International law firm Bird & Bird is expanding its presence in Amsterdam by moving to a new, larger office in the city’s ‘Zuidas’ business district early next year.
The decision follows strong growth in Bird & Bird’s activities in Amsterdam, where the firm has had a smaller office since 2018 to complement the offices it opened in The Hague 20 years ago. The new Amsterdam premises will be in the SOM1 building in the centre of the Zuidas and provide room for up to 25 lawyers, facilitating Bird & Bird’s firm-wide growth strategy and offering space to host seminars and other client events.
In the 20 years since launching its first office in the Netherlands, Bird & Bird has consistently built out its practice advising and representing companies that are affected by digitalisation, technological innovation and regulation. Bird & Bird’s activities in Amsterdam are showing strong and consistent growth, particularly in the Energy & Utilities, Finance and Financial Regulation, Intellectual Property, Construction and Infrastructure groups.
Jeroen van der Lee, co-head of the Dutch office at Bird & Bird says: “Amsterdam is brimming with innovative businesses and exciting opportunities, which makes an expanded presence in the city a logical next step in Bird & Bird's journey. Following the success of our initial office in Amsterdam, the new location will enable us to have a closer relationship with our clients in the capital as well as with our international client base.”
Co-head Marc van Wijngaarden adds: “This move will bring us even closer to our clients in technology and communications, energy, IP, life sciences, real estate and finance in the Amsterdam area, as well as to the headquarters of the European Medicines Agency (EMA). Conveniently, our new office is just six minutes by train from Schiphol Airport.”
Bird & Bird’s core Amsterdam team consists of Sophie Dingenen (Energy & Utilities), Wouter Pors (IP), Roger van Buuren (Finance and Financial Regulation), Andrea Chao (Construction & Infrastructure) and Tjibbe Douma (IP), supported by a team of associates. Bird & Bird lawyers working in the Amsterdam and Hague offices will continue working together seamlessly, in line with the firmwide strategy of working as one team across offices and borders.