In 2019, the top 50 Dutch law firms ( nl, advocatenkantoren) had around 4,476 attorneys ( nl, advocaten) and the top 30 law firms had around 183
notaries
A notary is a person authorised to perform acts in legal affairs, in particular witnessing signatures on documents. The form that the notarial profession takes varies with local legal systems.
A notary, while a legal professional, is disti ...
De Brauw Blackstone Westbroek
De Brauw Blackstone Westbroek N.V. is a Dutch law firm headquartered in Amsterdam with branch offices in Brussels, London, Shanghai and Singapore. The firm has 60 partners and 300 other qualified lawyers. The firm was founded in 1871.
Areas of p ...
,
Houthoff
Houthoff is a long-established Netherlands-based law firm, headquartered in Amsterdam. With over 300 lawyers worldwide, Houthoff is one of the largest law firms in the Netherlands. Houthoff advises large international corporations on a boardroo ...
,
Loyens & Loeff
Loyens & Loeff N.V. (L&L) is an international law and tax firm headquartered in Rotterdam. It has offices in the Netherlands, Belgium, Luxembourg and Switzerland (home markets), as well as representation offices in major international financial cen ...
and Stibbe. Every year advocatie.nl publishes a list of the 50 biggest law firms in headcount.
Structure
Bigger law firms in the Netherlands are often organised as a partnership, private limited liability company (B.V. or nl, besloten vennootschap), public company (N.V. or nl, naamloze vennootschap)) or cooperative. It is common for a law firm to have notaries attached to it. Smaller law firms sometimes opt for a maatschap, where all lawyers run their own offices, but share the costs of rent, employees and marketing.
).
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,
De Brauw Blackstone Westbroek
De Brauw Blackstone Westbroek N.V. is a Dutch law firm headquartered in Amsterdam with branch offices in Brussels, London, Shanghai and Singapore. The firm has 60 partners and 300 other qualified lawyers. The firm was founded in 1871.
Areas of p ...
's office in The Rock, Zuidas, Amsterdam.
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, Clifford Chance Netherlands's office in
Haarlemmerbuurt
Haarlemmerbuurt is a neighbourhood in Amsterdam, in the Dutch province of North Holland, and is part of the borough Centrum. The central artery of the area is formed by the streets ''Haarlemmerdijk'' and ''Haarlemmerstraat'', the old road to Haarle ...
Houthoff
Houthoff is a long-established Netherlands-based law firm, headquartered in Amsterdam. With over 300 lawyers worldwide, Houthoff is one of the largest law firms in the Netherlands. Houthoff advises large international corporations on a boardroo ...
's office in
Rotterdam
Rotterdam ( , , , lit. ''The Dam on the River Rotte'') is the second largest city and municipality in the Netherlands. It is in the province of South Holland, part of the North Sea mouth of the Rhine–Meuse–Scheldt delta, via the ''"N ...
.
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, Linklaters Netherlands's office in the
World Trade Center (Amsterdam)
The World Trade Center Amsterdam is a commercial center located at the Zuidas in Amsterdam, the Netherlands. It was officially opened in 1985, and renovated between 1998 and 2004.NautaDutilh's office in Rotterdam.
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, Stibbe's office in Zuidas, Amsterdam.
Largest Law Firms
Attorneys
A list of law firms (in alphabetical order) with more than 100 attorneys in the Netherlands in 2020 is set out below.
Notes:
(1) 2019/2020, including notarial revenue.
(2) In 1991,
Benelux
The Benelux Union ( nl, Benelux Unie; french: Union Benelux; lb, Benelux-Unioun), also known as simply Benelux, is a politico-economic union and formal international intergovernmental cooperation of three neighboring states in western Europe: B ...
law firm, Loeff Claeys Verbeke, formed a tripartite alliance with
Magic Circle
A magic circle is a circle of space marked out by practitioners of some branches of ritual magic, which they generally believe will contain energy and form a sacred space, or will provide them a form of magical protection, or both. It may be marke ...
law firm Allen & Overy and French law firm Gide Loyrette Nouel. Allen & Overy and Gide Loyrette Nouel terminated their alliance in 1998. After it was unable to agree on a full merger with Allen & Overy, in 2000, a third of the Amsterdam, Brussels and Luxembourg offices of Loeff Claeys Verbeke merged with Allen & Overy to form Allen & Overy Belgium, Luxembourg and Netherlands, a third merged with tax advisers Loyens & Volkmaars to form Loyens & Loeff and a third left the firm. At its height, Loeff Claeys Verbeke had more than 500 attorneys and notaries.
(3) Allen & Overy was founded in the
City of London
The City of London is a city, ceremonial county and local government district that contains the historic centre and constitutes, alongside Canary Wharf, the primary central business district (CBD) of London. It constituted most of London fr ...
on 1 January 1930.
(4) Allen & Overy does not separately report its revenue for the Netherlands. In its 2019/20 financial year, it had global revenue of £1,69 billion.
(5) In 1998. De Brauw Blackstone Westbroek and three other European law firms entered into an alliance with
Linklaters
Linklaters LLP is a multinational law firm, headquartered in London, England. Founded in 1838, it is a member of the "Magic Circle" of elite London-headquartered law firms. It currently employs over 5,000 lawyers across 31 offices in 21 count ...
to form Linklaters & Alliance. In 2002, it terminated that alliance, choosing not to merge with Linklaters. It has since entered into a "best friends" alliance with BonelliErede (Italy),
Bredin Prat
Bredin Prat is a French law firm of about 180 lawyers, 45 of whom are partners and 14 are counsels. Founded in 1966, it is one of the largest law firms in Europe. It has offices in Paris and Brussels. Bredin Prat maintains partnerships with Bonel ...
Slaughter and May
Slaughter and May is an international law firm headquartered in Bunhill Row, London. Founded in 1889, Slaughter and May is considered to be one of the most prestigious law firms in the world and is a member of the "Magic Circle" of elite London ...
(UK) and Uría Menéndez (Spain).
(6) Clifford Chance does not separately report its revenue for the Netherlands. In its 2019/2020 financial year, it had global revenue of £1,8 billion.
(7) 2018/2019.
(8) In 2002, Silver Circle law firm
Herbert Smith
Herbert Smith LLP was a multinational law firm headquartered in London, United Kingdom. The firm was founded in the City of London in 1882 by Norman Herbert Smith and merged with the Australian law firm Freehills on 1 October 2012, forming Herber ...
(now Herbert Smith Freehills) (UK), Gleiss Lutz (Germany) and Stibbe formed a tripartite alliance. In November 2011, Gleiss Lutz and Stibbe voted against a merger with Herbert Smith. That alliance subsequently ended on 31 December 2011.
Notaries
A list of law firms (in alphabetical order) with more than 20 notaries and candidate notaries in the Netherlands in 2020 is set out below.
Rankings
Chambers and Partners rankings of the number of speciality areas in each law firm recognised as leading in the Netherlands in 2020. In the Netherlands, Chambers and Partners ranks law firms in bands from 1 (highest) to 4 (lowest). Being ranked in any band is an achievement. This list is non-exhaustive.
Associate remuneration
In 2019, the average gross annual salary for associates at Dutch law firms ranged between:
* €45,000 and €80,000 for one to four years' experience;
* €70,000 and €105,000 for four to seven years' experience; and
* €95,000 and €150,000 for more than seven years' experience.Statista Annual salary of associates working in the Dutch legal firms in the Netherlands in 2019, by years of experience Accessed 3 August 2020 https://www.statista.com/statistics/561787/dutch-law-firm-associate-annual-income-by-experience-netherlands/
