Kees van de Meent

Kees van de Meent is a stand out. He is very smart, thinks very quickly and is very pragmatic. Great lawyer, very hands-on – Legal 500, 2025

Co-Head of the Netherlands, Partner (Advocaat), Restructuring & Insolvency / Cross-border Asset Recovery
Netherlands

Expertise

Kees is the National Managing Partner of AG’s Netherlands office. He co-heads the Netherlands Restructuring & Insolvency team and also heads the Netherlands Cross-border Asset Recovery team. He has over 30 years’ experience as an insolvency practitioner in a number of high-profile and complex cross-border insolvencies. He also acts as an adviser to companies in financial difficulty. He has extensive experience in pre-insolvency (WHOA) restructurings, both as counsel to the company and as a court-appointed official.

He advises on the full range of restructuring and insolvency work, including advising companies in financial difficulty and acting as restructuring expert, observer, administrator or bankruptcy trustee. He also focuses on cross-border asset recovery cases, fraud litigation (prosecuting civil fraud claims) for companies, financial institutions, (foreign) insolvency practitioners and high-net-worth individuals.

Experience

Acting as bankruptcy trustee in the bankruptcy of Sports Unlimited Retail B.V (Perry Sport, Aktie Sport and Sprinter)
Acting as court-appointed bankruptcy trustee in the bankruptcy of the famous Dutch department store chain V&D
Acting as court-appointed bankruptcy trustee of Exem Energy B.V., a company connected to the daughter of the former President of Angola, which allegedly participated in a corruption scheme to benefit its UBO
Acting as counsel to the Dutch subsidiaries of a large multinational fitness group
Acting as observer in the WHOA proceedings of a Dutch tour operator

Testimonials

"He has a wealth of experience, is hands-on and has a great mind" – Chambers, 2025
"Kees van de Meent is a solid trustee. He is always very dedicated and has integrity" – Chambers, 2025
"Kees van de Meent stands out for his knowledge and experience in judgement enforcement and asset recovery. In addition, Kees regularly acts as a court-appointed liquidator and administrator in insolvency proceedings in the Netherlands, which gives him a unique angle on recovering misappropriated value or enforcing judgments and awards" – Legal 500, 2025
"Kees van de Meent is a stand out. He is very smart, thinks very quickly and is very pragmatic. Great lawyer, very hands-on" – Legal 500, 2025
"Both Kees van de Meent and Hanneke De Conninck are easy to work with and delivers great results on time. You feel very secure when being represented by them" – Legal 500, 2025
"He is a top counsellor and dedicated advocate" – WWL, 2024
"Kees van de Meent offers a unique combination of insolvency law and cross-border asset recovery in corruption cases. His many years of experience in insolvency law and his membership of FraudNet make him eminently suited to advise parties prejudiced as a consequence of international commercial fraud. In addition, he represents companies, managing directors, supervisory directors and creditors in the area of international insolvency law" – Legal 500, 2024
"I appreciated Kees’ fast learning curve in the domain, the speed of his ‘case diagnosis’ and the collaborative approach in finding creative solutions for the complexity at hand" – Chambers, 2023
"Kees van de Meent is a real expert in the field of cross-border insolvency cases" – Chambers, 2023
"Kees van de Meent is excellent in complex fraud cases. The team has an objective approach to the issues of the case and can bring efficient resolutions to the matter" – Legal 500, 2023
"Kees van de Meent has a unique quality to be both extremely knowledgeable and pragmatic" – Chambers, 2023
"He is a top-notch lawyer who always keeps an eye on the bigger picture" – Chambers, 2023
"Kees van de Meent is well-known as court appointed trustee and is absolutely the go-to for companies in financial difficulties with a great strategic approach." – Legal 500, 2024
"Kees van de Meent comes highly recommended and is one of the top practitioners in the field for the very large complex restructuring and insolvency matters" – Legal 500, 2024
"Working with Kees can de Meent is a pleasure. He is knowledgeable, practical and always available to assist" – Legal 500, 2024
"Kees van de Meent is highly experienced and has contacts everywhere – the Dutch leader, even in the niche areas of asset tracing and recovery" – Legal 500, 2024
"Kees van de Meent is a leading specialist on cross-border matters. He is also strong on asset recovery and it is always a pleasure to work with him" – Chambers, 2024
"Extremely skilled, straight to the point and pleasant to work with" – Legal 500, 2024
"Kees van de Meent has a strong knowledge about complex asset recovery cases. He is a leading asset recovery specialist" – Legal 500, 2024
"Global elite thought leader" – WWL Asset Recovery
"He has a hands-on approach and extensive knowledge and expertise in insolvency law" – WWL, 2025

Qualifications

Advocaat admitted to the Dutch Bar
Listed in the Register of Legal Practice Areas of the Dutch Bar Association for Insolventierecht (Insolvency law)

Recognition

Chambers Netherlands - Restructuring / Insolvency: Administration: Band 2
Legal 500 Netherlands - Restructuring & Insolvency: Leading Partner
Legal 500 Netherlands - Fraud and White-Collar Crime: Band 4
Global Elite Thought Leader Netherlands - Asset Recovery: Lexology GIR

Professional memberships

Exclusive Dutch member of ICC’s FraudNet
Officer of the Asset Recovery Committee of the International Bar Association (IBA)
Chairman of the Supervisory Board of a sizeable family-owned company
Member of the Board of Delegates (College van Afgevaardigden)of the Netherlands Bar Association
Member of the Netherlands Bar Association Finance Committee
Member of INSOL International, INSOL Europe, INSOLAD and NVRII/NACIIL

Training delivered