On Monday, January 13, CICERO (Amsterdam's largest legal advocacy association) welcomed Edo Smid, partner and attorney at Wintertaling, as a guest speaker.

Edo Smid works in corporate law on a daily basis. He focuses on real estate investments, joint ventures and partnerships, corporate litigation and dispute resolution, corporate (re)structuring, and investment funds. Edo's clients include real estate developers and professionals, fast-growing companies, fund managers, and investors.

The evening began with introductions. The attendees and Edo were given the opportunity to introduce themselves. Edo then spoke about Wintertaling as a firm, its expertise, the team, the atmosphere within the firm, and his own expertise. He illustrated this with several practical examples, making his practice more understandable for the attendees. The attendees engaged and interested in asking the guest speaker several questions, which were answered thoroughly and honestly. After the introduction, the corporate law case study for the evening was distributed.

The attendees were divided into two groups: the plaintiff and the defendant. They were assigned 20 minutes to jointly review the case and draft a statement of defense. During the preparation, Edo visited the two groups to guide them or highlight specific legal provisions.

Once the pleadings were drafted, it was time to plead! Two people per team were allowed to plead and don the robes. Edo and Denise Tol (External Assessor) acted as the judge, hearing the parties' arguments and asking critical questions. After the plea, CICERO members provided feedback to the pleaders, and Edo further elaborated on this feedback.

CICERO looks back on the pleadings evening with great pleasure and learned a great deal. Bas van Vliet, also a lawyer and partner of Wintertaling, will attend the pleadings evening on Monday, February 17th.