Two lawyers have launched a European law firm that will cater to clients grappling with an evolving trade sanctions landscape.
Bennink Dunin-Wasowicz, which began operations on October 9, specialises in all aspects of trade compliance including sanctions and export controls and will help firms mitigate risks and manage disputes.
The company was founded by Sebastiaan Bennink and Jan Dunin-Wasowicz, who respectively leave law firms BenninkAmar and Hughes Hubbard & Reed to assume roles as partners in the new venture.
With offices in Amsterdam and Paris, the firm has already recruited three legal associates in the Netherlands.
“We are growing and are looking to make additional hires both at the junior and mid to senior-level associate levels,” Bennink tells GTR.
“We have a very diverse roster of clients, from global companies to small and medium-sized enterprises. The range of industries in which we are active is likewise very broad. We tend to have a focus on the industry and the critical technologies sectors,” he says.
In a statement, Dunin-Wasowicz says: “At a time when sanctions and export controls have never been more important for the EU, I am excited to start a new independent European practice focused on trade compliance.”
European importers and exporters are facing an increasingly difficult sanctions environment, with the EU having rolled out several packages of sanctions against Russia since its invasion of Ukraine in early 2022.
These measures have targeted various aspects of the Russian economy, including its energy export industry, while they have also sought to stifle Moscow’s ability to source military and dual-use goods.
Dunin-Wasowicz spent the past 12 years at Hughes Hubbard & Reed and worked his way up from associate to partner. Since July last year, he had also served as co-chair of the firm’s sanctions, export controls and anti-money laundering practice group.
Bennink joins from BenninkAmar, a law firm he co-founded in the Netherlands four years ago. It similarly specialised in sanctions, export controls and other trade matters, though Bennink confirms the organisation is no longer operational.
Bennink previously served as a partner at Wladimiroff Advocaten for two years and, prior to this, established a boutique law firm, B&A Law, which also had a focus on international sanctions and export and import compliance regimes.
