Six partners and 14 associates will be joining De Brauw, who started building up a tax practice in January when it appointed tax partner Hans Marseille from Stibbe, Simont. "Nowadays, life without a tax group is impossible," says Marseille. "This is just the start." Rene Van Eldonk, a partner moving to De Brauw, says that he was attracted to the firm by its international links. "The main issue was that De Brauw is part of Linklaters & Alliance. Our client base is very international and this opens us up to a new market."
But there is some question as to the staying power of this particular tax group. A tax partner at a leading Netherlands firm says: "These people were part of KPMG and also Wisselink, this will be their fourth firm in a decade." Ernst Enschede, managing partner at Buruma agrees. "They have a natural tendency to be somewhat unhappy wherever they are."
Buruma's loss follows the breakdown of its proposed merger with Loeff, Claeys, Verbeke just over a year ago. One Dutch lawyer says. "The Loeff merger didn't materialize. That may be why the partners wanted to leave." Enschede, at Buruma, confirms that it was the tax partners who had pushed for the merger. "The others are thriving, based on niche practices, for which we do not have to merge."
