Leiden University
Michiel Wesseling was born in 1956. He later studied civil law at Leiden University in the Netherlands and was admitted to the bar in 1983, beginning a legal career centred on Rotterdam. He speaks English, French and German. Rotterdam, the Netherlands' major port city, has been the setting for much of his documented professional practice.
Wesseling studied civil law at Leiden University, which was founded in 1575 and is the oldest university in the Netherlands. His master's degree in civil law is documented for the period 1976 to 1983. Dutch civil law belongs to the Continental European tradition of codified private law, and his degree placed him within that legal system.
His admission to the bar in Rotterdam in 1983 marked the start of his professional practice as a lawyer. In the Netherlands, the profession is regulated by the Netherlands Bar Association (Nederlandse Orde van Advocaten), which governs the admission and conduct of lawyers.
Wesseling's documented career began in 1983 as an associate at Van Heycop ten Ham, a Dutch law firm that later merged into Houthoff. From 1987 to 1992 he worked as a senior associate at Loeff Claeys Verbeke. That firm had been formed in 1990 through a merger of a Brussels practice with Loeff & Van der Ploeg, an Amsterdam and Rotterdam firm. Its Dutch partnership divided in 1999, when a large group of partners moved to Allen & Overy, and the firm was absorbed in 2000 by Allen & Overy and Loyens & Loeff.
In 1992 he joined Houthoff, a firm known before the 1999 merger with Buruma Maris as Houthoff Buruma, and became a partner. Houthoff describes itself as an independent, full-service Dutch law firm with offices in Amsterdam, Rotterdam, Brussels, London and New York. Its membership of Lex Mundi gives it a single representation in the Dutch market, since only one firm per country can belong to that network.
Wesseling served as managing partner of Houthoff from 2001 to 2007. He has led the firm's China Team since 2004 and helped initiate and supervise the Houthoff Incubator Programme. His practice covers cross-border mergers and acquisitions, private equity, company law, corporate governance and joint ventures. He also acts as a mediator in disputes between directors, supervisory boards and shareholders.
Wesseling has served on the board of Lex Mundi, later becoming its chair, and is now its Chair Emeritus. Lex Mundi is described as the oldest and largest network of law firms, founded in 1989 to link independent firms in different jurisdictions so that clients can receive cross-border legal services.
He is also a member of the International Bar Association, a global organisation of bar associations and lawyers, and of the Dutch Securities Law Association, which brings together specialists in securities law.
Outside the legal profession, he sits on the board of the fund associated with the Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra, one of the major symphony orchestras in the Netherlands, and he chairs the supervisory board of Child & Youth Finance International, an international organisation working on access to finance for young people.
Wesseling's daughter, Annemarthe Wesseling, is also a lawyer. A photograph caption documents the father and daughter as lawyers, with her working at De Brauw and him at Houthoff.
