Last Monday, the second Dutch Bench Bar Meeting was held at Brinkhof in Amsterdam
The Dutch UPC Bench Bar Meeting is a periodic gathering for all UPC representatives from any country, organized by a consortium of leading Dutch law firms in collaboration with UPC judges from the UPC Local Division The Hague. The meeting is designed to foster knowledge exchange within the UPC community.
Also the second edition proved to be a success, with almost 90 participants attending the event in person and online.
The theme of the meeting was: ‘The role of experts in UPC litigation’. After an introductory presentation by Wim Maas, a panel discussion was held with judges from the UPC Local Division The Hague Margot Kokke and Edger Brinkman. The panel also included UPC representatives Judith Krens, Rien Broekstra and Peter van Gemert.
Chatham House Rules applied to the meeting to encourage an open exchange of views.
Topics discussed included what the role of expert evidence in UPC proceedings, what the expert evidence should relate to, whether experts should be heard, and if so how and when.
After a lively discussion, the participants seemed to agree on just two points: that the role of experts in UPC proceedings differs from that in UK proceedings, and that there appears to be a need for more guidance on how to handle expert evidence, especially concerning the hearing of experts, as the Rules of Procedure offer a lot of flexibility and leave room for varying interpretations, including ones that may differ from what the drafters of the Rules of Procedure originally intended.
