NautaDutilh has appointed new managing partners.
Lieke van der Velden, head of the firm’s corporate M&A group, and Sjoerd Meijer, head of the dispute resolution group, have been appointed as managing partners of NautaDutilh effective June 1, the firm has announced.
The two are joining Chris Warner on the board of management. The NautaDutilh board doesn’t have a chairman, instead operating as a collective.
Lieke van Der Velden joined the firm back in 1995, and was made a partner in 2005. She specialises in the financial sector, advising on international and domestic mergers and acquisitions. In 2016, she played an important role in the Vodafone and Liberty Global Netherlands merger,
Sjoerd Meijer joined NautaDutilh in 2008, and also became a partner in 2005. He advises and litigates in the areas of class action insurance and professional liability law, a practice which has seen exponential growth in the Netherlands over recent months.
Their predecessors, Jaap Jan Trommel and Petra Zijp who were appointed alongside Warner in 2017, will return to practice on a full-time basis.
In a statement by the firm, Chris Warner, congratulating the two on their appointment, said: “They are both leaders in their fields and genuinely nice people with a deep understanding of the opportunities and challenges that lie ahead for our firm”
The changes come as the firm continues growing on the international stage. In 2019, the firm expanded it’s insurance practice in Luxembourg. The following year, it then managed to break into the top 20 M&A firms in Europe.
The news comes in the same week that Marnix Leijten, managing partner of Netherlands heavyweight De Brauw Blackstone Westbroek, announced he was stepping down from the position after just over two years.
