De Brauw Blackstone Westbroek’s Post

After a tenure of 37 years, Martin van Olffen retired from active practice at De Brauw on 31 May 2024, concluding a long and successful career in both private practice and academia. Martin began his career with our firm in 1987 and became a civil-law notary in 1994. He is acclaimed in the Netherlands for his expertise in corporate law, mergers and acquisitions, and corporate governance, serving as a trusted advisor to many listed companies. In addition to his practice at De Brauw, Martin has been a professor of law at the University of Nijmegen since 1999, a role he will continue. As the author and co-author of numerous books and publications on corporate law, Martin is considered a leading scholar in his field. Martin has been instrumental in the development of the corporate practice at De Brauw and has played a major role in shaping our integrated corporate (notarial) practice. He has also been pivotal in mentoring and educating the next generation of (candidate) civil-law notaries and lawyers, both within and outside our firm. We thank Martin for his wisdom, dedication, and friendship.

We have appointed two new counsel. Else Rowel in our Financial Markets and Regulation practice, and Zeynep Ortac in our Competition practice. They will take up their new positions per 1 June 2024. Dennis Horeman: "The appointments of Else and Zeynep further strengthen our practice in financial markets regulation and competition law. Both lawyers have built an excellent track record over the years, advising clients on matters that greatly impact their businesses. We look forward to continue working together with Else and Zeynep in their new roles."  

Our firm won Chambers' Europe award for "Pro Bono: Outstanding Firm" during last night's ceremony in Paris. This European recognition is an accolade of the assistance our colleagues offer clients whose access to the legal system would otherwise be limited. Lawyers throughout our firm work on pro bono matters, yet Machteld de Monchy, Marjolein Portman, Simone Kooij and Rachel Pouwer developed our pro bono practice into what it is today: an integral part of our offering. Our lawyers work pro bono on legal issues that address fundamental questions of law and often are highly complex. Last year, 211 of our lawyers spent approximately 8500 hours on 75 pro bono matters. Moreover, our thanks go out to our pro bono partners: NGOs, various firms, network organisations and interest groups that equally help support our clients and make sure the rule of law is available to them. Working together with this wide array of experts, driven professionals and lawyers of different backgrounds has been invaluable.  

Today, our firm filed an appeal with the Dutch Supreme Court on behalf of former senior University of Groningen (RUG) lecturer Dr Susanne Täuber. The case revolves around the question of how closely courts should see to it that scientists' academic freedom and freedom of expression are safeguarded in employment termination proceedings. This case at the Supreme Court level is being handled by a team of De Brauw lawyers, led by employment law and Supreme Court litigation partner Stefan Sagel, who comments: "The case touches on important fundamental rights: freedom of speech and academic freedom. Academic freedom is certainly under pressure in the Netherlands, unfortunately. Research at the European level shows that the Netherlands does rather poorly in protecting this right; we linger at the bottom of the rankings. By assisting Dr Täuber in this case, we hope to not only help her on an individual level, but also to contribute to strengthening academic freedom in general. It would be a good thing if the Supreme Court were to send a signal that strengthens this right. Our firm has traditionally had close ties with the academic community and we are supportive of its interests. For that reason too, we think it is crucial to handle this case."

The Dutch government’s policy of disconnecting children from drinking water in the event of non-payment is unlawful. In a collective action brought by Defence for Children Nederland and the Dutch Section of the International Commission for Jurists (NJCM), the Hague Court of Appeal ruled today that the Dutch state and drinking water companies have acted unlawfully towards children and must reconnect children that were cut off. Defence for Children and Nederlands Juristen Comité voor de Mensenrechten (NJCM) were represented by De Brauw in collaboration with lawyers from Stichting PILP. The Dutch State and drinking water companies PWN and Dunea deliberately left open the possibility that children, through no fault of their own, find themselves in a situation with completely inadequate access to drinking water. The Court of Appeal ordered the State to take measures to ensure children cannot be cut off from adequate drinking water due to non-payment by their parents. The drinking water companies must reconnect the water supply for children or must supply adequate water in another manner. Johan Valk, who was part of De Brauw's team, says: "In this case, we got to work together closely with human rights lawyers from PILP and experts on children's rights from Defence for Children. It was a truly inspiring experience to engage with one another and bring the case forward together. Working together also allowed us to contribute our specific litigation expertise to this important matter and achieve a great result for all the children in the Netherlands." The De Brauw team consisted of: Dennis Horeman, Johan Valk, Annabel van Schaik and Lisa van Dord.

Chambers announced its 2024 Europe rankings. Many thanks to our clients for their input and ongoing trust in our firm that led to these results.   Congratulations to all our lawyers recognized in this year's rankings and who maintained their placements, with special mention to our experts that are making their way up the rankings: Arjan Kleinhout - Energy & Natural Resources – Regulatory - moved from Band 3 to Band 2 Axel Arnbak - TMT: Data Protection - moved from Associate to Watch to Band 3 Bas Boutellier - Banking & Finance - progressed from Potential to Up and Coming Gaby Smeenk - Capital Markets – Equity - moved from Up and Coming to Band 2 Helen Gornall - Competition/European Law - advanced from Band 3 to Band 2 Machteld de Monchy - Dispute Resolution - moved from Potential to Up and Coming Martje Verhoeven-de Vries Lentsch - Dispute Resolution: Arbitration Counsel - moved from Potential to Up and Coming Michael Schouten - Corporate/M&A: High-end Capability - moved from Band 5 to Band 4 Roan Lamp - Corporate Investigations - rose from Potential to Band 3 Stephanie The - Competition/European Law - moved from Up and Coming to Band 4