Geertjan van Oosten

Practice

After studying Dutch law at the University of Amsterdam, Geertjan van Oosten has been practicing law since 1998. The first 4.5 years he worked at the leading law firm Trenité van Doorne. In 2002 he started his own law firm with others. In October 2007 he started Van Oosten advocaten. In June 2018, this led to the formation of Van Oosten Schulz De Korte Advocaten and in 2021 of OSK. Geertjan specializes in public, criminal and regulatory law, focusing on all aspects of economic criminal and regulatory law. He assists companies, including multinationals (including chemical, raw materials, pharmaceutical and medical industry) and their directors. A large part of his practice involves advocacy and interaction with governmental bodies. He is also one of the few lawyers in the Netherlands who represents lawyers, civil-law notaries, doctors, accountants and bailiffs in disciplinary proceedings. His services are highly sought after and Geertjan enjoys strong relationships with various well-regarded media outlets.

Geertjan completed the specialist course in criminal law at the Pompe Institute of Utrecht University and the Special Business Criminal an d regulatory Law course at the VU. Since 2008 he has been the secretary (and acting chairman) of the board of the Dutch Association of Defence Counsel (NVSA). For ten years, he was the criminal law portfolio holder and chairman of the editorial staff of Advocatenblad, the official journal of the Netherlands Bar Association, and a member of various Ministerial Working Parties and consultations on behalf of the Netherlands Bar Association. He regularly acts as an expert in the media and regularly publishes in the professional law journals, some examples of which can be found under News and Publications. Geertjan has taught criminal procedure to trainee-lawyers and is a director of the training institute of the Dutch Association of Defence Counsel, in which capacity he organises many training courses each year. In addition, he is a member of the European Criminal Bar Association (ECBA) and the European Fraud and Compliance Lawyers Association (EFCL).

Expertise

• General and financial/economic criminal law
• Administrative law
• Environmental, product liability and other issues entailing criminal liability
• Disciplinary law and professional conduct issues
• Risk and reputation management

Experience

• Acting for a number of chemicals producers and energy companies in various administrative law proceedings arising out of pollution regulations
• Representation of a Caribbean trading company in proceedings against the public prosecutor for the release of a multimillion claim for the settlement of a foreign arbitral award
• Acting for a foreign airliner in litigation concerning preferential treatment by the Dutch State of the national airliner KLM
• Representing a major German laboratory in litigation against the Dutch State to gain access to the Dutch market for Covid-19 PCR-testing and related lobbying of the relevant governmental departments
• Representing the Royal Dutch Hunting Association and Royal Dutch Shooting Association in litigation against the Dutch State following the introduction of an online psychological test to assess fitness to apply for a gun license, including coordination of press strategy and raising of parliamentary questions
• Acting against the Dutch State for more than 900 victims of a USD 50 million fraud in litigation before the Court of Appeal seeking to set aside a EUR 775 million AML settlement with ING Bank

Acknowledgements

Geertjan is recommended by Legal500 (2024):

‘The only boutique firm in the Netherlands that operates on the edge of civil litigation and arbitration and criminal defence/ white collar crime work. They have an impressive international disputes practice and have proven to be a reliable partner in a number of complex proceedings.’

‘Van Oosten Schulz De Korte  Advocaten has an ‘impressive international disputes practice’, advising on corporate and commercial litigation and arbitration, regulatory matters and white collar criminal defence work. An impressive client roster includes Gazprom Dutch Group Entities, Turkish Airlines and Hudson’s Bay Company.’