NautaDutilh has hired a four-lawyer IP and technology law team from DLA Piper in Amsterdam in recognition of the sector’s ‘enormous potential for growth’.

The team is led by DLA Piper’s Dutch head of IP, Joris Willems, who leaves the global firm after more than 13 years. He held a variety of leadership roles including an eight-year stint serving on its international board.

He will head up NautaDutilh’s Amsterdam’s IP team, bringing with him of counsel Cyril Christiaans and two associates: Eva Reinders  and Tom De Smet.

NautaDutilh managing partner Petra Zijp described him as “an authority on IT law” whose arrival would boost the firm’s work on IT, commercial contract and digital transformation issues. She added: “The technology sector offers enormous potential for growth, with several IPOs and increased M&A activity on the horizon.” 

Willems added: "Global digital transformation is at the core of my practice. This frequently involves legal challenges relating to new technologies, big data and cybersecurity. Transactions and contracts are often complex and cross-border, while there is also a noticeable increase in IT litigation.” 

NautaDutilh has a strong Benelux IP/IT practice and boasts clients including global technology companies ABB and STMicroelectronics. Willems counts Unilever, Atos Wolters Kluwer and the Netherlands Central Bank among his clients.

He will work closely with Anne Marie Verschuur, who heads the overall Dutch IP practice, as well as Belgian lawyers including IP litigator Tanguy de Haan and veteran IP counsel Philippe Péters.

His client base also dovetails with that of Luxembourg’s Vincent Wellens, who has a strong telecoms background.

Last November a five-lawyer NautaDutilh real estate team led by partner David Van Dijk joined US firm Greenberg Traurig in Amsterdam. 

Last week Amsterdam litigation practice bureau Brandeis opened a Paris office staffed by four senior EU and French competition experts to represent victims of cartels and other antitrust infringements.