Hans is partner of bureau Brandeis. Internationally, Hans specializes in cross border antitrust damage litigation. His excellent skills in combining market economics with legal frameworks beef up his in depth knowledge of antitrust law obtained through 20 years of experience in antitrust litigation before the Dutch Courts, the European Commission, the Dutch competition authority and the European Court of Justice. As we speak, Hans is involved in the main cartel damages cases in the Netherlands: the Air Cargo Case and the Trucks Case. Hans is a tactful negotiator but can be a pit-bull if need be. He is a fighter who never settles for less. Therefore, Hans is a perfect fit for companies looking for recovery of damages from antitrust cartels, independently or through class action. To bureau Brandeis – challenging the status quo and backing the underdog – this newly built antitrust practice group fits like a glove.

Hans is the founder and editor of the Cartel Damages Quarterly: the world’s one and only journal on cartel damage competition case law. Hans is consequently on top of all new developments in cartel damage case law and regularly visits conferences and symposia on this matter. In addition to the written word, Hans is one of the speakers at the 2017 Kings College Conference on Cartel Damages where he will be commenting international developments in cartel damages case law, such as the retrospective applicability of the Directive, difficulties involving the passing on defense, limitation periods and disclosure.

Earlier work by Hans regarding antitrust damages litigation includes the attacking of the fixed price for books in Holland. Hans has gained quite a reputation in the media and entertainment industries for the results he booked regarding this matter: the Dutch book cartel was forced to let go of the cross border nature of their price fixing. Also, Hans worked on bringing down the monopoly the Belgium government held on radio frequencies for state aided broadcasters. Due to his efforts the Belgium authorities were forced to revise its legislation regarding this matter. He handled a case regarding a major toy manufacturer employing dual pricing.

Furthermore, Hans has not only acted against cartelists but has also handled quite a few antitrust compliancy cases, for example with regard to various trade organizations using vouchers only to be distributed by their members to consumers, such as the Book Voucher  (Boekenbon), the Entertainment voucher (Entertainmentbon) and the Fashion cheque. For the various trade organizations using these vouchers he developed guidelines on how to combine the need for a recognition system with anti trust legislation .

Nationally Hans is regarded as one of the best entertainment lawyers in the Netherlands (see his Dutch profile).

Publications

• The Netherlands as efficient jurisdiction for cartel damages claim litigation, IBA Legal Practice Division, International Litigation News May 2017
• Monetization of the Global Music Buiness, International Association of Entertainment Lawyers, IAEL, 2016, in samenwerking met Lex Keukens en Younes Moussaoui.
• De Wet op de vaste boekenprijs in de Praktijk: handleiding en commentaar, 2006. A practical guide to The Fixed Book Price Act,  2006.
• Jurisprudentie en commentaar Wet op de Vaste Boekenprijs, deel I en II, 2013. Case Law and Annotation on the Fixed Book Price Act, part I and II, 2013.
• Het Wetsvoorstel Auteurscontractenrecht: de premisse en de relatie tot het commune overeenkomsten (samen met P. Lindhout), AMI februari 2013. The proposed bill Copyright Contracts: and its relation to civil law (with P. Lindhout), AMI Febuary 2013.