Wouter de Clerck

M +31 6 15 54 79 53 | wouter.declerck@legaltree.nl

Attorney-at-law

Wouter de Clerck is a specialist in complex, cross-border disputes, to be settled in arbitration or before the national courts. Most of his clients are active in the technology, energy or mining sector.

Specialisation

The disputes in which Wouter assists his clients often involve commercial contracts for the supply of services or goods (incl. energy, oil and natural gas), M&A agreements or joint venture agreements. Wouter has experience of arbitration before various institutions (NAI, ICC, PCA, LCIA and SIAC) as well as of ad hoc arbitration (UNCITRAL). Wouter furthermore regularly conducts proceedings before the national courts in matters related to arbitration such as international jurisdiction or recognition and enforcement of arbitral awards. Wouter also sits as arbitrator.

Work experience

Wouter started his career as a lawyer in 2006 with Houthoff, following which he worked in the international arbitration practice of DLA Piper from 2012 to 2019. In 2020 he joined Legaltree. Wouter regularly writes on subjects of arbitration law and of private international law and has been a guest lecturer at Leiden University and at Erasmus University Rotterdam.

Below are some of the cases in which Wouter has been involved of late:

Co-counsel for a football consultancy company in NAI arbitration against a European football club;
Dutch law expert in foreign proceedings concerning a global accounting fraud of EUR 2.6bn;
Dutch counsel for Gazprom in a dispute with Ukrainian state-owned energy company Naftogaz about recognition and enforcement in the Netherlands of a USD 3bn Swedish arbitral award;
ICC arbitration about a project for the construction of a port in West Africa; lead counsel for a Belgian multinational involving claims representing a value of
USD 10m;
Lead counsel for American energy company in NAI arbitration about a
EUR 40m post M&A claim;
Lead counsel for an American private equity firm in a dispute with the State of the Netherlands over the sale of a nationalised real estate fund;
NAI arbitral preliminary relief proceedings; lead-counsel for Russian airline company in a dispute with Dutch airline company over turbine engines.

Memberships & ancillary positions

Guest lecturer of arbitration law Leiden University (2016-today)
Lecturer of arbitration law at Law Firm School (2014-today)
Dutch Arbitration Association

Education

Bond University Australia, 2005 (LL.M international dispute resolution)
Leiden University, 2004 (civil law, with honours)

Publications

Cross-border pre-judgment attachments: Dutch leave to attach enforceable in other EU member states

23 March 2021

[Dutch] Uitgestelde werking van de nieuwe arbitragewet: pleidooi voor een eenvoudige(r) lezing van het overgangsrecht

1 November 2020

Dutch decision on Hague Service Convention: award creditors must play by the book or suffer delays (but there is potential for procedural time gains)

18 September 2020

[Dutch] Groots perspectief. Opstellen aangeboden aan mr. drs. T.D. de Groot

14 December 2017

[Dutch] Tweede congres Dutch Arbitration Association – een verslag

26 January 2015

Contact

mr. W.J.L. de Clerck
wouter.declerck@legaltree.nl
+31 88 040 21 08
+31 6 15 54 79 53
Rapenburg 83, 2311 GK Leiden
Postbus 4023, 2301 RA Leiden

Testimonials

‘Pragmatic, knowledgeable and commercially aware‘ en ‘(..) able to keep a complex matter running flawlessly and to relentlessly pursue the success of the case‘.

Chambers Europe 2020Up and Coming in the Dispute Resolution category

‘(..) very nice guy to work with, smart, technically very gifted, sophisticated’.

Legal500 2020International arbitration

Wouter de Clerck

Attorney-at-law

Publications

Practice areas

Contact

Testimonials