Education and career

After receiving his Master’s degree in Notarial Law from Leiden University in 2005, Barry went on to complete the Professional Notarial Training Programme in 2009, and then the Company and Corporate Law specialisation programme at the Grotius Academy a year later. From early 2006 to late 2019, Barry worked as a candidate notary in The Hague before joining the team at De Clercq in 2020 as a senior candidate notary in the Corporate Law and Family Law sections.

Barry’s daily practice

‘As a candidate notary at De Clercq, I help entrepreneurs with numerous legal matters, including setting up or unbundling structures (with respect to holding and active limited liability companies), as well as preparing and supervising mergers, demergers, acquisitions and share transfers. This means I am involved at every stage of a business, from incorporation and expansion to restructuring, downsizing, liquidation and sale. I also have extensive experience in setting up employee participations. This work sometimes requires me to collaborate with professionals in a number of disciplines, including accountants, tax specialists and our legal department. I also set up foundations (public benefit organisations) and associations on a daily basis. A good example of the intersection between corporate and personal/family law is the certification of assets (including family assets). At De Clercq, I am also focusing increasingly on estate planning and business succession within family businesses. I believe that this work is where my expertise and interest in the various areas of law really come into their own.’