Felix Merks

ADR Experience

• Designs the process and oversees the resolution of challenging and sensitive multi-party disputes with a combination of stakeholder management, scenario planning, negotiation, mediation, pre-court assessment and arbitration.
• Mediates business disputes involving public companies
• Advises and coaches a team of expert mediators in resolving business conflicts
• Designs the process and mediates in employment conflicts in international organizations
• Mediates in conflicts between companies and local governments
• Providing Negotiation, Mediation and Conflict Management training for commercial and non-profit organizations in the Netherlands, Serbia, Georgia and Turkey.

Representative Matters

Felix Merks has successfully mediated the following complex cases:

• Dispute over the terms of use of infrastructure in the Dutch telecommunications market
• Capital disputes between cable companies and primary contractors over labor agreements, contract and payment terms
• Conflict with political implications over the operation and usage of a municipal harbor between commercial users and the municipality
• Corporate governance dispute between directors, the supervisory board and the shareholders of a hospitality corporation over the company’s policy and the restructuring of the management team
• Disagreement between partners of a consultancy firm about buying out partners, and about dividing company assets into two distinct corporate entities
• Pre-court compensation assessment stemming from unlawful acts of a municipality towards an agricultural company
• Contractual compensation arrangement between a franchise company and all of its franchisees
• Dispute between a housing corporation and a real estate investment company about contractual obligations in its joint venture
• Conflict between multiple telecommunication companies about network access, cost settings, and usage rules for networks
• Liability concern for a municipality regarding permitting processes for companies located in its harbor
• Liability concerns for a municipality regarding damage resulting from road improvement
• Disagreement between shareholders about the direction of the corporation, resulting in the buy out of one of the partners
• Conflict between company founders, investors and shareholders in a conglomeration, resulting in the divestment of companies according to valuations of the separate corporations and the contributions of the various stakeholders
• Conflict between partners within a corporate partnership resulting in an agreement about the exit conditions of one of the partners
• Conflict between shareholders in a corporation resulting in the divestiture of various establishments through an arbitral award
• Conflict about the functioning of founders, shareholders, and board of directors of a mid sized corporation, resulting in the expansion of the board
• Conflict about a pay claim of a former CEO of an international non-profit organization
• Various internal managerial conflicts in national and international organizations

Professional Activities

• Mediation Expert OSCE (Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe)
• Trainer Mediator Skills Training
• Trainer Corporate Diplomacy
• rainer in Negotiating Skills and Strategy
• Board member of the Dutch Association of Estate Mediators Education
• Master, Dutch law (Leyden University)
• Post Graduate certification ADR-specialist/ Legal Mediator (Amsterdam ADR Institute)
• Master of Dispute Resolution (University of Amsterdam)
• Conflict Dynamics Profile Certification (Eckerd College, Florida)
• Settlement Mediation (JAMS, New York)
• Harvard Negotiation trainer (Harvard Law School, Massachusetts)