I regularly get the question "Who is the best Dutch employment lawyer for me?

In order to help you answer that question, I have set out below which requirements a Dutch employment lawyer should meet in my opinion.

When drawing up the requirements, I obviously had to make choices. I based those choices on the knowledge and experience I have gained in the more than 20 years that I am now working as an HRM specialist.

Hopefully the knowledge and experience I gained in those years will help you to make the choice for the best Dutch employment lawyer for you.

If you would rather receive personal advice from me about who is the best Dutch employment lawyer for you, please fill in the form below. Then I will let you know who I think is the best Dutch employment lawyer for you or let that lawyer contact you.

Fill in the form for employer if you are an employer and fill in the form for employee if you are an employee.

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First of all it is important that you verify whether the Dutch employment lawyer, whom you have in mind, is a member of the Dutch Employment Lawyers Association (Vereniging Arbeidsrecht Advocaten Nederland). Also called VAAN for short. The VAAN is in fact the only specialist association for employment lawyers that has been awarded a quality mark by the Dutch Bar Association (Nederlandse Orde voor Advocaten).

The requirements that the VAAN imposes on its members have as a result that only Dutch lawyers who are highly specialised in employment law may become and remain members. There are approximately 1.000 Dutch employment lawyers who are members of the VAAN. It should therefore be possible to choose the best one for you from those approximately 1.000 employment lawyers.

I myself have chosen Ilma van Aalst as the best Dutch employment lawyer for me. She has been my strategic alliance partner for more than ten years now. Of course, she meets the requirements that I set for a Dutch employment lawyer. She is therefore a member of the VAAN.

If you are of the opinion that lma is also the best Dutch employment lawyer for you, you can of course call her for a free intake interview. She can be reached at telephone number +31 (0)10-2600088. Of course, you can also fill in your contact details in the contact form below, so she can contact you for a free intake interview.

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If you have another Dutch employment lawyer in mind and would like to verify whether he or she is also a member of the VAAN, please go to the VAAN's website to verify this.

The second point that, in my opinion, is important when choosing the best Dutch employment lawyer is whether the lawyer is (almost) exclusively engaged in employment law.

Lawyers, who are members of the VAAN, devote at least half of their time to employment law. This is one of the requirements for becoming and remaining a member of the VAAN. In general, however, as an employer or employee, it is in your interest that your lawyer (almost) exclusively deals with employment law.

If you need a lawyer in the field of employment law, then in my opinion it is best to choose a lawyer who is (almost) exclusively engaged in employment law. After all, otherwise you run the risk of losing out, because the counterparty will probably be wise enough to choose an attorney at law who (almost) exclusively deals with employment law.

Usually the website of the attorney at law will indicate whether he or she is (almost) exclusively engaged in employment law. This website shows, for example, that Ilma is (almost) exclusively engaged in employment law. Otherwise, you can generally find this information via the profile of the lawyer on the website of the Dutch Bar Association.

In general, law firms have target groups. Some law firms, for example, act only on behalf of employers or only on behalf of large employers. As an employee, it is better not to hire an employment lawyer of such a firm, because the lawyers who work there do not have the knowledge and experience you need.

Usually law firms are honest about their target group and will therefore not act on behalf of you if you do not belong to their target group, but that is not always true. For example, because they do not have enough work at that time. That is why it is better not to call the law firm about this, but to verify via the law firm's website whether you belong to the target group. In general, this is evident from the website of a law firm.

This website shows, for example, that Ilma acts on behalf of both employers and employees.

Sometimes an international component is involved. For example, because the employee does not live in the Netherlands or does not work (almost) exclusively in the Netherlands. Or because correspondence in English is required. If that is the case in your situation, it is best to look for a Dutch employment lawyer, who also has knowledge of and experience with international employment law.

Employment lawyers who work for a global law firm or who have worked for a global law firm for several years have knowledge of and experience with international employment law. If you are a large employer or an SME employer with employees who live and/or work in many countries other than the Netherlands, you belong to the target group of global law firms.

If you are a large employer or an SME employer with employees who live and/or work in many countries other than the Netherlands and you are looking for a Dutch employment lawyer it is best to choose one of the global law firms, like Eversheds Sutherland, Allen & Overy. Dentons or Baker & McKenzie. 

If you are an employee or an SME employer, who only operates in the Netherlands or a very limited number of countries, you generally do not belong to the target group of global law firms. In that case it is generally best to choose a Dutch employment lawyer, who has worked for a global law firm for several years.

That is often a lot cheaper, because the hourly rates of employment lawyers who have worked for global law firms are generally significantly lower than the hourly rates of employment lawyers who still work for a global law firm.

Usually the website of the attorney at law shows whether the attorney at law has worked for a global law firm and, if so, for how long. For example, this website shows that Ilma has worked at global law firm Eversheds Sutherland for almost 5 years. If you cannot find this information on the website of the employment lawyer, you can generally find it via the profile of the employment lawyer on LinkedIn.

For employers, it is generally advisable to choose an attorney at law who has been working as a Dutch employment lawyer for at least 10 years. After all, as an employer you want to be able to contact your lawyer with all your employment law issues. Also the more complex employment law issues.

Furthermore, as an employer, I advise you to choose a lawyer who has worked as a Dutch employment lawyer at one or more large law firms for at least 5 years. They generally train their lawyers well. Moreover, they are generally strict in their selection.

Employment lawyers who have managed to work at one or more large law firms for at least 5 years are therefore generally good at their profession. That is why I advise you to choose a lawyer who has worked as a Dutch employment lawyer for at least 10 years and has worked as a Dutch employment lawyer at one or more large law firms for at least 5 years.

To help you find out whether a lawyer has worked as a Dutch employment lawyer at one or more large law firms and if so for how long, a list of the large law firms in the Netherlands is given below: Eversheds Sutherland, NautaDutilh, Loyens & Loeff, Houthoff, AKD, Kneppelhout Korthals, Ploum, Ten Holter Noordam, De Brauw Blackstone Westbroek, Stibbe, Allen & Overy, Van Doorne, Pels Rijcken & Drooglever Fortuijn, Clifford Chance, CMS, HVG Law, Baker McKenzie, DLA Piper, Dirkzwager, Kennedy van der Laan, Nysingh, Boels Zanders, Lexence, De Haan, Van der Diepen Kroeff, From Benthem & Cologne, Freshfields, Barents Wreath, Dentons, CMS, Simmons & Simmons, Norton Rose, Bird & Bird, Holla, Trip, Linklaters, Jones Day, Hogan Lovells, Greenberg Traurig, Kienhuis Hoving, Taylor Wessing, Banning, DVDW, Van Iersel Luchtman, Cleerdin & Hamer, Rutgers & Posch, TeekensKarstens, Stek, Damsté, Ekelmans & Meijer, Wijn & Stael, Dommerholt, Buren and Poelmann van den Broek.

It goes without saying that it is also possible to hire a Dutch employment lawyer, who is still working for a large law firm. However, you will then have to consider - as explained above - whether you belong to the law firm's target group. Furthermore, you will have to seriously consider that the hourly rate of an attorney at law still working for a large law firm is significantly higher than the hourly rate of an attorney at law no longer working there. From a financial point of view, it is therefore generally more interesting to choose an attorney at law who has worked for one or more large law firms.

For an employee, it will depend on the issue you wish to present how many years of experience the employment lawyer needs. If it concerns a simple matter, for example a simple wage claim, then any Dutch employment lawyer, who is a member of the VAAN, can take on the case.

If it concerns a more complex issue, for example a dismissal issue, incapacity for work or a combination of the two, it is advisable to choose a lawyer who has been working as an employment lawyer for at least 10 years.

Furthermore, I advise you to choose a lawyer who has worked as an employment lawyer for at least 5 years at one or more of the above mentioned large law firms.

Information about the number of years that an attorney at law has worked as a Dutch employment lawyer and whether an employment lawyer has worked for a large law firm and if so, how long, is often shown on the website of the attorney at law. This website shows, for example, that Ilma has been working as a Dutch employment lawyer for almost twenty years and has worked for large law firms for more than ten years, namely more than 5 years for Poelmann van den Broek and almost 5 years for Eversheds Sutherland.

If you cannot find this information on the lawyer's website, you can generally find it via the profile of the employment lawyer on LinkedIn.

As an employer you now have enough information to choose the best employment lawyer for you. If you are looking for a Dutch employment lawyer and Ilma van Aalst is the best employment lawyer for you call her for a free intake interview on + 31 (0) 10-2600088 or fill in your contact details in the contact form below so she can contact you for a free intake interview.

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If you are an employee, it is advisable to verify whether you are entitled to subsidized legal aid. If you are entitled to subsidized legal aid, it is often advisable to make use of it. After all, a significant part of the costs of your attorney at law will be reimbursed by the government.

However, it does mean that you are limited in the choice of an employment lawyer. Only a limited part of the Dutch employment lawyers, who are members of the VAAN, work on the basis of subsidized legal aid. That is why, in order to answer the question "who is the best Dutch employment law lawyer for you", it is important whether or not you are entitled to subsidized legal aid.

Sometimes the website of an attorney at law will tell you whether or not he or she is working on the basis of subsidized legal aid. For example, this website shows that Ilma works on that basis.

Are you entitled to subsidized legal aid or not, are you looking for a Dutch employment lawyer and do you think Ilma is the best employment lawyer for you, call her for a free intake interview on +31 (0)10-2600088 or fill in your contact details in the contact form below, so she can contact you for a free intake interview.

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Has my information helped you find the best Dutch employment lawyer?

Then I would really appreciate it if you could share this page, for example by using the social share buttons at the bottom of this page, so that as many employers and employees as possible, who are looking for a Dutch employment lawyer, can find the best Dutch employment lawyer.