Rieke Smakman
Independent Legal Counsel
Rieke is a Dutch lawyer and arbitrator focused on corporate and commercial law. She draws from 20+ years of experience in corporate and commercial litigation. Rieke started her career with Baker & McKenzie Amsterdam, and went on to co-found a law firm that earned international acclaim for its success in Art Restitution. Early 2018, Rieke pivoted her career to pursue her passion (also) for technology, drawn by the opportunities and challenges of emerging technologies, such as cryptocurrencies and related technologies that allow for near-frictionless value transfer, fractional ownership, provenance tracking, and so-called “smart contracts”. Rieke supports a number of software development projects and (fin)tech start-ups as independent legal counsel. Rieke is a frequent speaker and focuses on regulatory and legal issues in cryptocurrencies and (other) emerging technologies, including the impact on title issues, provenance and fractional ownership of works of visual art and (digital) copyrighted material.
Rieke’s law practice has included arbitration since 2000. She has served as Arbitrator in a wide range of commercial disputes at both the domestic and international level, both in summary arbitral proceedings and in regular arbitral proceedings. She most frequently sits as an arbitrator in cases administered with the Netherlands Arbitration Institute (NAI) in Rotterdam. She was appointed to the original Arbitration pool of CAfA in January 2020.
Rieke’s educational background includes: University Utrecht (1995, Masters of Law, cum laude). She is native in the Dutch language and fluent in English, French and German.
Jurisdiction: Netherlands