Who are we and what do we do?

Gelijk Advocaten is a law firm that specialises in migration law and (international) private and family law. Our core values are: fast, professional and no nonsense.

We assist companies and persons in all matters concerning staying in the Netherlands. Whether it concerns long stay, short stay, study, work and/or working in the Netherlands, family reunification, adoption, Dutch nationality or humanitarian reasons for a stay: we provide expert help and advice.

Our specialists are also more than happy to help you with subjects related to migration law, such as international divorces and fines imposed by the Labour Inspectorate or revocation of recognised sponsorship by the IND.

In addition, Gelijk Advocaten provides professional service when it comes to divorce, contact and authority and other matters in private and family law. Our lawyers have extensive experience in migration law, private and family law and have up-to-date knowledge of national and international law and legislation.

Gelijk Advocaten values corporate social responsibility. Between 2016 and 2018, all lawyers at our firm have worked for a number of weeks as volunteers in providing legal aid to the migrants in Moria refugee camp on the island of Lesbos in Greece.

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Bart Toemen

THE PEOPLE OF

De mensen van Gelijk

Bart Toemen

Bart Toemen has worked in migration law since 1998. On 1 January, he started as decision-maker at the IND in Zwolle. After a short while he switched to legal aid to asylum seekers in May 1998; one year at the Stichting Rechtsbijstand Asiel (Dutch Foundation for Legal Aid in Asylum Cases) and after that as a lawyer.

From 1 July 2010 he has been the advocacy contact person of the application centre for asylum seekers in Den Bosch. That same year he joined the board of the Specialist Association Migration law Lawyers (SVMA). He was part of the board until June 2016. He is still a member of this association. Since May 2017, he has been a member of the Commissie Strategisch Procederen (Committee for Strategic Litigation) at VluchtelingenWerk Nederland and a member of the Commissie Gefinancierde Rechtshulp (Committee for state-funded legal aid) of the Den Bosch Bar Association since June 2016. Bart Toemen has published in the journals for Asiel- and Migrantenrecht (Asylum law and Migration law) and Migratierecht (Migration law) and he also has an annotation in Rechtspraak Vreemdelingenrecht (Migration law Jurisdiction). At the end of 2017 he worked as a volunteer for the European Lawyers in Lesvos organisation at Moira refugee camp on Lesbos.

Bart is currently board member of the Association for Aslyum Lawyers (VAJN).

Yvonne

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Yvonne Verkouter

Yvonne graduated in Dutch law from Utrecht University (specialisations European law and Economic Public and Company law) in 2000. During her study and in the years after she has done volunteer work for, among others, the legal advice centre and the district office.

She has worked in migration law at the Stichting Rechtsbijstand Asiel (Dutch Foundation for Legal Aid in Asylum Cases) – as a legal specialist from 2001 and as a lawyer from 2005. She is one of the founders of Gelijk Advocaten. Yvonne is a member of the Specialisation Association Migration law Lawyers (SVMA), Association for Asylum Lawyers & Legal Specialists (VAJN) and the Work group Legal aid for refugees (WRV).

She also has a lot of experience in advising clients about their residence permit and litigating at the Immigration and Naturalisation Service (IND) and (international) judicial authorities. European rules are an indispensible part of the current migration law, and are something she particularly focuses on since her study. Since 2012 Yvonne has been a board member of the Stichting Opleiding Brabantse Advocaten (Foundation Education Brabant Lawyers). At the start of 2017 she has worked as a volunteer, providing legal aid, for the organisation International Lawyers in Lesbos (ELIL) of the European Bar Association at Moira refugee camp on the island of Lesbos in Greece.

Rietta

Gelijk Advocaten | Den Bosch | Yvonne Verkouter

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Riëtta van Empel-Bouman

Riëtta van Empel-Bouman has been a lawyer since 2003 and started as a legal specialist at the legal aid office after her study in 1991 and has been working in asylum and migration law. Since 2003 she has also specialised in private and family law.

In the past years Riëtta has participated in various advisory bodies. From 2011 to 2017 she was a member of the Den Bosch application centre committee intercollegiate assessment legal aid. At this moment she is a member of the committee for state-funded legal aid of the Den Bosch Bar Association.

Riëtta is a member of the Specialist Association Migration law Lawyers (SVMA) and of the Work group legal aid for foreign nationals (WRV). Next to her work as a lawyer she is active as a neighbourhood conflict mediator.

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Rober

Gelijk Advocaten | Den Bosch | Riëtta van Empel-Bouman

Ilse

Robert van Boxmeer

Robert van Boxmeer has been a lawyer since 2004. He specialises in migration law for both companies and private persons.

In 2000 Robert graduated in Dutch law at Tilburg University. From that same year on he has worked in migration law at the Stichting Rechtsbijstand Asiel (SRA) (Dutch Foundation for Legal Aid in Asylum Cases) – first as a legal specialist and from 2004 as a lawyer. In 2005 he has jointly founded Gelijk Advocaten. Robert has a lot of experience in advising clients about their residence permit and litigation at the Immigration and Naturalisation Service (IND) or courts.

He is also a member of the Specialist Association Migration law Lawyers (SVMA), Association for Asylum Lawyers &- Legal specialists (VAJN) and the Work group legal aid for foreign nationals (WRV).

In November 2016, Robert worked as a volunteer lawyer for International Lawyers in Lesbos (ELIL) of the European Bar Association at Moira refugee camp on the island of Lesbos in Greece.

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Ilse van Kuilenburg

Ilse van Kuilenburg has been specialised in migration law since 1998 and in private and family law since 2005. Ilse has been a lawyer since 2005. She studied law at Utrecht University and graduated in 1997 in social and private law. She worked for a year as a decision-official at the Immigration and Naturalisation Service (IND) and then started working as a legal specialist for the Stichting Rechtsbijstand Asiel (SRA) (Dutch Foundation for Legal Aid in Asylum Cases) where she specialised in migration law. In 1999 she became a senior legal specialist and in 2003 coordinator of legal aid at the Rijsbergen application centre.

In 2005 she jointly founded Gelijk Advocaten and started specialising in family law next to migration law. Many of her cases have both family law and foreign nationals law aspects, for example when it comes to foreign marriages or people who have a resident permit based on their relationship or family.

Next to her work as a lawyer, Ilse has been active as a volunteer for various organisations such as International Lawyers in Lesbos (ELIL, on behalf of the European Bar Association), Stichting Gast (a foundation that provides care for asylum seekers who have exhausted all the relevant legal remedies), Vluchtelingenwerk Nijmegen and Avans/Fontys, HBO Law department in Tilburg, for whom she assessed foreign nationals law end theses. She is also a member of specialisation associations Specialists Association for Migration law Lawyers (SVMA) and Association for Asylum Lawyers & Legal specialists

Ellis

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Jeanette Smallegang

Jeanette Smallegang

Jeanette has been working as a leal secretary at Gelijk Advocat since November 2018.

She has successfully completed the Schoevers training and has since then enjoyed working as a legal secretary. She has worked at various law firms and has since gained the necessary experience as a legal secretary.

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