Linklaters has strengthened its corporate practice in Amsterdam with the hire of partner Jan Willem de Boer from De Brauw Blackstone Westbroek.

De Boer, who specialises in corporate, M&A, restructuring and insolvency, will join Linklaters' Amsterdam office on 1 May as the fifth partner in its local corporate practice.

De Boer resigned from De Brauw today (8 March), where he has headed the firm's Amsterdam restructuring practice for the past three years. He joined De Brauw in 1991 and became a partner in 1998.

He said: "Linklaters is a great firm with a great reputation and a very strong team. I'm looking forward to helping them to develop its M&A work."

De Boer's client base includes Dutch-listed corporates, Dutch banks and insurance companies, the Dutch State and Dutch private equity-owned private companies. At Linklaters, he will focus more on M&A and corporate work.

Commenting on the hire, Linklaters Amsterdam managing partner Martijn Koopal said: "We're very happy to have Jan Willem join our team. He is one of the leading corporate lawyers in the Netherlands with an outstanding track record of advising on a wide range of M&A, capital markets and restructuring transactions.

"Our strategy is to grow our corporate practice in response to client demand and his arrival fits nicely within this aim."

A spokesperson for De Brauw said the firm had not found a replacement for De Brauw and in the meantime his work would be shared out among the practice.