Wouter is a partner in the Intellectual Property practice in the Netherlands, based in Amsterdam where he is one of the founding partners. He also is a member of the Tech & Comms, Life Sciences and Energy & Utilities groups.  Before Wouter studied law, he studied architecture and building construction at Eindhoven University of Technology. He has always kept a keen interest in both technology and design, so when he became a lawyer in 1989, the choice for intellectual property was a very natural one.  In his practice, he focuses on patents and trade secrets, mainly in electronics and life sciences, but also handles trademark, copyright, and design cases.  He finds that in order to properly work on innovation, one also needs to handle the regulatory framework, especially in biotech and pharma. Wouter advises clients on these aspects, but he also does litigation and if necessary complaints with the European Commission, together with his team of competition law specialists.  He tries to contribute to the development of the law in his areas and has been involved in the legislative work around the Unified Patent Court and the Trade Secrets Directive and have published extensively on intellectual property. Wouter is a board member of the Dutch IP litigators' association VIEPA and active in various other associations.