Mandy leaving legal practice behind

Yesterday we had to bid a regretful farewell to attorney Mandy Janzen-Westerburgen, who is not just leaving our firm, but the practice of law altogether. She has accepted the position of Managing Director Benelux at a large international group. I look back very fondly on the nine years we worked together, first at Maes Staudt Advocaten in Eindhoven and then, starting on 1 March 2020, at Maes Law in Breda. Given that she recently won Lexology's 2021 Client Choice Award, her clients will no doubt miss her as well, not to mention her swift service- and solution-oriented approach. Her knowledge of the field of corporate immigration is essentially unparalleled. Here at the firm, I have referred to it as an enormous loss of capital, not only for us, but for her as well. But ‘capital’ is not the most important thing in life and if you have become tired of the typical hit-and-run dynamic of legal practice, which is difficult to combine with your family life at the best of times, there is nothing wrong with making a change.

Both in general and for me in particular, though, her departure has hit the hardest on a personal level. Everyone who knows Mandy has been touched by her innate kindness, her integrity, her capacity for empathy, her thoughtfulness and her good humour. We go back nine years and this farewell has been and will continue to be a bitter pill to swallow. Naturally, we will still keep in touch – possibly even in the course of our professional lives – but that will not diminish the chasm she leaves behind in our corporate migration section, nor will it help us miss her less. But as I always say to everyone here: if you are not happy: move, you are not a tree.

We wish her every possible success at her new employer and in her new managerial position. If she demonstrates even half the effort and dedication that we were privileged to experience all those years, her new employer will be thanking their lucky stars that they hired her.

So long and all the best, Mandy!

And to our clients, I promise this: Mandy's departure will not in any way affect our services or their quality. David, Drenusha, Thom and Cigdem, and I of course, will take care of everything and will be here for you day and night.