General Counsel Award

The prestigious General Counsel Award is granted every other year to a General Counsel who has delivered a remarkable achievement in the Netherlands and has thus set an example for the professionalisation of the General Counsel profession.
Today, the GCN Award has become a key award for General Counsel in the Netherlands. Anyone can nominate a General Counsel. An independent and expert jury will select three finalists from all candidates. The selection criteria are: innovation, leadership, professionalism and business acumen.
The finalists will present themselves during the General Counsel NL Fall Conference, after which the GCs present and the jury will choose the winner. These General Counsel have won the General Counsel Award in recent years:




Why?
The role and responsibilities of the most senior lawyer in a company or organisation are changing rapidly. Whereas he or she used to sit in some corner digging through contracts, the General Counsel New Style is a modern and enterprising manager, close to the business and the board and often wearing several hats with final responsibility, such as legal, compliance and/or secretary.
This calls for enterprising lawyers who take responsibility and leadership and are open to the challenges of the new era, for example in the field of technology. In short: General Counsel who are content-strong and continue to develop themselves more extensively.
Some General Counsel are more advanced in this than others. With the General Counsel Award, GCN wants to give the General Counsel New Style as much publicity, appreciation and standing as possible and provide a stage to those who lead the way in this respect: a role model for other General Counsel who want to develop themselves.
How?
- Innovation
- Leadership
- Professional technology
- Business acumen
more about the General Counsel award
WINNER GENERAL COUNSEL AWARD 2017-2018: Thijs van der Lugt
On 6 October 2017, Thijs van der Lugt, General Counsel of Aalberts Industries N.V., won the General Counsel Award 2017-2018. Other finalists were Barbara van

Winner General Counsel Award 2019-2020: Yu Lian de Bakker
During the well-attended General Counsel NL Autumn Conference on 10 October 2019, Yu Lian de Bakker – General Counsel PVH Europe – won the General

Summer 2021: GCN Award nomination started
Nominate a GC for the prestigious General Counsel NL Award 2021 – 2022

General Counsel NL Annual Dinner 2021 and General Counsel Award 2021-2022
On 7 October 2021, the well-attended GCN Annual Dinner 2021 took place in the clubhouse of Golf Club The International in Amsterdam. The three nominated