Attorney-at-law

Specialisation

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. 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.

In Chambers Europe 2020 Wouter is recommended as Up and Coming in the Dispute Resolution category. Clients describe him as ‘pragmatic, knowledgeable and commercially aware‘ and as ‘(..) able to keep a complex matter running flawlessly and to relentlessly pursue the success of the case.‘ In Legal500 2020 Wouter is recommended for international arbitration: ‘(..) very nice guy to work with, smart, technically very gifted, sophisticated’.

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 and 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

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

Publications

• W.J.L. de Clerck and E. Gras (eds.), Groots perspectief. Opstellen aangeboden aan mr. drs. T.D. de Groot, Deventer: Wolters Kluwer (2017)
• ‘Tweede congres Dutch Arbitration Association – een verslag’, TvA 2015/18
• ‘Modernized Netherlands arbitration act about to kick off’, European Company Law 2014-6
• ‘Report from the Netherlands: Bill for Revision of Netherlands Arbitration Act Tabled – What Does It Hold in Store for International Users?’, European Company Law 2013-4/5, 168-169
• ‘International class actions – will the centre of gravity shift from the US towards Europe?’, European Company Law 2012-3, 174-179