Legal Consulting for Businesses in the Netherlands: from Concept to Corporate Clients. Part 1
On October 20, 2025, Herz Lawyers, a boutique law firm, marked its fifth anniversary. We spoke with the firm’s founding partner, Oxana Brizmer, about establishing a legal practice from the ground up in a foreign jurisdiction, providing ongoing legal services to a growing client base, maintaining professional development, and balancing the demands of legal entrepreneurship with personal well-being.
What inspired you to pursue a career in law, and how did your legal journey begin?
Like many of us, my earliest influences came from childhood. When I was growing up, the American television series Santa Barbara was incredibly popular. While today’s generation may not be familiar with it, for many millennials and their parents, it was iconic. I was especially captivated by the character Julia, played by Nancy Lee Grahn — a sharp, independent attorney, a feminist, and a strong woman who stood on her own. She left a lasting impression on me, and I believe that’s when I first knew I wanted to become a lawyer.
At school, I had a strong sense of justice and often found myself standing up for others. I’d frequently play the role of a mediator when classmates had disputes — it came naturally. So when I enrolled in law school, it felt like a natural progression. I spent five years studying law at university, and soon after graduating, I began my legal career in my home country. I advanced quickly — moving from a junior legal role to leading the legal department of a large corporate group within just a few years.
…Then you moved to the Netherlands. Did you realize at the time how challenging it would be to restart your legal career from the ground up?
Yes, I moved to the Netherlands about 15 years ago for personal reasons — I had just gotten married. I knew that, professionally, it would mean pressing the reset button. A new language, a completely different legal system — everything I had built in my home country would no longer apply here. But I saw it not as a setback, but as a unique opportunity to reinvent myself.
At that point, I had already spent several years in the legal profession and achieved a great deal. I was curious to explore other industries. As luck would have it, a friend offered me a management role in his company. I didn’t have prior experience in that field, but I was eager to prove that I could succeed in a new environment. I ended up working in that role for over two years — and did so successfully enough that I could have stayed in the business world.
Still, law was always in the background. It was more than just a profession — it was part of who I was. Eventually, I made the decision to return to legal practice. It felt like coming home.
How did you re-establish your legal career? How long did that process take?
Rebuilding a legal career in a new country is no small feat — especially for lawyers. Legal systems differ widely, and so do languages. No matter how much experience you’ve gained in your home country, moving abroad often means starting from scratch, as if you’ve only just graduated. And understandably so: to work effectively, represent clients, appear in court, and communicate with authorities and counterparties, you must operate within the legal framework of your new country — not the one you came from.
There are generally several pathways. The most direct is qualification recognition — a short academic program designed to validate your existing legal knowledge. That option was available to me. I already held a law degree from my home country, and in the Netherlands, I could have enrolled in an English-language Master’s program — which would have formally qualified me to work in the field.
But I couldn’t imagine practicing law in the Netherlands without mastering the local language. That’s why I chose a different path: to pursue a full legal education in Dutch, from the ground up. I began by studying the language, passing two official exams and an interview to prove my proficiency. Despite already holding a law degree, I enrolled in a Dutch Bachelor of Laws program, then went on to complete a Master’s — and I continue my professional development to this day.
How did you build your legal career in the Netherlands, and when did the idea to launch your own firm and provide legal consulting first take shape?
Legal education is only truly valuable when paired with practical experience. Even as I began my studies, I knew that once I felt confident in both the Dutch language and the fundamentals of Dutch law, I would actively seek out an internship. I chose to intern at a law firm — which I consider the ideal starting point for any legal professional. It offers an intense learning environment, where you’re exposed to a wide range of cases, clients, and legal areas in a relatively short time.
During my time there, I gained invaluable hands-on experience as a practicing lawyer in the Netherlands. The work went well, the feedback was positive, and I quickly grew more confident in my legal abilities. But it was also during that time that I identified a specific gap in the market — a need that wasn’t being met by most Dutch law firms: legal services tailored to businesses relocating to the Netherlands.
First, many local professionals overlook what is immediately apparent to newcomers — that the Netherlands is an excellent place to launch or expand a business. Key industries such as R&D, tech, and construction benefit from substantial government support. For those who have spent their entire lives here, that landscape may seem ordinary, even unremarkable. But for entrepreneurs arriving from abroad, it’s a significant opportunity.
Second, only someone who has personally experienced relocation can truly understand the legal and logistical hurdles that come with it — from immigration procedures and corporate structuring to regulatory compliance and cultural adaptation.
That’s when the idea was born: to establish a boutique law firm dedicated not only to serving businesses already operating in the Netherlands but also to supporting foreign investors and founders preparing to relocate. That vision came to life just before the start of 2020.
In the second part of the interview, Oxana shared how she decided to start her own company during the pandemic, the achievements of her legal boutique over five years, and her plans for the company’s development. Click the link to learn more.