Amsterdam, 6 January 2025 – Leon Hoppenbrouwers joins BarentsKrans as a partner and real estate civil-law notary in January 2025. Hoppenbrouwers becomes the firm’s second real estate notary and will co-lead the practice with Jeffrey Koenecke. Hoppenbrouwers is one of four new partners with which the firm of lawyers and civil-law notaries is reinforcing its Zuidas office, which opened in November 2024. The office in The Hague was also enhanced with a new partner from 1 January with the promotion of internal talent Koen van Wijk. Van Wijk is an assigned civil-law notary specialising in corporate law.
Leon Hoppenbrouwers has over 20 years’ experience as a partner and civil-law notary and is making the move from A&O Shearman. Hoppenbrouwers specialises in project development, transactions, financing, renewable energy, and social housing. He is also an expert on underground infrastructure and was the first civil-law notary to register a telecom network as real property.
Hoppenbrouwers is very happy with the move: “Jeffrey Koenecke and I have worked together in the past with great pleasure and success. I look forward to joining forces again to put the practice more firmly on the map in both The Hague and Amsterdam. BarentsKrans already has a large, multidisciplinary real estate team with a wealth of in-house expertise. The new office in Amsterdam offers the ideal opportunity to expand the practice further, both geographically and in the scope of the services it offers.”
Koen van Wijk is also joining the partner group. He has worked at BarentsKrans since 2018 as an assigned civil-law notary within the Corporate/M&A department, having started his career in 2015 as a candidate civil-law notary at Pels Rijcken. Van Wijk specialises in semi-public corporate law, focusing particularly on legal matters in the healthcare sector, public-private partnerships, complex foundations, and NGOs. Van Wijk looks forward to taking the next step in his career at BarentsKrans: “The social impact associated with my work is something I can build on in my new role – a challenge I am looking forward to immensely.”
According to managing partner Jesse Zijlma, both additions to the partner group align with BarentsKrans’s ambitions: “We are strengthening the firm as a whole by bringing in experienced partners with diverse areas of expertise and developing in-house talent across our offices in The Hague and Amsterdam. With his extensive experience and international expertise, Leon Hoppenbrouwers is a valuable asset to our existing real estate practice. We also believe firmly in providing our in-house talent with ample opportunities to grow professionally. Koen van Wijk is a passionate and enthusiastic assigned civil-law notary who has made significant strides within the notarial practice in recent years. We are delighted to welcome him to the partner group and wish him every success in his new role.”
Amsterdam office strengthened with four new partners since opening
BarentsKrans previously announced that, in addition to Leon Hoppenbrouwers, Homme ten Have will join the firm on 1 January. Ten Have has been a lawyer and partner for more than 25 years and has spent his entire career at NautaDutilh. An experienced specialist in employment law, he advises international companies, financial institutions and professional service providers, with particular expertise in executive appointments and dismissals, the roles of trade unions and works councils as employee representatives, and employment law matters relating to mergers and acquisitions. Fintech partner Arno Voerman and Banking & Finance partner Martijn van der Vliet also joined BarentsKrans in October and November, respectively, and are both based in the firm’s Amsterdam office.