For more than three decades Arent van Wassenaer was one of the best-known projects and construction lawyers in the Netherlands. He was a partner at Houthoff, at Norton Rose Fulbright, and at Allen & Overy in Amsterdam, building a broad international track record and a reputation as a strategic thinker.
He now works exclusively as a neutral. Through The Faithful Goose, founded in 2016, he is appointed as chair of dispute avoidance and adjudication boards, as arbitrator, as mediator, and as a facilitator on major construction and infrastructure projects across Europe and beyond.
His conviction, formed over forty years of watching how disputes arise and how they resolve, is that most are avoidable. A project governed well, with clear risk allocation and a standing neutral present from the outset, rarely reaches a hearing. The work is to build that governance, and, when a dispute does arise, to resolve it with rigour and finality.
He sits as an arbitrator, often as chair, with the ICC International Court of Arbitration, the Netherlands Arbitration Institute and the Raad van Arbitrage in bouwgeschillen (the Dutch Board of Construction Arbitration), in national and international cases, some of those involving FIDIC contracts, and serves as Deputy Justice at the Court of Appeal of Arnhem-Leeuwarden, having previously also sat at the Court of Appeal of The Hague.
He is the author of A Practical Guide to Successful Construction Projects (Routledge), a practitioner's book on project structure, risk, and the governance conditions that allow large projects to complete without destructive conflict. A second, fully updated edition is forthcoming with Routledge. On his retirement from Allen & Overy, colleagues marked his career with a Liber Amicorum, Van het Gebaande Pad, meaning “Off the beaten track.”
Arbitrator, frequently as chair, in ICC arbitrations, with dispute board and expert appointments through the ICC Court and the ICC International Centre for ADR.
Chair and member in NAI arbitrations, including large international construction and infrastructure disputes.
Arbiter with the Raad van Arbitrage in bouwgeschillen, the Dutch Board of Construction Arbitration. 60 arbitrations chaired to date.
Trainer and DRBF Country Representative for the Netherlands, and a practising chair and member of dispute avoidance and adjudication boards (DAB / DAAB).
Deputy Justice (raadsheer-plaatsvervanger) at the Court of Appeal of Arnhem-Leeuwarden; previously also at the Court of Appeal of The Hague.
Fellow of the invitation-only IACL. Former chair of IPFA Netherlands (2005-17) and former chair of the IBA International Construction Projects Committee; regular speaker for the IBA, ESCL and SCL.
Chairman of the Supervisory Board (voorzitter Raad van Toezicht) of STIGAM, a foundation promoting sustainable and innovative development along the river Maas. Rotterdam, since 2023.
Member of the Supervisory Board (Raad van Commissarissen) of Ontwikkelingsmaatschappij Gebiedsontwikkeling Fellenoord (Eindhoven) B.V., since 2024.
Co-founder of Vereniging Presolve, the Dutch centre of expertise for dispute-free construction. Presolve unites practitioners who help construction parties prevent and resolve disputes early, and publishes practical instruments such as the Zienswijzemethode, a fast and flexible procedure for resolving issues while the project keeps building.
www.presolve.infoMember ("Believer") of AlliantieNed, the Dutch alliance contracting network, and contributor to the drafting of the new Dutch Model Alliance Agreement.
www.alliantiened.nl
Alongside these, Arent has chaired and served as member in 60+ arbitrations under ICC and NAI rules and for the Dutch Board of Construction Arbitration, mediated 13 disputes arising from the bankruptcy of a major M&E contractor, and sat on dispute boards for major rail and public-building projects across Europe.
Away from projects: the cello, and the International Van Wassenaer Concours for early music, named after the composer Unico van Wassenaer.
Be patient toward all that is unsolved in your heart, and try to love the questions themselves as if they were locked rooms or books written in a very foreign language.
Rainer Maria Rilke, Letters to a Young Poet, 1903
The Faithful Goose treedt op als onafhankelijk voorzitter van dispute boards, als arbiter en als mediator bij grote infrastructuur-, bouw- en waterprojecten. Voor Nederlandse opdrachtgevers, zoals Rijkswaterstaat, waterschappen, provincies en gemeenten, betekent dit een neutrale voorzitter die geschillen voorkomt en, waar nodig, snel en definitief beslecht. Arent van Wassenaer combineert veertig jaar ervaring in het bouwrecht met een praktische, op de bouwplaats gerichte aanpak: een staande commissie die vanaf de start meekijkt, escalatie voorkomt en het project in beweging houdt.