Prof. dr Niek Peters

Niek has special knowledge of and experience with:

• commercial arbitration, both as counsel and arbitrator, both institutional (g. ICC, NAI, LCIA, CEPANI, UNUM and SIAC) as well as ad hoc, and with application of the UNCITRAL Arbitration Rules;
• investment arbitration and state immunity;
• the enforcement of arbitral awards;
• litigation to set aside and to revoke arbitral awards;
• litigation regarding the conclusion, performance and termination of commercial contracts, civil liability and damages;
• disputes concerning professional liability and related disciplinary proceedings;
• shareholder disputes, joint venture disputes and post M&A claims; and
• mass claims and cartel follow-on damages claims.

Niek has been in private practice for more than 18 years. Before he joined Legaltree, he was a partner at Simmons & Simmons, where he headed the Amsterdam commercial litigation and arbitration group. Niek has recently represented, among others:

• Crescent Gas Corporation Limited and Crescent Petroleum Company International Limited regarding the recognition and enforcement of a foreign arbitral award (value > USD 2,5 billion)
• Cairn Energy PLC and Cairn UK Holding Limited in proceedings against India to set aside an arbitral award (value > USD 1.1 billion)
• a foreign state in various proceedings to prevent the enforcement of foreign arbitral awards (value > USD 500 million)
• a foreign party in an international arbitration and before a national court concerning a guarantee claim by a foreign bank
• a machine manufacturer in an international arbitration
• a global food corporation in an international arbitration
• a private equity fund in an arbitration concerning a post M&A dispute
• Credendo-Short-Term Non-EU Risks S.A. in proceedings to enforce a foreign arbitral award (value > USD 15 million)
• a home care organization in a dispute with pension fund PFZW, to set aside a binding advice
• Mazars, in various professional liability cases
• Bunq, in a contractual dispute with a service provider.

In addition to his work as counsel, Niek is also a Professor of International Commercial Arbitration at the University of Groningen, where he has taught the course International Commercial Dispute Settlement Law since 2008. Niek is a guest lecturer at several Dutch and foreign universities as well.

Ancillary positions

• Professor of International Commercial Arbitration – University of Groningen
• Board Member Royal Netherlands Association of International Law
• Member ICC Commission on Arbitration & ADR
• Member UNUM Arbitration Rules Revision Committee
• Editorial Board Member Czech Yearbook of Arbitration
• Board Member Dutch Arbitration Association

Memberships

• Dutch Arbitration Association (DAA)
• Dutch Association of Procedural Law
• Corporate Litigation Association

Education

• University of Groningen – PhD (2015)
• Erasmus University Rotterdam – Dutch Law and Public International Law (2004)

Books

• Openbare orde en arbitrage (inaugural lecture), Wolters Kluwer, 2023
• The fundamentals of international commercial arbitration, Maklu, 2017 (1st edition), 2020 (2nd edition)
• IPR, Proces & Arbitrage: Over grondslagen en rechtspraktijk (dissertation), Maklu, 2015
• A selection of Conventions, Rules and Guidelines used in International Arbitration, Publishing House Hephaestus, 2011

Book contributions, articles and other publications

• Online arbitration: the counsel perspective, in: P. Ortolani, A. Janssen & P. Wolters, International Arbitration and Technology, Deventer: Wolters Kluwer 2022, p. 31-42
• De vraag naar de uitvoerbaarheid van arbitrale voorlopige voorzieningen in het Koninkrijk mede bezien in het licht van art. 1022c Rv en art. 1074d Rv, TvA 2022/2, p. 7-13
• Practical Insights on Article II(1) and (2) of the New York Convention, Kluwer Arbitration 2022
• Practical Insights on Article II(3) of the New York Convention, Kluwer Arbitration 2021
• Fouten van arbiters en de gevolgen daarvan voor hun honorarium, NTBR 2021/1, p. 17-27
• Enkele gedachten over de toepasselijkheid van het beginsel van ius curia novit in gerechtelijke procedures in verband met arbitrage en de gevolgen daarvan voor arbitrage, NIPR 2020/4, p. 715-730
• Arbitration and conflict of laws, NIPR 2020/4, p. 631-633
• Aansprakelijkheid van arbiters: Enkele gedachten over maatstaf, vernietiging, grondslag, ipr en exoneratie, MvV 2020/10, p. 364-371
• JOR 2020/164
• The enforcement of mediation agreements and settlement agreements resulting from mediation, Corporate Mediation Journal 2020/5
• Artikel 10:13 BW, in: P. Vlas & M. Zilinsky (red.), Commentaar Internationaal Privaatrecht (boek 10 BW), Den Haag: SdU 2020
• De toepasselijkheid van de Herschikte Brussel Ibis-Verordening bij mediation, bindend advies en arbitrage, NIPR 2019/2, p. 299-317
• De mondelinge behandeling in arbitrage: achttien praktische aanbevelingen, in: C.J.M. Klaassen, G.J. Meijer & C.L. Schleijpen (eds.), Going Dutch: ADR in Nederland, in het bijzonder bij het NAI, Deventer: Kluwer 2019, p. 547-573
• Drie jaar nieuwe arbitragewet: tien suggesties voor verbetering, TCR 2018/4, p. 101-110
• Het belang van de plaats van arbitrage voor het toepasselijke recht, Bb 2017/3, p. 41-46
• De herziene Nederlandse arbitragewet, ORP 2016/5, p. 22-29
• Het toepasselijke recht op de overeenkomst tot arbitrage, NIPR2016/2, p. 239-247
• De overeenkomst tot arbitrage: wat zet je er in?, ORP2014/8, p. 16-19
• Remission in de nieuwe arbitragewet, TCR2013/4, p. 117-127
• De Europese stichting: terug naar de tekentafel?, NtER2013/3, p. 93-101
• De (on)bevoegdheid van het Gerechtshof Amsterdam in WCAM-zaken, NIPR2013/1, p. 3-12
• De Wet collectieve afwikkeling massaschade: wat is zij waard in het buitenland?, NTBR 2013/2
• Artikel 6:166 BW: onbekend maakt onbemind?, AV&S2012/21
• Vernietiging van arbitrale vonnissen door ad hoc scheidsgerechten, is dat niet vernieuwend?, in: M.H. Kroeze, L. Timmermans & G.J. Meijer (eds.), Piet Sanders: een honderdjarige vernieuwer, Den Haag: Boom Juridische Uitgevers 2012, p. 217-223
• Bevoegdheid van de Nederlandse rechter bij een exequaturprocedure en een actio iudicati, NIPR2010/3, p. 215-222
• Verrekening in het ipr, NIPR2007/1, p. 3-9