24 August 2015

De Brauw guides international lawyers into becoming "global lawyers"

Today, De Brauw Blackstone Westbroek launches The Brewery, the firm's training programme in English for non-Dutch lawyers. The Brewery is a parallel to De Brauwerij, the firm's well-established training programme in Dutch for new Dutch lawyers.
This is a special moment for both The Brewery participants and De Brauw as a law firm, as well as for its clients. Today, the first seven Brewery participants start working at De Brauw, hailing from all parts of the world: from China and Korea to Germany and Australia. And that is exactly what De Brauw aims to achieve with The Brewery: guiding international lawyers into becoming global lawyers. De Brauw selected the seven Brewery participants from nearly 200 non-Dutch candidates with a bachelor's and a master's degree in law. During their six-month training period, they will learn essential legal skills such as advising and contract drafting, as well as acquiring a basic knowledge of Dutch law and the Dutch language. At the conclusion of these six months, they will become part of De Brauw's international practice, working on matters for Dutch and non-Dutch companies, including international arbitration, M&A and competition matters. The Brewery participants are not considered lawyers qualified to practise law in the Netherlands, even though some of them have already been admitted to the bar in their country of origin. In addition to the seven members of The Brewery, De Brauw has about 15 non-Dutch lawyers. In early 2016, De Brauw will begin recruiting for the second edition of The Brewery, which is set to start in September 2016. For more information about The Brewery, please contact recruitment@debrauw.com.