Niek Hoogwout

Niek has been a lawyer since 1995. He started out at the Rozemond law firm in Amsterdam, where he chose to specialise in European procurement law and civil construction law. In 2008, Niek joined the Geelkerken & Linskens law firm in Leiden. This firm merged with La Gro in 2019 to form the La Gro Geelkerken law firm. While Niek’s preferred option is to go for an amicable solution, he never shies away from a fight. Niek enjoys cooking, running, playing the piano, and going to the cinema, museums, operas, or plays whenever he can. On top of all of that, Niek is a running coach at Leiden Road Runners and at Hollen met Han. As a member of the PR committee of the 3 October Association, he is actively involved in the annual commemoration of the Siege of Leiden.

Specialist areas

• Architectural law
• Civil construction (contract) law
• Procurement law

Background and other work

• Law (Erasmus University Rotterdam, 1994)
• Netherlands Institute for Construction Law (Construction Law programme, 1998, private law)
• Netherlands Institute for Construction Law (Construction Law programme, 1999, public law)
• Grotius Specialisation Programme (European and Dutch Procurement Law, 2010)
• Grotius Specialisation Programme (follow-up programme in Procurement Law, 2012)
• Grotius Specialisation Programme (follow-up programme in Procurement Law, 2015)
• Member of the Dutch Procurement Law Association
• Member of the Association of Construction Lawyers
• Member of the Lighthouse Club, Rijnsteden department
• Netlaw/Netlaw Academy, section coordinator for procurement law and civil construction law
• Royal Institute of Dutch Architects (legal surgery at BNA, western region)

Recent cases

• Court proceedings on the question of whether completing the construction of a house would infringe on the architect’s copyright in case of disagreement on the correctness of a progress invoice
• Advising a building contractor on whether extra work is part of the contract or constitutes contract extras (that were submitted in time)
• Advising and assisting a globally renowned museum with respect to an invitation to tender
• Assisting in a private invitation to tender for the expansion of a tomb
• Drawing up a contractor agreement for a new industrial building for a timber yard
• Dispute before the Arbitration Board for the Building Industry on the final settlement of a collaboration between a developer and a contractor

Publications by Niek Hoogwout

List of publications

• Property Law 2017-2, Chronicle of Construction Arbitration (together with R. Keus LLM)
• JAAN, issue 2, 23 March 2019, no. 26, note to CJEU 28 November 2018, C-328/17
• JAAN, issue 6, 8 October 2020, no. 121, note to KG Court of Amsterdam, RBAMS:2020:2903 (together with D. Britsemmer LLM)