Karel Frielink

Karel Frielink has been an attorney as from 1989. He has been working in the Dutch Caribbean (f.k.a. the Netherlands Antilles) from 1997. He is admitted to the Dutch Caribbean bar and thus licensed to practice in Aruba, Bonaire, Curaçao, St. Maarten, St. Eustatius and Saba.

Karel is an experienced litigator, specialising in finance law, corporate law and corporate governance. He represents clients from a range of industries including banking, hospitality, aviation, oil and finance. He is very knowledgeable in the areas of proving fraud, asset location and recovery techniques. Karel not only dealt with highly complicated, multi-jurisdictional fraud cases, he also lectured on fraud, bribery and corruption at training seminars.

Being particularly expert in complex international fraud cases, Karel became a member of the FraudNet legal network in 2015. He is the representative of FraudNet for the Dutch Caribbean (Aruba, Bonaire, Curaçao, St. Maarten, St. Eustatius and Saba).

Karel is ranked Band 1 by Chambers and Partners in 2018 for the 9th time. According to Chambers and Partners, Karel continues to be regarded as a leading authority on corporate law in the Dutch Caribbean. According to sources Karel ”has an excellent way of putting himself in the client’s shoes”.

Karel has (co-)authored over 160 books and articles on various aspects of Dutch and Dutch Caribbean law. He is the author of the leading textbook on Dutch Caribbean law: Kort begrip van het Nederlands Caribisch Rechtspersonenrecht (A concise understanding of Dutch Caribbean corporate law; 1st edition 2017) and of Karel’s Legal Blog. He is a core editor and frequent commentator of ‘Jurisprudentie Onderneming en Recht (JOR)’, the Netherlands leading publication of jurisprudence in corporate and commercial matters, a core editor of ‘Financieel Recht in de Praktijk (FRP)‘ (a leading publication on Dutch finance law), a core editor of the ‘Caribisch Juristenblad’ (the leading publication in Dutch Caribbean law matters) as well as a core editor and commentator of ‘Commentaar Financieel Recht’ (a leading Dutch publication in financial law matters).

Karel’s memberships include: the Curacao Bar Association; International Bar Association; Dutch Finance Law Association; fellow of the Business and Law Research Centre, Radboud University Nijmegen; member academic staff Institute for Financial Law, Radboud University Nijmegen.

Karel is the Honorary Consul of Germany in Curaçao, St. Maarten, Bonaire, St. Eustatius & Saba (2012 – present), Dean of the Consular Corps of Curacao (2017 – present) and Lecturer on Advanced Corporate Law at the University of Curacao (2016 – present). He was a two-term President of the Curaçao Bar Association (2008 – 2012) and a member of the Board of Directors of the Curaçao Chamber of Commerce (2009 – 2011).