Marieke van den Heuvel

I am an associate in the Dispute Resolution Group in The Hague. I often work on complex and large-scale technical cases for a wide range of clients, from construction companies and factory owners to insurance companies and software suppliers.

My practice focuses on contractual disputes and liability issues in, amongst other things, the IT and construction sectors. I am also a member of our litigation and insurance teams, as well as our Life Sciences and Tech & Comms Groups.

I have extensive experience of drafting procedural documents for court proceedings, and representing clients before the Dutch courts and dispute resolution committees. In addition, I advise on commercial disputes in the pre-litigation stages and am regularly involved in litigations before the Dutch Supreme Court, working with Supreme Court lawyer Evelyn Tjon-En-Fa.

Having spent much of my childhood abroad and within international communities, I have always been very internationally minded. I enjoy travelling and engaging with people from different backgrounds. I think this is reflected in my work which tends to include many cross-border matters and work for international clients. Additionally, although I am a Dutch qualified lawyer, I currently live in London and divide my time between the London and The Hague offices.

What I enjoy above anything else is turning a complicated and extensive matter into a concise and clear case before the court. This mostly requires analytical skills and patience – both of which I endeavour to supply in large quantities.

• A case for a machinery breakdown insurer and a polypropylene producer against the latter's water treatment provider, concerning liability for a significant corrosion attack in the cooling water system of their factory. [with Evelyn Tjon-En-Fa]
• A case for an international software company against a Dutch customer, concerning the question whether the software and support provided by our client were in conformity with the agreement between parties. This case was won in full for our client, both in first instance and in appeal. [with Laura Grijpma]
• Several cases for large Dutch construction companies involving issues arising in construction projects and the resulting liability and insurance claims. [with Evelyn Tjon-En-Fa]
• A Supreme Court case for a travel search engine against the Dutch Advertising Standards Committee (RCC), which questioned whether the RCC could demand for the travel search engine to ensure that the service providers whose prices it showed on its website supplied their prices in conformity with applicable regulation. [with Evelyn Tjon-En-Fa and Olaf Trojan]
• A Supreme Court case for biopharmaceutical company Ablynx against Unilever, concerning a number of patents regarding 'Nanobody'-technology, and the demarcation line of the license agreements given to Ablynx and Unilever with regard to the use of this technology. [with Evelyn Tjon-En-Fa and Wouter Pors].