, in the role of ‘Leids Deken’ (Dean of Leiden). In 2009, he was elected as ‘Haags Deken’ (Dean of The Hague) and held this supervisory and administrative position until 2012. He has been a member of the Lawyers’ Conduct Review Committee, and performs various administrative and supervisory roles in the art, museum and healthcare sectors.

Ernst handles matters and disputes on behalf of directors and supervisors, and provides boardroom advice on complex organisational changes. He deals with conflicts in partnerships and in behavioural and disciplinary law, and with employment and employment participation law matters, including in the art world. Ernst provides advice relating to Codes of Conduct and ethical issues.

After completing his school education at the Stedelijk Gymnasium Leiden, Ernst studied Civil Law at Leiden University and classical trumpet with the principal teacher of trumpet at The Hague Conservatory.