People
Richard de Haan
Biography
Richard heads the Litigation department of A&O Shearman in Amsterdam.
He specialises in dispute resolution with an emphasis on corporate litigation, securities litigation and corporate governance related disputes. He has a wide range of experience in handling public and private M&A disputes, joint venture and shareholder disputes and director liability cases, amongst others before the Enterprise Chamber of the Court of Appeals in Amsterdam.
Richard advises and represents public and private companies, private equity firms, family offices, governmental bodies and managing and supervisory boards. He has over 20 years of experience in the field and is widely recognized as one of the leading corporate litigators in the Netherlands.
Richard joined the firm in 2000 and has worked in our Amsterdam and New York offices. He publishes regularly and is a member of the Dutch Association for Corporate Litigation. He is a member of the Supervisory Board of Rechtswinkel Amsterdam, a legal aid centre run by law students and teaches professional ethics at the Law Firm School.
Practice areas
- Disputes
- Financial services litigation
- Corporate and commercial litigation
- Asset tracing and recovery litigation
- Tax litigation and investigations
- White-collar defense and global investigations
- Insurance
- Sanctions and international trade
- Restructuring insolvency and capital solutions
- Funds and asset management
Sectors
- Consumer and retail
- Energy
- Banks
- Industrials and manufacturing
- Infrastructure and transport
- Technology
- Insurance
- Communications media and entertainment
Selected experience
- Dutch Ministry of Finance on all litigation resulting from the expropriation by the Dutch State of SNS Reaal N.V., the fourth biggest bank-insurer in the Netherlands. The mandate included defending the Ministry against claims for compensation by former shareholders and bondholders of SNS Reaal in excess of EUR 2 billion and representing the Ministry in enquiry proceedings before the Enterprise Chamber of the Court of Appeals in Amsterdam.
- CVC Capital on a high value take-over dispute in the online gambling sector.
- DPA Group N.V. in litigation brought by minority shareholders on the lawfulness of a pre-wired asset sale implemented following the successful public bid for DPA Group N.V. by Gilde.
- Head Sports in litigation brought against it by former minority shareholders following a forced demerger.
- Abanca S.A. (EuroBic) on a USD 53 million claim brought against it in relation to its alleged role in a corporate fraud at Esperaza Holding B.V., a Dutch company controlled by Sonangol S.A. and holding an investment in Galp Energeia S.A.
- Aegon Ltd in legal proceedings brought against it by three hedge funds following an amendment made after the termination of LIBOR in the terms of a USD 500 million perpetual bond issued by Aegon.
- Various airline holding companies on a high-profile dispute with Schiphol Airport and the Dutch Ministry of Infrastructure on the attempted restriction of the operational capacity of Schiphol Airport.
- Bencis Capital Partners in a joint venture dispute in relation to one of its portfolio companies (enquiry proceedings before the Enterprise Chamber of the Court of Appeals in Amsterdam).
- Salta Group (NCOI Group) in a post-closing take-over dispute.
- CRH plc. in a EUR 13 mio post M&A earnout dispute.
Education
- Master of Laws, Dutch Law, University of Groningen, the Netherlands, 1999
- Master of Laws, International Law, University of Groningen, the Netherlands, 2000
- LLM, European Law, King’s College London, 2001
Admissions
- Admitted as advocaat, Netherlands, 2000
- Listed in the register of legal practice areas of the Dutch Bar Association for Litigation.
Languages
- Dutch
- English