WILLEMSTAD - To celebrate the 80th anniversary of VanEps Kunneman VanDoorne, the firm launched a new event concept on Friday 10 November called ‘RECHT&’ (literally: ‘LAW&’), an interactive knowledge café.

 

The first edition focused on the National ordinance on competition, which went into effect in Curaçao on 1 September of this year.

During ‘RECHT Concurrentie’ (‘LAW& Competition’), the consequences of the new National ordinance were discussed from a macro-economic, legal and business organizational perspective. Three keynote speakers made short thought-provoking statements, to which the panel and public could then respond.

 

The discussion on the macro-economic terrain was introduced by the Minister of Economic Development, Steven Martina. Keynote speaker on the legal aspects was Rogier van den Heuvel, partner at VanEps Kunneman VanDoorne and an expert in the field of competition law. Finally, Justus van der Lubbe, CEO of Inter Assure, tackled the business organizational perspective. Apart from the abovementioned speakers, the panel featured Albert Scholten, implementation manager of the Fair Trade Authority Curaçao (FTAC), and Steven Coutinho, member of the SER and Chairman of the Supervisory Board at Aqualectra.

 

Frank Kunneman, partner at VanEps Kunneman VanDoorne and the moderator of the event, led a lively panel discussion after each statement made by the speakers. Subsequently there was room for questions from and discussion with the public, which welcomed the new concept enthusiastically. The participants were very pleased with the choice of topic and the program’s broad (not strictly legal) outlook. VanEps Kunneman VanDoorne is happy that ‘RECHT&’ was such a success and intends to repeat the concept

periodically in the future, also on the other Caribbean islands where it is active.

 

Following on the day program, a festive anniversary reception was held where the firm members joined clients and business partners in a toast to the firm’s eightieth anniversary. Managing partner Focco Lunsingh Scheurleer gave a short speech in which he both looked back on the firm’s history and ahead to its future. He also thanked all of the clients present for their trust.