Vivian van der Kuil

Vivian van der Kuil is a partner at Ten Holter Noordam advocaten and a highly experienced maritime and transport lawyer with a practice focused on complex maritime casualties, liability disputes and regulatory matters in the shipping and offshore sectors. She advises shipowners, insurers, P&I clubs and logistics operators on high-value and technically complex maritime disputes, often arising from major incidents or international logistic operations.

Vivian has extensive experience handling large maritime casualty cases and multi-party and cross-border disputes. She has been involved in several high-profile maritime casualties, including the Baltic Ace, Delfborg and Ever Given and more recently the Solong/Stena Immaculate matter. In complex cases such as maritime casualties she assists clients in securing their claim or in finding defences against claims, trough measures such as (ship) arrests and limitation of liability. She is an expert in coordinating complex proceedings and managing liability exposure following maritime accidents.

A significant part of Vivian’s practice involves contentious work. She represents clients in litigation before the Dutch courts and in arbitration proceedings in disputes relating to collisions, groundings, cargo claims and other shipping related disputess. She also acts in contractual disputes in the shipping, logistics and offshore sectors.

In addition to dispute resolution work, Vivian advises clients on transactional and regulatory aspects of shipping. She advises on shipbuilding contracts, charterparties, the sale and purchase of vessels and maritime projects in the offshore and energy sectors. Her advisory work includes maritime liability regimes, insurance issues, maritime contracts and compliance with EU and IMO regulatory frameworks.

Vivian has particular expertise in public international maritime law, including the Law of the Sea. She also focuses on matters relating to ship classification and the role and responsibilities of classification societies, advising shipowners, insurers and other maritime stakeholders on the legal and regulatory implications of classification issues.

Alongside her legal practice, Vivian is regularly appointed as an arbitrator in maritime disputes. She also serves as a deputy judge at the Court of Appeal in Arnhem-Leeuwarden and lectures in Private Law as part of the Dutch professional training programme for lawyers.

Before entering private practice, Vivian served as a naval officer in the Royal Netherlands Navy from 1994 to 2005. She subsequently worked within the Dutch judiciary as a judicial officer in training, public prosecutor and judge between 2005 and 2012. This background gives her a strong understanding of litigation strategy and judicial decision-making in complex disputes.

She is an active member of WISTA The Netherlands and WISTA International, a member of the legal committee of the IVR and a member of the CMI Working Group on the Liability of Classification Societies.

Vivian obtained an LLM in Public International Law from Utrecht University.

Within Ten Holter Noordam, Vivian chairs the firm’s Shipping. Logistic and Trade Market Group. This multidisciplinary team advises clients active in the port and logistics sector on matters where different areas of law intersect, including maritime, administrative, corporate and employment law.

Before entering private practice, Vivian served as a naval officer in the Royal Netherlands Navy from 1994 to 2005. She subsequently worked within the Dutch judiciary as a judicial officer in training, public prosecutor and judge between 2005 and 2012. This background gives her a strong understanding of litigation strategy and judicial decision-making in complex disputes.

WISTA The Netherlands,

WISTA International,

Member of the legal committee of the IVR and

a member of the CMI Working Group on the Liability of Classification Societies.

What's Wrong with International Law: Limitation of Liability for Maritime Claims and Politics: Curse or Cure

1 apr. 2015

In dutch: Rechtspraak De bijzondere positie van de classificatieorganisatie; immuniteit als belemmering voor aansprakelijkheid? – de zaak AL-SALAM BOCCACCIO ’98

Tijdschrift Vervoer & Recht 2020-5 p. 138-144 · 1 okt. 2020

University of Utrecht

LLM

1999 - 2003

Erasmus University Rotterdam

PhD Graduate student

2020