Bouke Boersma

Bouke co-founded 4DArbitration. He is an attorney with 20 years of experience working for international law firms in Europe and the United States. Before co-founding 4DArbitration, Bouke headed the New York office and the Dutch Caribbean desk of one of the largest Dutch law firms. In the beginning of his career, he was seconded at one of the largest Dutch banks.

Bouke advises on both contentious and non-contentious matters in the Netherlands and the Dutch Caribbean, including Curaçao, St. Maarten, Aruba, the BES islands, and Suriname. Bouke advises states and investors on complex international arbitration and litigation matters. He worked on the annulment proceedings of the largest arbitral awards ever rendered, the Yukos Awards, with a value of more than USD 50 billion. Bouke was counsel to the Russian Federation in six UNCITRAL arbitrations relating to Crimea.

Bouke also has unparalleled experience in advising regulated entities on complex and high-value cross-border corporate and financial transactions in both the Netherlands and the Dutch Caribbean. One notable recent example is advising Crédit Agricole on a USD 1.7 billion financing for McDermott International, secured by security granted by McDermott’s subsidiaries in Curaçao. Regular clients include Goldman Sachs, Credit Suisse, Rabobank, Morgan Stanley, BNP Paribas, OPIC, EBRD, Sotheby’s, and DFC.

Bouke is admitted to the bars of NY State and Amsterdam. He is the co-head of the Dutch chapter of the New York State Bar’s International Section. Bouke holds law degrees from Erasmus University Rotterdam and Cornell Law School (magna cum laude). He has written over 30 published articles on arbitration law and corporate law matters. He is fluent in English, Spanish and Dutch and proficient in French.

After many years, Bouke continuous to be ranked in Chambers Global. He is recognized in Chambers Global 2024: ‘In addition to being a very smart and pragmatic litigator who is always thinking two steps ahead, Bouke is also very pleasant to work with.’