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Geert W. Rep
Managing Partner

- REP LAW, REP LAW AVIATION

Geert Rep studied law at the VU University of Amsterdam. After his graduation in 1990 he became an attorney at the Dutch law firm Schenkeveld and Sluis. Within six years he became partner at the firm, and was a member of the board ever since. When he emigrated to Aruba in 2000, he managed the Aruban part of law firm Promes Van Doorne. Four years later he joined the revolutionary and dynamic team of Gomez & Bikker.
Geert’s enthusiasm about law shows in his many activities outside of his work as an attorney. For example, he was a representative of the National College of Representatives (the parliament for Dutch attorneys) and chairman of the Young Lawyers (Jonge Balie) in Dutch city Alkmaar. Once settled in Aruba, he was treasurer of the Aruban Bar Association and has been active for other non-profit organizations. Furthermore, he is a mediator and a specialist in real estate law, in which he holds a post academic degree.

Carrying the same name as famous Dutch football player Johnny Rep, Geert passionately plays soccer at an acceptable level. Whether it’s on or off the field, he does not like to loose, nor can he stand injustice.

Emailpatrick@rep-law.com

Tel(+) 31 20 4864857

Mobile(+) 31 631215502

Prof. B. Patrick Honnebier
Of Counsel

- REP LAW AVIATION

Patrick Honnebier is one of the few legal professionals having both a long-standing academic background and a vast practical expertise in respect to the application of international aviation finance and lease laws. As Of Counsel, he joined the firm REP LAW in June, 2017. He is based in Amsterdam, the Netherlands. Previously, for many years he was Of Counsel at another law firm in Aruba. Patrick advises major manufacturers, banks, lessors, private operators and airlines in relation to the international financing and leasing of aircraft, helicopters and engines. Currently, he lectures at the LL.M. in Air and Space Law program of the University of Mississippi (Ole Miss), School of Law.

He is the responsible professor for the full Spring Semester module International Aviation Financing and Leasing Laws. Worldwide, this course is the only one of its kind. Patrick is also teaching Conflict of Laws aspects of financing and leasing transactions at Groningen University, the Netherlands. Besides, for ten years he was responsible for the course international aviation financing law at the International Institute of Air and Space Law, Leiden University. He also teached corporate and commercial law at the Utrecht University and the University of Aruba. He participated in the Diplomatic Conference for the realization of the Convention on International Interest in Mobile Equipment and the Aircraft Equipment Protocol in Cape Town, South Africa (2001).

Patrick was the expert legal counsel of the Governments of Aruba, the former Netherlands Antilles and the Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs concerning the adoption by the Kingdom of the Netherlands of the Cape Town Convention on 1 September, 2010. Presently, he advises the Ministry of Infrastructure and Environment, Directorate of Civil Aviation, of the Netherlands in regard to new and unique regulations covering aircraft repossession, export and deregistration cases arising in problematic foreign jurisdictions. He received a grant from the government of the Netherlands to do scholarly research about financial lease transactions at the Université de Paris, Panthéon-Sorbonne (Paris-I) in 1998.

He is the author of numerous articles which have been published in all the leading air law reviews and aviation industry journals. Frequently and worldwide, he speaks at international aviation finance and lease conferences. For example, he presented at conferences in St. Petersburg, Dubai, several cities in the Netherlands and U.S.A., Antwerp, Dubai, London, Beijing, Monaco, Sydney, Salzburg, Riga and at the Royal Aeronautical Society, U.K.

Emailboris@rep-law.com

Tel(+) 31 20 4864857

Boris den Hartog

- REP LAW AVIATION

Advocaat/Attorney-at- Law, Expert Litigator, Amsterdam and previously attorney-at- law in the jurisdiction St. Maarten, the Caribbean.
Boris den Hartog started to practice as an advocaat (attorney-at- law) in St. Maarten which is a territorial unit of the Kingdom of the Netherlands in the Caribbean. He graduated in Dutch and International Law at the Open University in the Netherlands. While practicing in St. Maarten, he was professionally affiliated with the former Minister of Constitutional Affairs of the Netherlands Antilles.
He specialized in (non)contentious contract law related transactions with an emphasis on the arrest and repossession of ships and other forms of high value mobile equipment. He has been a senior partner of a law firm with sixteen partners in Rotterdam. For eight years now, he practices law in Amsterdam. At present, Mr. Den Hartog has a particular interest in international litigation and a vast expertise in pleading in the Dutch Courts of Appeal. He is actually preparing the exams to be able to plead before the Supreme Court of the Netherlands. For example, his cases relate to liability issues, accidents, collisions, and other torts that require extensive mechanical and technical training. Before practicing law, he graduated in Marine engineering. He worked as a first engineer in the merchant navy of the Netherlands. He was also employed by Lummus HTS as a construction manager and he was a manager of the technical department of one of the largest newspaper editors in the Netherlands. Mr. Den Hartog is a member of the Dutch Bar and Amsterdam Bar Associations and a Member of the Dutch Procedural law association. Very
actively, he participated in the Air Law Section of the Dutch Aviation Group.

Emailalex@rep-law.com

Tel(+) 31 20 4864857

Alex Berkhout

- REP LAW AVIATION

Alex Berkhout (1965) is a tax lawyer practicing at Horlings Nexia in Amsterdam, the Netherlands. He is a senior tax manager and from 2007 until 2016 also director of N/A/K BV a corporate trust company having a license from the Dutch Central Bank of the Netherlands. Horlings Nexia is member of Nexia International, a worldwide based network of independent accountant and tax consultant companies. It is listed as number 7 in Europe and number 10 network worldwide.

Alex is a graduate of the law faculty of the University of Amsterdam , with a specialization in Tax law (1989). In 2014, he successfully completed the full Spring Semester course International Aviation Financing and Leasing law of the University of Mississippi (Ole Miss), School of Law, LL.M. in Air and Space Law department. Inter alia, this module focuses on the global application of the Convention on International Interests in Mobile Equipment (CIME) and the Aircraft Equipment Protocol (AEP).

Alex has been rendering tax advice and tax services to clients in the aviation industry since 2003. E.g. corporate tax services for (orphan) Dutch lease SPCs regarding finance lease of aircraft to Australian airline. Import VAT and import duty services for Dutch corporate jet charter company regarding lease from a US aircraft manufacturer. VAT lease structure from the Netherlands for an Italian MNE. Import VAT (representative) services regarding US based company in aircraft component parts for maintenance purposes. Tax services for a Dutch branch tour operator of a Spanish airline. Payroll service provider for Portuguese airline employees based at Schiphol Amsterdam airport. Income tax services regarding Dutch pilots employed by foreign airlines.

Alex has attended a series of seminars (2012, 2013) and guest lectures (Ole Miss 2014-2017), both as participating member and speaker concerning the tax aspects of international aviation financing and leasing structures. Especially, he was one of the co-initiators of the international financing and leasing law conference realized by Aeropodium at the premises of TMF Amsterdam in May, 2012.
Furthermore, he is a participant of a working group with Prof . B.P. Honnebier focusing on international aircraft repossession and de-registration issues that arise in problematic states and which cases are primarily due to bureaucratic and invalid practices.
Finally, he is the co-author of several publications covering the tax aspects of cross-border aircraft lease and finance transactions that occur in the Kingdom of the Netherlands.