Baker & McKenzie has ramped up its corporate offering in Amsterdam with the hire of seven lawyers including Linklaters‘ corporate partner Henk Arnold Sijnja and a large team from local firm Houthoff Buruma.
M&A lawyer Sijnja was made a partner at Linklaters in 2007, but with the Magic Circle having placed less focus on Northern Europe over the last five years, has decided to make the switch. His practice is largely made up of pharma and insurance clients, counting the likes of Dr. Reddy’s Laboratories and UK insurer Amlin among them.
Private equity partners Casper Banz and Mohammed Almarini have also made the switch, joining Baker & McKenzie with four associates from Houthoff Buruma. Banz was previously head of Houthoff’s corporate and M&A practice from 2007 to 2011.
The firm is rapidly expanding their Dutch office with the hires coming after it secured three new partners in the last six months. Management at the firm, expecting consolidation in the oil and gas space, secured a key hire with the arrival of Norton Rose Fulbright’s European head of energy head Weero Koster. It also hired banking and finance partner Marcel Janssen from Norton Rose Fulbright while IP/IT and commercial partner Wouter Seinen joined from CMS.
‘As a global firm, we currently see a number of opportunities for growth in the Dutch market,’ says Mike Jansen, managing partner of Baker & McKenzie in Amsterdam. ‘There is growing demand for our services in transactional and energy-related practice areas in particular. I am delighted that with this high quality team we will meet those needs.’
tom.moore@legalease.co.uk
