Employment

BarentsKrans

BarentsKrans‘ litigation-focused employment practice routinely represents clients before the courts of appeal and the Supreme Court, and is often sought out by clients seeking to reverse decisions made by the lower courts. Key issues addressed by the practice include TUPE disputes, collective employment matters, and disputes involving non-standard workers. Litigation specialist Max Keulaerds, who stands out for his prowess in appeals cases, co-leads the team with Laurens de Graaf, who is also an expert in litigation and handles cases related to complex reorganisations, collective dismissals, and integration processes. Supreme Court litigator Frank Dekker is also noted for his expertise in high-level employment cases.

Legal 500 Editorial commentary

Testimonials

Collated independently by Legal 500 research team.

‘Max Keulaerds' team is a top team. Legal opinions are always of good quality and very useful in practice. Furthermore, every sub-specialism of employment law is available in the team.’
‘Max Keulaerds is always involved in our cases. That is very pleasant as there are many law firms where the involvement of the partner is no longer the practice. Max is very experienced, is analytically strong, can explain something clearly, is very reliable, always does what we have agreed upon, is charming and feels like a fish in water in the courtroom.’
‘Very professional in terms of their legal expertise, with a high level of knowledge and fast responses. They not only provide a very high quality of legal advice on regular topics, but often come up with solutions within the legal frameworks that are immediate applicable in practice. To me, BarentsKrans is one of the best law firms in the Netherlands.’
‘Laurens de Graaf is exceptional. He is an excellent communicator and the kind of lawyer I know I could put in front of anyone in the business - from junior HR to CEO. He is very impressive in litigation especially. I would not use another employment lawyer in the Netherlands.’
‘The whole team is easily reachable - you have one or two main contact persons, the work is delegated seamlessly, and the quality is always great. They manage to handle complex matters in a practical, sensitive and quick way.'
‘Laurens de Graaf is by far my preferred lawyer. He is very service oriented and quick in his replies, and he is always straight to the point in even the most complex matters. He always thinks proactively of other points you need to check, for example consultation with the works councils or the supervisory board, and comes up with pragmatic solutions. He speaks English as though it is his mother tongue, which is very helpful with our English shareholders.’
‘It's good to have a trusted partner who knows and understands the client's reality and company culture. A strong team with different expertise and skills and good availability for urgent matters.’
‘The team of employment lawyers are real subject matter experts, with relevant experience in international establishments. Their approach to legal services is accurate and personal. Trusting relationships have been built during the time we have worked together. Excellent service and response times.’

Key clients

Deliveroo
ABN AMRO Bank
Ryanair
Selecta
Canon Production Printing
SBM Offshore
Saudi Aramco
BASF Vegetable Seeds (Nunhems)
HES International
McDermott
TAQA Energy
VDL Nedcar
Technip Energies
Syngenta
IQ-EQ

Work highlights

Represented Deliveroo in a series of lawsuits, at both lower and Supreme Court level, in relation to rider status, the applicability of collective labour agreements, back-pay and the right to work.
Advising VDL Nedcar on works council discussions, as a result of VDL Nedcar’s intention to dismiss 1,800 staff.
Represented Carlos Ghosn before the Amsterdam Court of Appeal in a multimillion-euro pay dispute with Nissan-Mitsubishi.