Houthoff welcomes leading energy lawyer Kirsten Berger as partner

Houthoff is proud to announce that as of March 2018, Kirsten Berger has joined Houthoff as a partner in the Energy practice group. Kirsten is renowned for her specific knowledge and experience in the field of the energy and industrial sector.

Kirsten acts as counsel to various energy and industrial companies in respect of projects, M&A transactions, commercial contracts, joint ventures, regulatory and financial matters.

Berger is one of the few energy lawyers in the Netherlands with such a dedicated focus on the energy and industrial sector. Within the sector, Kirsten advises on the full spectrum of matters. Therefore she has extensive experience in respect of transactions, commercial contracting and regulatory aspects.

'Kirsten Berger's practice aligns perfectly with our refined sector strategy. There are also opportunities in the area of energy in economic centres such as Houston and Singapore where Houthoff has also recently established its presence through our representatives' - Edward de Bock, Managing Partner at Houthoff.

‘The international strategy and network of Houthoff are key elements for a successful expansion of the practice in this international sector and have therefore been deciding reasons for joining Houthoff.’ - Kirsten Berger, Partner at Houthoff.

Prior to joining Houthoff, Kirsten worked at Stibbe, where she was a partner from 2011 onwards. She studied civil law, tax law and notarial law at Leiden University.

As a true sector specialist she has an extensive track record in respect of:

• projects and project development including wind parks (onshore and offshore), power plants, gas exploration and production and industrial plants (e.g. steam or hydrogen plants, LNG terminals, pipelines etc.)
• M&A transactions including controlled auctions for wind parks, interests in offshore gas fields and pipelines, industrial restructurings and private M&A transactions in the sector
• commercial contracting including power purchase agreements (including corporate PPA's), (industrial) gas supply agreements (including natural gas, steam, hydrogen, nitrogen etc.), transport and storage agreements, tolling agreements and refinery gas agreements utilities agreements (including water and heat)
• joint ventures in relation to wind parks, power plants, upstream gas projects and for innovative projects such as a waste to chemicals project
• regulatory matters including connection and transportation issues, third party access, gas quality matters, program responsibility and balancing, CO2 emissions trading, SDE subsidy aspects and EU Energy Regulations
• real estate aspects including pipeline issues and lease and ownership aspects