Wim Timmermans

Wim Timmermans studied Slavic languages and law at Leiden University, The Netherlands. In 1990, he defended his doctor's thesis on Soviet maritime law. As from 1984 he has been teaching East European law at Leiden University (part-time) and has been acting as a legal consultant on East European business law servicing many internationally operating companies and law firms.

Apart from assisting clients in their East European operations, Dr. Timmermans has been engaged in many projects concerning privatization, approximation of legislation, and legal reform in Central and Eastern Europe, including the CIS. Recent projects, in which he was actively involved, include:

• A legal audit of a major company in Bosnia-Herzegovina;
• Legal reform in Tajikistan (advise on review of civil, commercial and administrative law);
• Legal audit of three socially-owned enterprises in Serbia with a view to restructure the enterprises for future privatization;
• Advise on approximation of EU legislation in Croatia;
• Reform on bankruptcy law in the Russian Federation.

Further, since 1995 Timmermans has been involved in advising East European governments on public-private partnerships (PPPs). He has been a member of the UN Economic Commission for Europe's B.O.T. (Build-Operate-Transfer) Expert Group and since early 2002, he is heading the legal and arbitration group of the UN ECE Public-Private Partnerships Alliance (PPP Alliance - Geneva).

Finally, Dr. Timmermans is on the list of arbitrators of MKAS [International Commercial Arbitration Court] (Moscow), LCIA (London), and TAMARA (Transport and Maritime Arbitration Amsterdam-Rotterdam).