Brechje advises both international and Dutch clients on the legal and practical aspects of dealing with employees in the Netherlands.
This includes matters such as the hiring and firing of staff, remuneration, pension matters, co-determination, collective bargaining agreements, collective redundancies and restrictive covenants.
Her areas of business include advisory and contentious work, and individual classic employment matters. She also advises on the employment and pensions aspects of (cross-border) M&A transactions – both in the period leading up to the transaction and post-integration.
She works for clients in a wide variety of sectors including energy, healthcare, media, consumer products, automotive, leisure and financial institutions.
Brechje has always worked in international law firms and has a long history of acting in a worldwide context. As a result, she understands the different mindsets and cultures of clients across jurisdictions, as well as their needs and concerns from a broader commercial perspective.
She worked for Clifford Chance from 1995 to 2002, when Brechje joined Freshfields to set up the people and reward group in the Amsterdam office. Since then, she has developed it from a one-woman practice into a team of six full-time employment and pensions lawyers.
Brechje speaks Dutch, French, English, German and Italian.
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- Advising on the employment and pensions aspects of the acquisition by AB InBev, the world’s largest brewer and owner of the Budweiser, Stella Artois and Corona brands, of SABMiller and the related sale of the Peroni, Grolsch and Meantime brands to Asahi Group Holdings. Read more about the deal in our case study.
- Advising on the employment and pensions aspects of the acquisition by Van Geloven (among other things known for the brand Mora) of Royaan (among other things known for the brands Van Dobben and Kwekkeboom) from Buitenfood.
- Advising on the employment and pensions aspects of the strategic global swap by Boehringer Ingelheim of its consumer healthcare business with Sanofi’s animal health business.
- Advising on the strategic collaboration by Talpa Holding with Telegraaf Media Groep (TMG), strengthening the positions of Talpa and TMG in the field of radio, television and over-the-top content (delivery of audio, video, and other media over the internet) and the creation of a new radio venture company comprising the stations Radio 538, Slam!, Sky Radio and Radio Veronica. As part of the transaction, TMG will acquire a strategic interest of 15 per cent in Talpa's current (33 per cent) interest in SBS.
- Advising on contentious and non-contentious work for companies such as ABN-AMRO, Bristol-Meyers Squibb, CWT, Enexis, Hewlett-Packard, Honeywell, ING Bank, Jacobs Douwe Egberts (until recently named D.E Master Blenders 1753), J.P.Morgan, Nationale Nederlanden, Nomura, RELX Group (formerly known as Reed Elsevier), RWE/Essent and UBS.
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