Houthoff

Firm Details

Managing Partners: Alexander Kaarls and Lucas Louwerier

Number of partners: 47

Number of lawyers: 350

Languages: Dutch, English, French, German, Italian, Portuguese, Spanish, Chinese

Member: Lex Mundi

Making our clients and people successful

We place the client at the heart of everything we do. Whatever their market, strategy or ambition, our clients trust our people to be behind them every step of the way, just as much as they trust our advice to take them where they desire to go. We are Houthoff - an independent full-service Dutch law firm.

Today's clients gravitate towards trusted advisers who are collaborative and extremely capable in every aspect of their highly complex and strategic transactions or disputes. Advisers who are as proactive, innovative and commercial as they are – not just as lawyers, but as business advisers and sector experts. Whether our clients are local or global corporations, financial institutions, private equity firms or governments, we concentrate on bringing energy, insight and integrity to every conversation. We combine this with an expert grasp on the opportunities and challenges our clients face today and in the future, helping them manage risk and reward.

We have a clear focus on our mission, purpose and values, which reflect those of our clients and their environment. Like them, we also believe in giving back to the communities we live and work in and the world we all share.

We make our people successful and provide a culture in which our employees can thrive and grow, because of, not in spite of our differences. Diversity of thought and approach is essential to us commercially and culturally. We mirror our client base as we collectively strive towards ensuring an inclusive and supportive attitude, with trust at its heart.

With offices in Amsterdam, Rotterdam, Brussels, London and New York, as well as representatives in Asia and the United Stateswe are able to offer an extensive global service network. Leading legal directories acknowledge in depth our strengths. As the exclusive member firm in the Netherlands for Lex Mundi and TechLaw, we can provide our clients seamless access to some of the world’s finest law firms. In addition to our own extensive and highly prized network of experts, we work collaboratively with our clients to ensure their international success.

Sustainability

Houthoff goes beyond reducing its paper consumption and constantly strive to make their operations more sustainable. The firm takes part in different initiatives, such as the Green Business Club Zuidas (GBC) and are one of the many parties to put its name to the Zuidas 2021-2025 ambition statements. In addition, the firm provides advice on various innovative sustainable energy projects and sustainability initiatives.

Sponsorship

Since January 2018, Houthoff has proudly been the main sponsor of Dutch National Opera & Ballet. Together we have created many special initiatives and events that have bridged the cultural and legal world. Both our ambitions and characteristics connect seamlessly. The passion for the profession and the desire to provide excellence and to stimulate innovation are the greatest common denominators.

Houthoff is the first main sponsor of the triad: the theatre Dutch National Opera & Ballet and the companies Dutch National Opera and Dutch National Ballet.

Social Commitment

The firm is involved in several social organisations and projects including:

• Forward Foundation, the first LGBT network in the Dutch legal landscape that strives for acceptance and recognition of the LGBT community in the legal world. Houthoff was one of the founding firms of the network.
• The Johan Cruyff Foundation helps children move up by being active.
• JINC, this organisation helps socially and economically disadvantaged young people aged between 8 and 16 gain a foothold in the employment market.
• Lawyers for Lawyers, an independent and non-political organisation that aims to promote the proper functioning of the rule of law by pursuing the free and independent practice of law

Diversity/Community

We firmly believe that fostering a diverse and inclusive culture is essential to provide everyone the opportunity to develop and make a valuable contribution to the firm that we want to be. Teams with a mix of people with different backgrounds, cultures, preferences and ideas are more productive, creative and innovative.

We have included diversity and inclusiveness in our core values and this is safeguarded by our Diversity, Equity & Inclusivity-committee. The committee is responsible for further shaping and implementing the DE&I policy, in line with the board's stated aim of making Houthoff more diverse. Knowing that we operate in a world where there is still systematic prejudice and underrepresentation of people based on certain diversity characteristics, we want to include everyone, but focus our policy on a specific number of aspects such as gender, cultural richness, LGBTQI+, age, visible and invisible work limitations and employee life cycle. The actions included in the policy focus on awareness raising, coaching programmes and collaborations with social institutions and bicultural organisations.

Pro Bono

Our commitment to social responsibility is demonstrated by the considerable value we place on doing pro bono work for organisations and people that pursue or support the public interest. Our aim is to enhance access to legal assistance and to make our knowledge and expertise available to organisations and people that lack the resources to obtain such services.

Houthoff’s pro bono work focuses mainly on organisations that aim to bring about an inclusive society with equal opportunities for all. We see it as our duty to make an active contribution to a world in which a variety of backgrounds, preferences and appearances is viewed as a strength rather than a source for discrimination.