Blauw Tekstra Uding is an Amsterdam based Law firm, and exclusive BOKS International member for Legal services in the Netherlands
We asked Douwe Uding to answer our questions some key issues in the legal sector.
Since its incorporation in 1993 Blauw Tekstra Uding has secured an established place within the Dutch legal fraternity. They have specialisms in the fields of Employment Law, Company and Investment Law, IT and Intellectual Property Law, Corporate Recovery, Company Law.
In your opinion, what is the future for the legal profession?
Although law firms are confronted with competition from all sides (legal departments of insurance companies, in house lawyers, legal freelancers, legal departments of accountancy firms etc.), a lawyer in The Netherlands still has a privileged position. We have the process monopoly in the Dutch courts to represent justice seekers. Given the information that is available on the internet, we do expect that at the end of the day only the law firms that heavily invest in knowledge (systems) and permanent education of their lawyers, will survive in the next decades.
What is your growth strategy?
We are aiming to invite senior lawyers who are providing added value to join our company. The search for compatible future partners is proving to be difficult. At the same time we are offering postdoctoral courses to our talented associates in order to create more leverage and enable them to apply for a shareholders’ position.
Where do you see your firm 5 years from now?
Our firm will surely be located in its present spot, right near Schiphol Airport and very close to the financial and legal center of Amsterdam, the so called Zuid-as (within 1 mile). The Amsterdam court is at the same distance and our international clients are always presently surprised by the short distance from Schiphol Airport, which is only 10 minutes by taxi or train. From a growth perspective we hope and expect to realize a growth between 25 and 40 % fte over the next three to five years.
What is your biggest challenge?
Our biggest challenge is to maintain our unique mixture of triple A clients and the pleasant working atmosphere.
What percentage of your work is international?
Although the international work is more fluctuating, the average amount is 5 to 10 % of our total practice.
What business advisory services do you offer?
The binding factor of our advisory services is contracting law in the broadest sense. We are specializing in corporate law, company law, labor law, restructuring, intellectual property and IT-law. We also have a tax lawyer on board (Ton Tekstra is both a civil and a tax lawyer) who is a national expert on the crossing between tax law and restructuring law. He wrote several standard works.
What was your main driver for being part of BOKS International?
To be honest one of the main reasons to join BOKS was the fact that I lost the regular stream of new assignments via Dentons, the London firm that recently acquired Boekel, a big Amsterdam firm. We like to work for international clients and by joining BOKS we hope to continue to be able to do so.
Where do you see BOKS International 5 years from now?
This is a difficult question for somebody who has just joined. Of course we hope that BOKS will prove to be an important factor for the success of all the individual firms like ours. Having read about the ambitions of BOKS we would not be surprised if it reaches its goals and will be among the 15 largest global tax and legal networks.
How would you describe your typical client?
We have such a broad diversity of clients that it is difficult to describe our ‘typical’ client. You might end up creating an image that resembles a so called duck bill or platypus. Seven or eight out of ten of our clients are either small, medium seized or large companies, several having daughter companies abroad, but we also provide legal services to our national banks, a large international entertainment company and the biggest charity organisation in the Netherlands.
Tell us about a recent international assignment
Recently we have assisted an offshore company to close down the Amsterdam branch office and last year I went to the Amsterdam court to represent a south American company to discuss the compensation paid to their European managing director.
How do you target clients who are looking for international services?
Most of our clients reach out to us via our existing international network. I was linked to the South American company via Uria Menéndez in Madrid.
Do you specialise in a particular sector or service?
Due to the fact that our profession remains a people business our clients can be found in the financial and insurance sector, we represent several wholesale companies in the construction market, healthcare organisations, publishers, printing industry, charity and many others.
