B. O. Eschweiler is a Dutch lawyer based in Amsterdam, the Netherlands, whose career has centered on corporate law. He was sworn in as a lawyer in 1987, worked for the Amsterdam firm Dolk-Verburg-Diamand until 2007, and then co-founded Spring Advocaten, an Amsterdam business law firm.
Background
Eschweiler's legal training took place in the Netherlands, where he studied law at the University of Amsterdam. His education and professional life were both centered on Amsterdam, a city that hosts the Rechtbank Amsterdam and the Netherlands Commercial Court, the principal courts for international commercial disputes in the country.
His career therefore developed within the Dutch legal system, in which lawyers are admitted to a national bar and practice before the country's courts.
Education
Eschweiler studied law at the University of Amsterdam. The institution traces its origins to the Athenaeum Illustre, which Gerardus Vossius opened on 8 January 1632 to educate the citizens of Amsterdam. The Athenaeum remained a small institution for much of its history, and it could not confer degrees until the nineteenth and late nineteenth centuries; it became a municipal university in 1877 under the Higher Education Act of 1876.
Eschweiler was sworn in as a lawyer in 1987. The Netherlands Bar Association (Nederlandse Orde van Advocaten) was established under the Advocatenwet on 1 October 1952 to regulate the legal profession in the Netherlands, and under the Lawyers Act all lawyers must become members of the Netherlands Bar.
Career
After completing his law studies, Eschweiler worked as a corporate lawyer for an employers' organisation for a number of years. Employers' organisations bring together businesses to represent their collective interests, and corporate lawyers in such bodies advise on the legal side of business matters.
After his swearing-in in 1987, he worked for the Amsterdam corporate law firm Dolk-Verburg-Diamand, where he was a partner, until 2007. Amsterdam's commercial legal sector, anchored by its courts for international commercial disputes, provided the setting for this practice.
In 2007 he moved to Spring Advocaten, an independent Amsterdam firm founded in 2007 by Bob Eschweiler and Ralph Dessaur. The firm focuses on business law in the broad sense, covering areas such as business, commercial, employment and property law. Eschweiler is identified as a co-founder of the firm, and his own practice covers a broad range of corporate law, including real estate and tenancy law, joint ventures and acquisitions.
Membership
Eschweiler is a member of several Dutch specialist legal associations: the Competition Law Association, the Commercial Law Association, the Employment Law Association, the Dutch Association for Procurement Law, and the Dutch Association for European Law. Such specialist associations allow lawyers working in a particular area of law to share expertise, follow developments in their field and maintain professional contacts across the profession.
Competition Law Association
Commercial Law Association
Employment Law Association
Dutch Association for Procurement Law
Dutch Association for European Law
References
Spring Advocaten
The firm's profile of Eschweiler, describing his admission as a lawyer in 1987, his work at Dolk-Verburg-Diamand until 2007, his move to Spring Advocaten, and his memberships in specialist legal associations.
