Liesbeth Schippers heads the Planning and Environment Law team, a dedicated group of 19 specialist attorneys. Liesbeth is touted for her expertise in the field of planning and environment law in the Netherlands. She focuses mainly on large-scale and complex spatial projects and her recent work includes advising on:
- reinforcement of the Waddenzee dikes
- coastal reinforcement at Petten (Weak Links)
- widening the motorway between Schiphol-Amsterdam-Almere (SAA), including the new railway bridge near Muiden
- redevelopment of the Port of Scheveningen and the Binckhorst
- construction of the A4 motorway between Delft and Schiedam
- decision-making on the new premises of Eurojust, the International Criminal Court and the International Court of Justice in The Hague
- widening the A2 motorway between 's-Hertogenbosch and Eindhoven
- construction of the RijnlandRoute and the Rotterdamsebaan;
- extending the Hoekse Lijn to the beach of Hoek van Holland
- expanding Eindhoven and Lelystad airports
- restructuring greenhouse horticulture in De Bommelerwaard.
The more complex the issue, the more passionate Liesbeth seems to become. Her advice is always creative and aimed at finding solutions. No detail escapes her attention. She is unrivalled in her understanding of the political and administrative ramifications and underlying technical processes of these extensive and complex projects.
Her attention to the more technical aspects of a project, including vibrations, EIA, flood protection, noise nuisance, external safety, nitrogen disposition, and air quality, provides huge additional value to the various planning projects. Liesbeth knows which research is of decisive importance for courts and for the reliance required.
Team player
Together with her clients, Liesbeth operates on a daily basis at the intersection of legal, administrative and technical disciplines, offering end-to-end high quality legal assistance. A genuine team player, her motto is: "There is no project without a team!". Liesbeth is often also included in a client's project team in order to get the proper feeling for the various and varied aspects that are material for that specific project.
Legal project management
Liesbeth's passion is to improve the decision-making process for spatial projects. Based on her longstanding advice and litigation experience with large-scale and often highly complex spatial projects, she has developed products, together with her team, in the field of legal project management. Workshops and checks that help project teams make the decisions and the relevant investigations stand the test of the Dutch Council of State. Examples include:
- Blind Spots Check: a preventive check to identify any invisible loopholes in the project
- Lijn op Order workshop: a workshop to help making well-substantiated and reproducible project choices that will stand up in court
- Crash Test: a legal review of the decision and other plan products before they are adopted (in draft).
Together with her team, Liesbeth is currently developing a workshop called "Participation can be learned & Trust can be built" (in Dutch: Participeren kun je leren & Vertrouwen kun je bouwen).
Recommendations
- Senior Statespeople - Chambers Europe, 2023
- "Liesbeth Schippers is an excellent legal advisor and litigator." - The Legal 500, 2023
- "She brings parties together in finding a way forward when interests collide in large projects. She is also a dedicated account manager, who is always trying to provide the services needed." - Chambers Europe, 2022
- Leading individual - The Legal 500,2022
- "Liesbeth Schippers is not easily daunted and brings parties together in finding a way forward when interests collide in a large project." - The Legal 500, 2022
- "Liesbeth Schippers is very pragmatic and down to earth, and they look for solutions that are beneficial to all parties concerned." - The Legal 500, 2022
- "Liesbeth Schippers heads the practice and has notable experience in large-scale spatial projects." - The Legal 500, 2022