Litigation and Arbitration
Large organisations are sometimes confronted with complex and sensitive disputes. We assist our clients in responding appropriately and in managing the impact on their business and reputation.
As one of the largest and leading litigation and arbitration practices in the Benelux, our integrated team helps clients solve business-critical disputes seamlessly and manages matters with the highest degree of efficiency. Our team of talented and diverse lawyers displays a unique full-service expertise and has a distinct footprint in both litigation and arbitration.
Services
We advise on and litigate in a wide variety of disputes, often in complex multi-party and multi-jurisdictional matters. We have a special focus on cross-border litigation, acting for and against foreign entities, tailoring our legal assistance towards commercially and strategically sensible solutions.
We work together closely with other practice groups at Stibbe, such as public law, criminal law, EU and competition law, and corporate and finance law, providing clients with a unique combination of experts coming up with the best suitable strategy and argumentation. This truly showcases and ensures that our clients benefit from the advantages of a full-service, multi-specialist firm.
We have expertise in financial services litigation, construction disputes, restructuring and insolvency, insurance and reinsurance disputes, auditors' liability, and complex contractual disputes. We also assist our clients in corporate disputes such as securities litigation, shareholder and joint venture disputes, directors’ liability, M&A litigation, corporate governance disputes, and inquiry proceedings.
Furthermore, we play a major role in some of the largest class actions and group actions in the Benelux. Our Litigation group also specialises in defending clients against antitrust civil damage and follow-on damage claims.
In addition, we have extensive experience in all types of alternative dispute resolution (ADR), such as mediation and collaborative negotiation. Our priority is to partner with our clients to find the best out-of-court dispute resolution in order to avoid lawsuits. When litigation is unavoidable, we always suggest the most suitable procedural route.
Our arbitration team has a distinctive track record of handling large and complex cases, and represents clients in national and international arbitration across all sectors and under the rules of all major arbitral institutions, including ICC, LCIA, SCC, NAI and CEPANI, as well as ad hoc proceedings (also under the UNCITRAL Rules). Our team acts as counsel and as arbitrator.
We have won landmark cases at the highest level before the Belgium Supreme Court (Cour de Cassation/Hof van Cassatie) in criminal matters and before the Dutch Supreme Court (Hoge Raad der Nederlanden).