Deputy Head of Chambers

Dirk Van Heck

His expertise is particularly strong in:

Company Law & Business
Property & Planning
Employment Law
Private Client & Dispute Resolution

To contact or instruct Dirk Van Heck, please call 020 3034 0077 and ask for his clerk or e-mail enquiries@mercantilebarristers.com

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More about

Dirk Van Heck

Our Direct Access Barristers

Background

Dirk is an experienced lawyer who can carry out all the functions of solicitor as well as barrister (having a litigation extension to his practicing certificate), and regularly runs disputes from their inception to their conclusion. He previously worked in full time employment for a law firm overseas and currently undertakes consultancy work for an international law firm in the City, in addition to his independent practice as a barrister.

Cross Jurisdictional Experience

The breadth of Dirk’s practice has seen him carry out work for clients ranging from sovereign wealth funds and investment banks to private individuals, and from high profile cases such as Madoff funds litigation and the Grenfell Enquiry to small claims.

He is as comfortable with cross-jurisdictional work as with purely domestic, and is equally at home working in a team of lawyers as acting without any support. He can tailor his level of involvement in a case to a client’s requirements and is able to instruct other lawyers and/or agents as appropriate.

Wide ranging expertise

Throughout his career, Dirk has been required to turn his hand to a variety of different areas, which has led to his having exceptionally broad experience and knowledge of the law.

In addition to his core areas of practice, namely the full range of commercial and chancery, he has significant experience of employment and planning law (including a reported case in each of those areas), personal injury, defamation and matrimonial law. He also has particular expertise in the law of the British Virgin Islands, having practised in that jurisdiction for 3 years, and has undertaken work of an offshore/international flavour ever since.

Dirk Van Heck

Personal Affiliations & Qualifications

At The Bar

COMBAR
Chancery Bar Association
The Chartered Institute of Arbitrators

Qualifications

MA (Cantab.) – First Class
Postgraduate Diploma in Law (City University)
Bar Vocational Course (Inns of Court School of Law) – Very Competent
Jules Thorn & Astbury Scholar of the Middle Temple
2001 – Called to the Bar of England & Wales
2009 – Called to the Bar of the Eastern Caribbean Supreme Court (British Virgin Islands)
2014 – Attained the right to conduct litigation

Dirk Van Heck

Case Examples

Company & Commercial Law

Dr. Ronaghyon -v- Whitecross Dental Care Limited

Advising a specialist dental surgeon on issues of ongoing professional indemnity and subsisting corporate undertakings following the management buyout of a dental surgery.

Intertransfers Incorporated & Ors -v- Intertransfer Limited & Ors

Advice and representation of the owner of an unregistered trade mark in an intellectual property claim brought by a new entrant to the market with a similar mark. This case involved challenge to application to register a trade mark, trade mark infringement, revocation of a trade mark and passing off.

Serbeh-Yiadom -v- Standard Bank Plc

Advice and representation in a multi-million pound cross-border banking claim including breaches of fiduciary duty and unauthorised transfer of shares at an undervalue.

Waterhouse -v- Gordons Solicitors & Armstrong Wood & Bridgman Solicitors

Advising on professional negligence claims against solicitors in connection with residential property transactions.

Relfo Ltd (in Liquidation) v Varsani, [2012] EWHC 2168 (Ch); LTL 20/7/2012

Trial involving equitable tracing, knowing receipt and unjust enrichment

Property & Planning Law

Aberfeldy Development, London SE5

Advising a buy-to-let property investor on off-plan acquisition of a residential development property using special purpose vehicles and effective tax-planning methods.

Argyle Estates Limited

Advising a portfolio commercial property investor in respect of the financing, acquisition, leasing, redevelopment and disposal of commercial properties using special purpose vehicles both on and off shore.

Maidstone Investment Limited -v- Phones 4 U Limited

Advising a major West End landlord in respect of a dilapidations claim and the subletting of parts and transfer of obligations under the Law of Property Acts in relation to a West End retail property.