Machteld Claessens

Experience - Many residents of Curaçao suffer due to severe air pollution from the Isla oil refinery. With Stibbe’s help, a number of residents living under 'the smoke of Isla', alongside environmental organisations, have sued the state of Curacao for wrongful acts towards them.

Experience - Following the introduction of a new national financial distribution model, the large municipalities of The Hague, 's-Hertogenbosch, Amersfoort and Utrecht have been allocated insufficient government funds to finance social security payments. On 1 July 2019, the Central Appeals Tribunal ruled that this was unlawful and instructed the Ministry of Social Affairs to find a new distribution method.

Experience - On Friday 6 July, the District Court Midden-Nederland ruled in the summary proceedings filed by Beter Onderwijs Nederland (BON) against Maastricht University, among others, about providing courses in English at Dutch universities. All claims filed by BON have been rejected. 

Experience - Stibbe advises an educational institution on approved business-oriented training courses, based on factual and legal research. Furthermore, Stibbe represented this organization in legal proceedings regarding proposals to cut funds by and two other non-financial sanctions by the Minister of Education, Culture and Science.

Experience - Stibbe advises the Municipality of The Hague in a case against the Dutch State in a discussion about the Participation Act. The Participation Act supports people with an occupational disability. Stibbe advised the Municipality of The Hague and a six other municipalities in legal proceedings about the division of the annual budget of the central government among the municipalities and acts as lead counsel in the very complex cases before the courts.

Experience - Stibbe advises a University of the Arts regarding the periodical assessment and accreditation of its bachelor programme in music and on offering online music programmes.