English-speaking business lawyer in the Netherlands

MAAK Advocaten is an Amsterdam-based law firm where international business clients can work with an English-speaking Dutch lawyer on commercial contracts, corporate matters, EU product compliance and commercial disputes. Working in English is not an add-on for us. It is how the majority of our work is done, day to day.

Foreign businesses operating in the Netherlands, or dealing with a Dutch counterparty from abroad, often look for two things from local counsel at the same time: genuine Dutch-law expertise, and the ability to work smoothly in English without friction at every step. Finding both in the same firm is less straightforward than it should be. Many Dutch firms market themselves as "English-speaking" because individual lawyers can hold a conversation, but the actual workflow (contracts, meetings, internal discussions, correspondence with counterparties, court submissions where possible) still defaults to Dutch. That is not how we work.

At MAAK Advocaten, English is a working language, not a courtesy. Contracts are drafted in English if the matter is international. Meetings, calls and written advice run in English. Email correspondence with counterparties, notaries and Dutch authorities is handled in English wherever that is possible. For clients from German-speaking countries, the same applies to German. The language of the matter is chosen to fit the client and the commercial situation, not to fit our internal preferences.

What an English-speaking business lawyer actually does

The label "English-speaking business lawyer" covers a wide range of work. For our international clients, it typically means handling the legal side of running a business in or with the Netherlands without having to translate every step.

The most common matters we handle in English include:

Drafting, negotiating and reviewing commercial contracts under Dutch law, including distribution, agency, franchise, sale of goods, manufacturing, supply, OEM, licensing, service and SaaS agreements
Incorporating a Dutch B.V. and putting shareholders agreements and board resolutions in place
Advising on directors' duties and liability for non-Dutch directors of Dutch entities
EU product compliance questions for foreign manufacturers and importers placing products on the Dutch and wider EU market
Commercial debt collection and enforcement against Dutch counterparties
Commercial litigation before Dutch courts, including the Netherlands Commercial Court, (which conducts proceedings fully in English)
Summary proceedings (kort geding) and pre-judgment attachment (conservatoir beslag) for urgent matters
Arbitration under NAI, ICC, UNCITRAL and ad hoc rules
Day-to-day commercial questions that foreign businesses face when operating with or within the Netherlands

For each of these, the internal documentation, the advice to the client, and the back-and-forth with counterparties can run in English without degrading the quality of the legal work. Where Dutch submissions are strictly required (for example, in regular Dutch court proceedings), we draft in Dutch and keep the client fully informed in English in parallel.

Why "English-speaking" is more than a language

Working with an English-speaking Dutch lawyer removes one layer of friction, but it does not remove the legal distance between a common-law background and Dutch civil-law practice. Part of our job is to bridge that gap in a way that fits how international business clients actually think.

Dutch contract law, for instance, includes concepts that do not translate cleanly into English common-law drafting. The Haviltex interpretation standard, the duty of reasonableness and fairness (redelijkheid en billijkheid) under article 6:248 of the Dutch Civil Code, the pre-contractual good-faith obligation, the mandatory rules for commercial agents, and the specific rescission and termination regimes in Book 6 and Book 7 of the Dutch Civil Code all need to be explained in a way that makes commercial sense, not just linguistic sense. A literal English translation of the statute is rarely enough. Clients want to know what the rule means for their deal, what the commercial consequence is, and what to do about it.

The same applies in the other direction. An English-language contract drafted by a US or UK lawyer and then placed under Dutch law will sometimes contain provisions that do not work the way the drafter assumed. Disclaimer-heavy exoneration clauses can be annulled under article 6:233. Liquidated damages clauses interact with the Dutch court's power to moderate penalty clauses under article 6:94. Non-compete and non-solicit clauses in commercial contracts are assessed against Dutch competition law and reasonableness standards. An English-speaking business lawyer who actually understands both systems will catch these issues early.

How we work with international clients

MAAK Advocaten is set up so that international clients reach the specialist handling their file directly, in English, with no gatekeepers, no intermediate layers, and no slow onboarding process. That is the single change that most improves the experience of working with a Dutch law firm from abroad.

Response times matter. International clients working across time zones cannot wait three days for a first take on a matter that is moving now. When you call or email us, you reach the specialist who will actually handle the work, and a substantive first response usually goes out the same day. Scheduling calls with clients in North America, the Middle East or Asia is a normal part of the workflow, not an exception.

Fees are agreed up front, as described on our lawyer fees page. We work on a fixed fee where the scope of the matter allows it, on an hourly rate where it does not, and on hybrid arrangements (defined scope at a fixed fee with a variable component for anything beyond scope) where that makes more sense than either alternative. We do not send surprise invoices, and we flag budget impacts before incurring additional time.

Onboarding is minimal. For a new client we need a basic KYC file and a short description of the matter. Most engagements can start within one or two working days, sometimes the same day for urgent matters. If you are used to the onboarding overhead of larger firms, this step alone usually saves a week.

Languages

Our working languages are English, German and Dutch. English is the language of the majority of our international work. German is available for clients in the DACH region (Germany, Austria, Switzerland) who prefer to work in their first language. Dutch is the language of day-to-day Dutch business and of Dutch court submissions where required.

For languages we do not work in directly, we coordinate with trusted specialists and keep the client-facing communication in English. Additional English-language information about the firm and its practice is available at maak-law.com. For German-speaking clients, see anwaelte-niederlande.de. Certified translations are available when a matter requires them, and the cost of translation is always discussed in advance.

Get in touch

If you are an international business looking for an English-speaking Dutch lawyer who can take a commercial, corporate or dispute matter off your desk without friction, an initial conversation is at no charge. Read more about MAAK Advocaten, or see the profiles of our partners: Remko Roosjen (contracts), Martin Krüger (product compliance) and Sander van Someren Gréve (litigation).

Related terms in our legal dictionary: Dutch B.V., good faith in Dutch contract law, pre-judgment attachment, summary proceedings (kort geding).

Call +31 20 210 31 38, email mail@maakadvocaten.nl, or visit our contact page. MAAK Advocaten is based at Kraanspoor 34, 1033 SE Amsterdam.

Frequently Asked Questions

Can all court proceedings in the Netherlands be conducted in English?

No. Proceedings at the Netherlands Commercial Court (NCC) in Amsterdam are conducted fully in English, and the NCC is designed specifically for international commercial disputes. Proceedings at the regular Dutch District Courts and Courts of Appeal must be conducted in Dutch. In practice, this means that for most routine commercial matters we litigate in Dutch, but for substantial international disputes where the parties have agreed to NCC jurisdiction (or can agree to it), the full proceeding runs in English.

Do you need to travel to the Netherlands to work with a Dutch lawyer?

Almost never. The vast majority of our work with international clients is handled remotely, by email, phone and video call. For some matters, a physical meeting is useful (negotiation sessions, complex strategy discussions, signing ceremonies before a Dutch civil-law notary), but even those can often be handled through digital signing and remote notarial workflows where the law allows. Clients who want to come to Amsterdam are always welcome, but it is a choice, not a requirement.

Are there time-zone constraints for working with your firm?

We are based in Amsterdam (Central European Time), which overlaps with business hours in Europe, the Middle East, Africa, and the morning in East Asia. For clients in North America, we schedule calls and availability to match the client's working day, and urgent matters get an same-day written response regardless of where the client is located.