Profile: De Brauw Blackstone Westbroek

De Brauw Blackstone Westbroek - Who's Who Legal '70'

What is the Who's Who Legal '70'?

CORPORATE CREDENTIALS
The mergers and acquisitions chapter features two lawyers from the firm: Bernard Roelvink and Sjoerd Eisma. These are also included in the corporate governance chapter, which highlights their “fine reputations” as two of Holland’s most experienced and respected corporate practitioners. Joining them in the corporate governance section is Jaap Winter, who is “no doubt” another leader in the field.
The firm is also very highly regarded for competition work; it has one of the largest teams in the Netherlands. De Brauw boasts two highly nominated individuals and has been involved in a number of high-profile mergers in 2007. These deals included advising Groupe Danone on its €12.3 billion offer for Dutch baby-food company Numico. They have also represented pharmaceutical company Akzo Nobel, which sold its Organon BioSciences arm to Schering-Plough for €11 billion. Martijn Snoep received more nominations than any other practitioner in the Netherlands and was described to researchers as “very, very good”. Competitors also think Erik Pijnacker Hordijk “excellent”.

Sijmen de Ranitz is the only practitioner from the firm to be included in the insolvency and restructuring chapter. De Brauw was described to researchers as a “great firm” in the area and de Ranitz as a “very well known personality” in the market. He emerges from our research for this chapter as the country’s most highly nominated individual.

FINANCE
De Brauw also makes an impression in the banking, capital markets and corporate tax chapters. A number of the partners below were part of the team that acted jointly with Linklaters, as lead legal adviser to the Fortis, Banco Santander and the Royal Bank of Scotland consortium on its successful takeover of ABN AMRO in late 2007. De Brauw was principal legal adviser to the Dutch-Belgian bank Fortis and Spain’s Banco Santander. Dirk Meerburg and Jan Marten Van Dijk perform well in the banking chapter of this publication. Meerburg also appears in the capital markets section alongside the “brilliant” Francine Schlingmann. Paul Sleurink features in the top tier of the Dutch corporate tax research and is joined there by Dick Hofland. Both individuals were also a part of the aforementioned ABN AMRO deal in 2007 and were praised by clients and peers alike.

Kees Groffen gives the firm a presence in the private funds chapter. Berend Crans is an expert in aviation and aircraft finance and features in the aviation chapter of this publication.

DISPUTES
The firm’s entry in the commercial litigation chapter is a result of the strong performances of Marnix Leijten and Paul Cronheim. Leijten has specific knowledge of the energy sector and has been involved in a number of major cross-border disputes in this area. Cronheim was described to researchers as “great” and “a pleasure to work with”.

Intellectual Property
The firm puts in an excellent performance in the trademarks chapter, with three individuals included. Koen Limperg is a prominent IP litigator and is also very well known for tobacco industry work (he also appears in the product liability chapter). Tobias Cohen Jehoram and Constant van Nispen complete the trio in the trademarks chapter. Van Nispen also appears prominently in the patents chapter. The internet and e-commerce section is home to Lokke Moerel, who works within the intellectual property and information, and communication and technology department.

OTHER HIGHLIGHTS
Bommel van der Bend is featured in the construction chapter. Van der Bend heads the arbitration group at the firm and is well known for his procurement work. The management labour and employment chapter is the final area to boast a De Brauw presence, with Rogier Duk “regarded as a leader”, according to sources. In the oil and gas chapter Jaap de Keijzer and Vincent Aarts highlight the firm’s strength in the energy sector.