De Brauw appoints Marc van der Woude as Of Counsel in Brussels

De Brauw Blackstone Westbroek welcomes Marc van der Woude as Of Counsel, effective 2 November 2026. Van der Woude sat as a judge at the General Court of the European Union from 2010 and served as its President from 2019 until his resignation in September 2026.

Van der Woude will advise clients on European law and competition law. He will strengthen De Brauw's Brussels office, where De Brauw collaborates with its European Best Friends Bredin Prat, Hengeler Mueller, Slaughter and May, BonelliErede and Uria Menendez.

Dennis Horeman, Managing Partner at De Brauw: "European law sits at the centre of our practice. Marc combines fifteen years of experience as a private practitioner with more than a decade as a Judge, and later President, at the General Court of the European Union in Luxembourg. He helped shape the case law that now governs litigation and enforcement across Europe, in critical and fast-moving sectors such as digital. He also brings an impressive academic track record, holding the chair in competition law at Erasmus University Rotterdam. Few lawyers bring that combination, and our clients will benefit directly from it. We are excited to welcome him to our firm."

Marc van der Woude: "Some of the most defining questions before enforcers and courts today concern market concentration, platform conduct, fiscal state aid, and the quality of the evidence behind a decision. 

Cartels and mergers remain part of that docket, but new issues dealing with digital markets and the resilience of the EU have grown alongside them. Their answers will shape the next decade. I look forward to returning to private practice and working on exactly those questions, for clients who face them directly."

Van der Woude practised competition law from 1995 to 2010, after having worked for eight years in the EU institutions. He was appointed a judge at the General Court in 2010, became Vice-President in 2016 and President in 2019, a role in which he ruled on cases concerning digital markets, merger control and abuse of dominance. He has held the chair in competition law at Erasmus University Rotterdam since 2000.

About De Brauw Blackstone Westbroek

De Brauw Blackstone Westbroek is a leading independent European law firm. Our roots lie in the Netherlands, dating back to 1871. We advise clients on their most significant transactions, disputes and regulatory enforcement matters. These matters require a wide spectrum of expertise and experience, with our ability to integrate this complexity into a holistic advisory approach being central to how we work. From our offices in Amsterdam and Brussels and with desks in London and Singapore, we advise on complex cross-border matters worldwide