Nicolien van den Biggelaar

Nicolien van den Biggelaar is an experienced litigator and expert in public law, including Dutch and European environmental law, spatial planning, nature conservation, compliance and enforcement, European law and regulatory matters. Legal 500 EMEA consistently recognises her as a leading environmental lawyer and she is ranked first tier in Chambers Europe. In 2018 she was also inducted into the Legal 500 Hall of Fame – Environment and Planning.

Nicolien acts on behalf of both national and international companies and Dutch principals on the regulatory, environmental and spatial planning aspects of infrastructure projects, including energy production facilities, pipelines, electricity transmission systems, wind farms, chemical industry projects and harbour infrastructure.

Nicolien regularly represents clients in negotiations with regulatory authorities and in litigation before administrative and civil courts. She communicates easily with stakeholders and regulatory authorities alike, and actively works with environmental and technical specialists to build strong cases which withstand judicial review proceedings by third parties. Her expertise is regularly sought in M&A transactions and IPOs.

Nicolien is a member of the board of the Dutch Association of Public Law and former Chairman of  the Dutch Environmental Lawyers Association (VMA). She is also a speaker and lecturer on various public law, environmental law and sustainability topics.

Nicolien’s recent work includes advising

• TenneT on the expansion of the high voltage electricity transmission system, as well as litigating on TenneT’s behalf in civil and administrative courts
• North Sea Wind Power Hub project, a consortium of Energienet. TenneT, Port of Rotterdam and Gasunie
• Port of Rotterdam on the expansion of the industrial area ‘Maasvlakte 2’ and all zoning plans for the industrial area of the Port of Rotterdam
• Various clients in the chemical industry sector on environmental and sustainability issues and litigation on their behalf
• TransitieCoalitie on legal topics regarding the energy transition
• Gemini (offshore wind) on regulatory issues