Ms Aukje Haan > CMS > Amsterdam, Netherlands > Lawyer Profile

CMS maintains a broad practice, assisting retailers with such matters as commercial contracts, brand protection, advertising and product liability issues. The team has also placed a growing focus on ESG matters under the leadership of practice co-head Aukje Haan, who spearheads the firm’s ESG efforts in the Netherlands, and is also sought after by clients seeking to implement new sales and distribution models. Alongside her is Mark Ziekman, who chairs the firm’s consumer products team and advises retail clients on cross-border mergers and joint ventures.

As a part of CMS‘s pan-European dispute resolution team, the practice is skilled at handling multi-jurisdictional cases, especially within the ESG space. The team is split into domestic and international groups and takes a sector-focused approach, specialising in banking, insurance, real estate, and energy. Leonard Böhmer leads the litigation and insurance team with Peter Soede, who focuses on liability law. ESG task force head Aukje Haan handles related litigation and mediation. Bart-Adriaan de Ruijter chairs the corporate litigation and arbitration practice and regularly represents multinationals in corporate disputes. Petra Heemskerk is sought out for her public law litigation expertise, while Anita Canta handles franchising disputes. Andries Polkerman and Simon Polkerman both joined from De Brauw Blackstone Westbroek in March 2023, strengthening the practice’s commercial litigation capabilities.

A part of the wider consumer products team, food and beverages at CMS assists producers, retail, suppliers, and investors with cross-border and local food law related issues. Recently the firm has been focusing on ESG risk management and disputes on top of its established expertise in tech and energy sectors. Matters typically handled by the team include product liability, contamination and recall, product launches, labelling, IP, and data protection. Aukje Haan and Mark Ziekman co-lead the team, Haan is at the forefront of ESG-related matters, while Ziekman specialises in cross-border M&A and joint ventures. Litigator Rogier de Vrey advises on international patent and trade mark issues and Edmon Oude Elferink is the main contact for competition law issues such as abuse of dominance.