University of Leiden
Maruca Overdijk was born in 1960. She pursued her legal training in the Netherlands, studying law at the University of Leiden before beginning her legal career in Amsterdam. Her professional profiles list Dutch and English as her languages.
Maruca Overdijk studied law at the University of Leiden. Founded in 1575 by William of Orange, Leiden is the oldest university in the Netherlands; it was created to give the northern Netherlands an institution that could educate its citizens and supply the government with educated men in many fields.
Her law studies at Leiden preceded her legal career in Amsterdam, where she was admitted to the bar in 1987. Her later mediation training took place in 2006 and 2007.
Overdijk began her career in Amsterdam, where she was admitted to the bar in 1987 and worked as a lawyer at Van Doorne until 1991. The firm was founded in Amsterdam in 1930 by P. W. van Doorne, who initially represented a number of pro bono clients before the practice grew into a major Dutch law firm.
In 1991 she joined Boels Zanders, a firm based in Maastricht, and became a partner in 2001. Boels Zanders was established in 1980. Its partnership was formed on 1 January 2001 when the partnerships Boels van Eijndhoven & Coenegracht and Zanders & Eikendal merged, creating a firm with offices in Maastricht, Sittard, Roermond and Venlo. The partnership became Boels Zanders NV in 2006.
Her practice centres on labour law. Her firm profile lists employment and pensions, healthcare law and social security among her areas of expertise. She advises companies and foundations on strategic reorganisations and employee participation law, and advises both entrepreneurs and works councils. She also lectures on labour law and helps foreign clients with employment law issues.
Since 2007 she has been a registered mediator, assisting directors, supervisory boards and individual employees in conflict situations. In 2021 she also began working as a mediator with Result ADR, an alternative dispute resolution practice.
Overdijk co-founded the Vereniging Arbeidsrechtadvocaten Nederland (VAAN), the Dutch association of labour lawyers, and has served as a current and former board member of several associations and foundations. The association's name identifies it as a body for lawyers practising labour law in the Netherlands, the field in which she specialises.
Her firm's professional profile describes her as down-to-earth and pragmatic, and says she solves organisational problems.
