William Schonewille is a partner at BarentsKrans and a lawyer since 1996. William specialises in Financial Litigation. He acts on behalf of investors and consumers as well as for financial institutions. William has extensive experience in complex litigation, both on an individual as class action basis. He is involved and has been involved in several high-profile class actions in banking and securities law, such as Via Claim, Leaseverlies (share leasing schemes), DSB Bank N.V. and Verliespolis (information and costload of unit-linked life insurance). Currently, William’s involvement includes the WAMCA proceedings against Airbnb and various other class actions. He is regularly asked by various national and international litigation funders to advise on (optimising) opportunities of complex (collective or individual) proceedings. William also advises in relation to the development of new financial products.

From 2006 to 2013, William served on the board of BarentsKrans. From 2008 to 2013, he was chairman of the board.

“He was always able to take care of our challenges. There were some very tricky and complex matters where he managed to achieve the optimum outcome for us.”

Chambers Global, 2023

Side activities

• Chairman of the board of Ars Donandi
• Board member of Voedselbank Haaglanden
• Member of the Financial Law Association (Vereniging voor Financieel Recht)
• Member of the Commercial Law Association (Vereniging Handelsrecht)
• Member of the Dutch Lawyers Association (Nederlandse Juristen Vereniging)
• Member of the Corporate Litigation Association (Vereniging Corporate Litigation)
• Various teaching and author positions