Sjöcrona Van Stigt

Sjöcrona Van Stigt Lawyers was founded in 1992 as one of the first specialised corporate criminal defence law firms in the Netherlands. Today, our boutique firm comprises 16 criminal defence lawyers, a size that allows us to field dedicated teams for complex, large-scale cases while retaining the focus and cohesion of a specialist practice.

Our scale also means we can respond immediately when clients need us most. With our firm's 24/7 availability we are able to dispatch lawyers at short notice, for example during dawn raids, where we coordinate directly with in-house counsel or other designated contacts within the company.

Our clients come from a broad range of sectors, including Dutch industry, the medical sector and government. The latter includes a dedicated practice, led by our partner Caroline de Sitter, representing police officers under investigation by the Rijksrecherche, the Netherlands' independent body tasked with investigating conduct by law enforcement personnel in the course of their duties.

From our earliest days, we have also maintained a consistent practice in the Dutch Caribbean, led in recent years by our partner Hans de Jong. Our international reputation and extensive global network bring us a steady flow of cross-border matters, often involving Dutch subsidiaries of foreign parent companies or their executives. In those cases, we work closely with lawyers abroad. These cases are in large part handled by our partners Sabine ten Doesschate and Enide Perez, who are respectively Co-Chair and former Co-Chair of the Criminal Law Committee of the International Bar Association.

We handle criminal proceedings at first instance and on appeal, and are well known for our active cassation practice before the Supreme Court, led by our partner Linda van der Hut. We are equally recognised for our active approach in the pre-trial phase of a case, including the examination of witnesses and expert witnesses before the examining magistrate. Our partner Léon de Jager further extends our litigation practice into tax law, handling tax litigation for clients who face the intersection of criminal and fiscal proceedings.

Our advisory practice, both domestic and international, continues to grow. We advise companies and their executives on criminal law risk in areas such as money laundering and anti-corruption legislation, with a focus on prevention as well as defence. We also conduct internal investigations for clients who need an experienced criminal law perspective on potential irregularities within their organisation

We are frequently involved in complex out-of-court settlement negotiations, with a strong record of successful outcomes.

Our firm acts in many high-profile matters and holds an excellent reputation among peers and judicial authorities alike. We approach each case with full discretion: the media regularly seeks our comment, but whether and how we respond is always guided by one consideration alone - what is in our client's best interest.