After three lawyers in Curaçao and one in St. Maarten already took the oath in November, the Aruba team of VANEPS expanded as well. Starting attorney Gregory Maldonado and experienced attorney Steffen Hagen were sworn in last week by the Joint Court of Justice of Aruba, Curaçao and St. Maarten and of Bonaire, St. Eustatius and Saba. A special moment, as it does not happen often that a junior associate is sworn in simultaneously with his supervisor.

Gregory Maldonado was born and raised in Aruba. He wanted to be an attorney since he was a child. In 2013, he graduated from the University of Aruba and was honored with the award for “Best Thesis of the Academic Year”. As a student, Gregory was a legal assistant at a legal consultancy firm in Aruba. After graduation, he was a paralegal with a law firm specialized in insolvency. With the arrival of Gregory, the Aruban team of VANEPS has been strengthened with a dedicated lawyer who knows the local market inside out. Gregory works in the division Litigation & Commercial and focuses on employment law, real estate and maritime law. Taking the oath was an important moment to Gregory, “In one word superb, it was really a dream come true!”

Steffen Hagen, partly raised in the US, manages the Aruban office of VANEPS. He moved from CMS Derks Star Busmann in the Netherlands, where he mainly practiced IP/IT law and was head of the sector teams for Anti-Counterfeiting, Consumer Products and Innovation. He gained experience in Banking & Finance earlier, with Allen & Overy in Amsterdam and New York, where he also practiced Dutch Caribbean law. At VANEPS, Steffen runs an all-round practice in the fields of corporate law, litigation and commercial contracting, with a particular focus on banking and finance and intellectual property and technology. He heads the intra-insular IP, Communications & Technology group of the firm. On taking the oath, Steffen remarks: “I have been sworn in twice before, but it still is a very special moment. Particularly in this Caribbean setting and also simultaneously with Gregory. Aruba has a small and knit legal community and I am glad to be a full member of it now.”