NautaDutilh NV - The Who's Who Legal 100 2012

What is the Who's Who Legal 100?

In the M&A section, Rotterdam-based Willem Calkoen facilitates and advises companies on public and private ventures, securities and governance matters. His clients include AT&T, General Electric and Smit International. He consults mainly on joint ventures in the European market and features in both the M&A and corporate governance chapters. Also listed in both sections, Hein Hooghoudt is “a first choice for M&A in Amsterdam” according to one contributor. Many of his transactions involve the financial services industry where he advises on transactions and governance issues relating to shareholders’ duties and public trading rules.

Leo Groothuis’ practice centres on work in the financial services sector where he counsels on sales and takeovers, such as Vedior’s €3.2 billion takeover of Randstad. He enjoys a listing in the M&A chapter, as do leading lawyers Dirk Van Gerven and Yvette Verleisdonk, who handle a large amount of the firm’s mainstream banking deals. Van Gerven has extensive knowledge of corporate and financial law, and heads the private M&A practice in Brussels. He is also on the supervisory board of the Belgian Banking, Finance and Insurance Commission and acts for publically listed companies. Verleisdonk focuses on debt and restructuring issues affecting multinational companies during acquisitions, mergers, joint ventures and takeovers. Her clients include Travelex, the David Lloyd Group and 3i.

Also in the corporate governance chapter are Geert Raaijmakers and Marc van der Haegen in Amsterdam. Raaijmakers is a corporate structuring and joint ventures lawyer, with an emphasis on pension fund governance. As well as representing companies such as Vodaphone, Blue Sky Group and Delta, he sits on the Banking Code Monitoring Committee as a lobbying consultant to the government. Van der Haegen’s practice focuses on capital markets, banking and governance issues affecting companies. He acts as a dispute resolution adviser to companies such as Suez, Total and Citadel Group and is a prolific writer on corporate and finance law. He enjoys a dual listing in the corporate governance and banking sections. Also featuring for his work in the latter discipline is Pim Rank, a securities practitioner advising on collateral, repos, securities lending, clearing and settlement, global custody and cash management. He is a member of the committee advising the Dutch government on bearer securities and represents the Netherlands at the negotiations on the Hague Convention on the law applicable to securities.

Robert Van Galen heads the firm’s restructuring and insolvency team in Amsterdam. He litigates on behalf of companies in all levels of the Dutch courts and is “exceptional” in his knowledge of the law.

Another area in which the firm is well represented is corporate tax. Nico Blom specialises in the tax implications of securitisation, cross-border financing, hedge, private equity and real estate funds and corporate ventures. Chris Warner heads the tax practice where he advises foreign and domestic clients on all tax issues relating to M&A transactions, privatisations, reorganisations and restructurings. In Brussels, Benoit Malvaux consults on tax matters concerning acquisitions and corporate restructuring, stock option plans, financial products, joint venture vehicles and holding companies.

In the insurance and reinsurance chapter, Nautadutilh fields three lawyers. In Amsterdam, Stijn Franken specialises in technical damage, insurance, regulation and product liability for policy holders and brokers in a range of industries. A lot of his time is spent on asbestos claims and other mass torts for companies such as British American Tobacco.

Sjoerd Meijer is a life insurance specialist and counsels on liability, regulation and the legal relationship between insurers and third parties. In Rotterdam, Eric van Niekerk’s practice centres on counselling large Dutch multinational companies on product liability, professional liability and domestic and foreign policy schemes. Further, he works for construction and infrastructure clients on technical damage and subsequent arbitrations.

The firm has a notable presence in both the trademarks and patents chapters. Florence Verhoestraete represents clients in the food, consumer goods and life sciences industries. She advises on and litigates in relation to intellectual property, contractual and regulatory issues. “One of the best at the firm”, Philippe Péters practices in all aspects of IP and information technology law, with significant focus on trademarks litigation. He has represented Unilever, GlaxoSmithKline and Warner Bros and is well known for his authorship of the treatise on Benelux trademark law. He features in the trademarks chapter alongside Charles Gielen, a trademark and patents litigator. He is one of the most well-known IP practitioners in the country and received numerous votes in reflection of that. He is also mentioned in the patents chapter with John Allen, who has an extensive litigation experience acting on patent issues for financial institutions and communication and media companies.

The firm earns listings in a further nine areas, showcasing its diverse knowledge and expertise.