De Brauw Blackstone Westbroek is known for handling complex pension and employment law-related litigation as well as the employment aspects of major transactions. It also advises higher management and senior executives on remuneration issues, management incentive plans and employment benefit schemes. The practice is co-led by Stefan Sagel and Barbara Kloppert. Sagel is an employment litigation authority, representing companies, individual employees and trade unions before employment tribunals, the Courts of Appeal and the Supreme Court. Kloppert focuses on the employment aspects of corporate transactions, including co-determination aspects of M&A, IPOs and auction sales. Rick van ’t Wout is a go-to for remuneration and incentive plans.
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Testimonials
Collated independently by Legal 500 research team.
- ‘Stefan Sagel is always on top of the case. He is strong on content and pragmatic at the same time. When you think you have considered all your options, he is always able to give the case an extra twist.’
- ‘We know that we can always count on its team of skilled lawyers to provide clear, timely and effective responses.’
- ‘They are able to quickly and effectively come up with solutions to any type of situation that may arise. Stefan Sagel's impressive level of legal knowledge and Barbara Kloppert's ability to handle tricky situations are what set them apart from the rest.’
- ‘This team is really at another top level! Their advice is always spot on.’
- ‘Stefan Sagel is very knowledgeable, pragmatic, responsive, down to earth and has a great sense of humour. Stefan can make difficult legal advice sound very simple.'
- ‘What makes the team I worked with unique is foremost their top-notch expertise.’
- ‘Stefan Sagel is an absolute master in sharp analytics of the situation, the legal ins & outs, but also very sensitive with respect to labour relations and (advising on) stakeholder management regarding unions. Extremely helpful for those matters, being a very valuable sparring partner.’
- ‘In a highly demanding and crisis sensitive environment, Rik van Haeringen keeps his head cool and is able to take a step back from the problem. He advises with a long-term sustainable stakeholder interest in mind, which is exactly what we need in a time of crisis.’
Key clients
- Booking.com Holdings Inc.
- Shell
- Schiphol
- Elof Hansson Fiber
- BAM
- Uber
- Leaseplan
- ASML
- Achmea
- RELX/Elsevier
- Aalberts
- Friesland Campina
- Aegon N.V.
- Tennet
- Heineken N.V.
- Ahold Delhaize
- Fugro
- Optiver
- Rabobank
- Signify
Work highlights
Represented Uber in a case before the Supreme Court, on the employment relationship status of taxi drivers.
Advised Just Eat Takeaway.com N.V. on the co-determination aspects and management incentive plans in a €4.1bn transaction.
Advised Booking.com on the large-scale reorganisation of it's Dutch workforce.
Lawyers
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Rick van 't Wout
Practice head
Barbara Kloppert; Stefan Sagel
Other key lawyers
Rick van 't Wout; Rik van Haeringen; Marja Gommer