Senior Associate | Attorney at law
Employment & Employee Participation
Caroline has considerable experience in guiding medium-sized to large national and international enterprises in every aspect of employment law, from individual dismissals and legal scans to complex reorganisations and company acquisitions. She also assists many educational institutions ranging from school districts to universities. In addition to ‘regular’ employment law, she also has a special interest in cross-border employment and education law.
Caroline is a highly motivated attorney who takes a solution-oriented approach underpinned by her strong interpersonal and decisive qualities. Her commitment, expertise and clarity inspire trust among her clients and colleagues. Caroline is French in origin and also has German, Spanish and English roots, making her multilingual – something which is of great practical benefit.
Caroline studied Dutch law at Leiden University, majoring in International Law.
Caroline has worked at De Clercq as an attorney since 2003, with a broad focus on employment law. She puts her multilingual background and international interest to good use in advising numerous international clients. She specialises in Education Law and Employment Law from a European perspective, and has completed mediation training, which also serves her practice well. As well as being an attorney, Caroline is a board member with the Technolab Leiden Foundation.
On an almost daily basis, Caroline deals with matters such as individual dismissals, reorganisations, working remotely from abroad, expatriates, unacceptable behaviour and the investigation of this, and disability in the workplace. She also provides advice to companies at the policy level. Caroline acts as in-house counsel for a variety of companies, and values the opportunity to get to know her clients well. This often leads to fruitful collaborations that last for many years. The same applies to the educational institutions with which Caroline has long-term involvements with respect to employment law matters.
Employment, Employee Participation & Mediation
18 November 2025
Additional powers usually work effectively only when they are clearly and formally agreed upon in writing between the Works Council and the management. This helps prevent disputes about what is actually intended and which rights the Works Council truly holds.
Employment, Employee Participation & Mediation
10 November 2025
In the Netherlands, nearly 1.7 million people work in healthcare — and yet there is still a significant staff shortage. These shortages create new challenges for managers and HR professionals. In practice, we see that this sometimes leads to hiring healthcare workers who later turn out not to be well-suited for the role. In this blog series, we discuss various employment law issues that can arise, from the recruitment process to the end of the employment relationship.
Employment, Employee Participation & Mediation
31 October 2025
A reorganization is a significant change in the structure or operations of a company. It is essential for employers to prepare a reorganization with great care, taking into account both the strategic objectives and continuity of the business as well as the interests of the employees.