Europe - Netherlands

Pels Rijcken & Droogleever Fortuijn NV

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Pels Rijcken & Droogleever Fortuijn NV is unique within the Dutch landscape for representing the State of the Netherlands and other public authorities as well as multinational and international private companies in complex class actions and mass claims. The firm acts mainly as defence counsel for major class actions and is known for its Supreme Court litigation prowess. The team has actively been involved with class actions related to the alleged trucks cartel as well as follow-on proceedings and other cartel damage claims. Willem Heemskerk and Raimond Dufour co-lead the practice from The Hague. Heemskerk is well-known for his specialism in complex class action and group cation disputes, leading on cartel damage claims and follow-on group actions. Dufour focuses on international class actions and mass claims, assisting with the ‘Dieselgate’ class action.

Legal 500 Editorial commentary

Testimonials

Collated independently by Legal 500 research team.

  • ‘Great litigation practice. Great lawyers with the capability to discern what is of relevance in the specific case. ’

  • ‘Willem Heemskerk and Raimond Dufour are excellent lawyers who always look for a pragmatic approach and solution in the best interest of their client. They understand the needs of the client and "live and breath" litigation. ’

  • ‘Pels Rijcken is the best of the overseas firms I instruct - they provide clear, well-thought-through advice, are very strong on strategy and the team is a pleasure to work with. ’

  • ‘Willem Heemskerk is an impressive senior leader - he exudes a calm image but knows when to fight. Raimond Dufour is impressively across every detail of a matter - he is thorough, considerate and very bright. ’

Key clients

  • Royal Dutch Shell
  • Mercedes-Benz Group AG
  • ArcelorMittal
  • Porsche AG
  • BNP Paribas
  • Scandinavian Airlines
  • Nationale-Nederlanden
  • UBS

Work highlights

  • Representing both UBS AG and UBS Securities Japan Co. Ltd. defendants in a major class action following regulatory findings in, among others, the US and the UK in the ‘LIBOR fraud case’.
  • Representing Mercedes-Benz in more than 60 different cartel follow-on group proceedings, mostly initiated by claim vehicles with a constituency of thousands of truck owners, relating to the alleged Truck cartel.
  • Assisted the Dutch State with Supreme Court proceedings (a group action) relating to the expropriation of SNS Bank, after a judgment of the Enterprise Division of the Amsterdam Court of Appeal in which a compensation of more than EUR 1 billion was granted.

Lawyers

Leading Individuals

Willem Heemskerk

Willem Heemskerk

Hall of famePels Rijcken & Droogleever Fortuijn NV

Willem Heemskerk has been with Pels Rijcken since 1992 and is one of the most experienced litigators in the Netherlands. He handles complex civil law disputes for mainly large national and international companies. His areas of expertise include liability, damage & insurance, professional liability, attachment, collection and enforcement, and media law. Willem acts as counsel both in adjudication as well as arbitral proceedings. He is regarded as a leading expert in Dutch civil procedural law; he has many publications to his name, was the Vice President of the Dutch State Advisory Committee on procedural law, and regularly serves as expert in foreign proceedings. For many years, Willem is ranked in Band 1 for Dispute Resolution in the Chambers Global and Europe Guide and in the Hall of Fame for Dispute Resolution: Commercial Litigation in The Legal 500 Guide. In late 2018, Willem was recognised as the “Best Litigator in the Netherlands” in an election organised by the VIA.

Next Generation Partners

Practice head

The lawyer(s) leading their teams.

Willem Heemskerk, Raimond Dufour