Soo-Ja Schijf

Restructuring and reorganisation / Collective and individual dismissal / Employee co-governance / Outsourcing and TUPE projects / Board directors

Soo-Ja Schijf is Partner in the Labour and Employment practice group, where she heads the Employment team.

Soo-Ja has many years of experience in advising multinational companies on a wide range of employment and employee participation matters. Her expertise includes reorganisations, collective and individual dismissals, outsourcing, transfer of undertaking, negotiations with works councils and trade unions, and (cross-border) secondments.

She also advises regularly on (sensitive) matters, such as the appointment and termination of board directors, non-competition disputes, and the role of ESG in the employment relationship, for example in relation to diversity and inclusion.

Soo-Ja has an international track record and regularly speaks at international conferences. She also gives trainings on new employment law developments to in-house counsels, HR teams and attorneys. She is a member of the Diversity and Equality Law Committee and the Employment and Industrial Relations Law Committee of the International Bar Association (IBA), the European Employment Lawyers Association (EELA) and the Dutch Association for Employment Law (VvA).

Soo-Ja studied law at the University of Victoria in British Colombia (Canada) and at Utrecht University and was previously seconded to an international law firm in London.

The Legal 500 EMEA 2023 - Employment - Ranked

Kennedy Van der Laan has a strong focus on sectors including technology, financial services and healthcare, and has specific experience in employee governance, advising and representing employers and work councils. The firm is also active in restructurings and reorganisations, as well as employment-related data protection matters and #MeToo issues. The practice is led by Chris Nekeman, who specialises in employee participation and legal proceedings for works councils and employers, Soo-Ja Schijf, who primarily represents multinationals with European operations, and Ester Damen, who has expertise in employee participation and data protection in employment relationships.

Testimonials

• "We work mostly with Soo-ja Schijf. She is used to working for big international companies and helped us a lot in some complex legal matters."
• “Very responsive, and clear and concise in their advice to cut through some of the more complex aspects of Dutch labour law.”
• “Great partnership, always ready to assist, exceptionally professional and very accessible, with multicultural expertise. Very appropriate communication, critical thinking and ownership of the matter.”

Chambers Europe 2023 - Employment - Ranked

Up-and-coming Partner Soo-Ja Schijf has a broad international client base that includes major names from sectors as diverse as financial services and medical technology. Her experience encompasses matters relating to non-compete clauses and instances of sexual harassment.

Testimonials:

• "She is a person who knows how to combine commercial skills with technical skills."
• “They are very, very responsive and have a client-friendly approach."
• "They always provide practical solutions and advice."

• Advisor of a FinTech company in a legal dispute about the breach of non-competition and non-solicitation clauses by a (former) global senior executive.
• Advisor of a listed MedTech company in a complex collective redundancy process, including setting the strategy and negotiating with the works council and the trade unions.
• Advisor of a Dutch bank in a large international outsourcing, concerning the employment-law consequences of transfer of undertaking and the harmonization of (collective) employment conditions.
• Advisor of a multinational transport company about the dismissal of a board director.