AKD

Firm Details:

Board: Carlos Pita Cao (Managing Partner), Jan Kromhout, Mark Kater

Number of partners: 91

Number of other lawyers and notaries: 317

Offices: Belgium (Brussels), Luxembourg, Netherlands (Amsterdam, Rotterdam, Eindhoven, Breda)

Overview:

For over a century, we have combined a full-service approach and a broad sector focus to consider any question from a range of angles and to provide quality solutions – anywhere in the world. From our Benelux offices, we offer integrated, independent and international legal and tax services in stable jurisdictions. Our specialists look across borders and beyond the confines of their own disciplines to ensure seamless end-to-end-service, and with our dedicated foreign desks (i.e. for China, Japan, Korea, Germany, Spain, Turkey and the USA), we can assist our clients in their global activities from start to finish.

AKD also remains the exclusive member firm in the Netherlands for Interlaw, the premium international association of independent law firms, of which membership is invitation-only.

Main Practice Areas:

• Banking & Finance: our team advises on banking, finance, company law, national and international structuring and restructuring, and legal opinions. Clients include national and international corporate clients, banks and other financial institutions, private equity and venture capital investors, and hedge funds.
• Commercial Contracting: our team covers the international sale of goods and services, encompassing the structuring and optimisation of international commercial transactions. This includes advising, contracting and dispute resolution.
• Corporate/M&A: our Benelux teams assist domestic and foreign companies with strategic transactions, private equity deals, venture capital investments, restructurings, and distressed M&A. Their expertise also extends to other M&A-related areas of law and supervisory regulations, such as employee codetermination, transfer of undertaking, financing, security, and ancillary restrictions.
• Data Protection & Privacy: our team advises clients on whether their data processing is privacy compliant with regards to the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), which pertains to all processing of personal data by data controllers and imposes strict conditions on the processing, transfer and security of personal data.
• Employment & Pensions: our team boasts comprehensive knowledge of and experience in advising and litigating on cases involving employment contracts, dismissals, competition, collective labour agreements and employee participation, transfer of undertaking, equal treatment, secondment, working conditions and other types of remuneration, and holiday and leave, and more.
• EU Law, Competition & Regulation: with over 25 years’ experience, our team advises and litigates on all facets of EU and Dutch competition law, including cartels, merger control, abuse of dominance, compliance, state aid and private damages litigation. Our team assists clients, including medium and large companies, the central government and decentralised public authorities, before domestic and European courts.
• Government Liability: in this complex field, a convergence of administrative law and compensation law, AKD sets itself apart through our unique combination of thorough knowledge of administrative law and special expertise in (civil) compensation law.
• Healthcare: the Dutch healthcare system, among the best in Europe, is an increasingly complex environment that continuously challenges those operating within it, with accessibility and affordability requiring perpetual attention. Our healthcare and life science teams are at home in the healthcare and life sciences sector, understand the market and its players, and know the law inside out.
• Intellectual Property & IT: our team is one of the largest and most specialised IP & IT teams in the Netherlands and Belgium. Our lawyers enjoy an excellent reputation nationally and internationally and litigate complex infringement disputes before national courts and the European Court of Justice. We also have a dedicated trademark and design registration team with the sole aim of looking after clients’ IP portfolio.
• Investment Funds: our Investment Management team can help you with all kinds of legal and regulatory advice on investment structures including i.a. fund formation and structuring, negotiations with investors and fund services providers, fund due diligence, and more. Our area of expertise covers investment strategies such as Private Equity / Venture Capital, Real Estate, Infrastructure, Debt, Fund-of-Funds, either regulated or not, set up as an umbrella or a stand-alone vehicle, and implementing the necessary ESG criteria. We specialise in setting up innovative investment structures and providing guidance through the required authorisation processes with the relevant authorities for the financial markets.
• Litigation: our team consists of dozens of lawyers who excel in resolving business disputes. AKD advises and litigates on every possible dispute involving corporate law, including shareholders’ disputes, disputes between joint venture partners, inquiry procedures, corporate governance and participation disputes, group liability and directors’ and officers’ liability issues.
• Private Wealth: our team advises wealthy families and establishes and manages family offices in their holding and operational companies and charitable entities. We assist in making tailor-made and strategic decisions in close cooperation with our other specialist advisors, including complex securities portfolios, art, and real estate.
• Public Law: our team is one of the largest administrative law teams in the Benelux. We advise and litigate on behalf of the public sector, semi-public institutions, and companies. We offer all expertise needed to tackle every administrative dispute, from local and provincial government law to water authorities legislation, from tax law and administrative fines to obligations to tolerate, and from orders subject to penalties and administrative coercion to municipal measures in the social domain.
• Real Estate & Construction: our team is one of the largest in the Benelux and our specialist lawyers address all key aspects of the client’s business. They are up to speed on all innovations in the market and are aware of legal and contractual implications.
• Restructuring & Insolvency: our team is a reliable and experienced partner in complex situations and has been involved in nearly all major insolvencies in the Netherlands, either as trustees (e.g. in the bankruptcy of Imtech) or advisors. Our firm is equipped to assist companies in financial distress with restructuring and refinancing issues, issues related to selling off secured assets, and cases of post-bankruptcy D&O liability.
• Tax: our tax lawyers face the job of ensuring that tax regulation changes have the least possible adverse impact on the commercial activities and asset management of our clients, businesses, and high net worth individuals by offering in-depth knowledge of all tax matters, be it corporate tax, dividends tax, income and PAYE taxes or transfer tax.
• Transport & Trade: our team enjoys an excellent reputation worldwide for its risk management expertise and ability to come up with legal solutions. Our specialists have a clear understanding of opportunity versus risk and have been involved in many ground-breaking cases.