Martina Smit

Chain partners

The lawyers of the insurance and liability practice of Van Steenderen MainportLawyers have been a trusted point of contact for consultation and advice to the NLOI and its principals since the start of NLOI.

Legal problem solvers

Lawyers Martina Smit (partner) and Irini Dalpi are the driving forces behind VSML's Q&A practice. Both are well acquainted with the players in and mores of the insurance industry: they both previously worked for insurers and brokers/assurance intermediaries.

This practical knowledge and experience combined with the legal knowledge and skills of insurance law and liability law make Martina and Irini pragmatic specialists: legal problem solvers.  

Motives

As one of the few lawyers in the Netherlands, Martina and Irini work exclusively from the interest of the insured party. The goal is to eliminate the inequality between the insured and the insurer as much as possible and to make sure that every insured gets what he is entitled to. The latter is not always obvious: the relationship between insurer and insured is unequal by definition.

An insured who has suffered a major loss (fire, explosion, theft, fraud, roof collapse, water damage, etc.) is vulnerable. He is often dependent on the payment he hopes to receive from the insurer in order to be able to continue his business or his own life again. After a loss, there is a lot on the insured's plate and they do not know what steps they should take to bring the claim to a successful conclusion.

Custom work delivers desired result

Martina and Irini conduct legal proceedings to settle the claim if necessary, but their work is much more than that. They are therefore involved at an early stage in large and complex claims. They know which legal discussions with the insurer may still have to be conducted at a later stage; they advise on how to eliminate these potential problems in advance. The damage assessment and the damage investigation are essential in this respect. The cooperation with NLOI has proven itself many times over: thanks to this customised approach, we as a team often succeed in bringing a claim to a successful conclusion without the need for legal intervention.

In cases where a solution with the insurer cannot be found quickly and a court appearance is unavoidable, we can proceed directly to ensure that the procedure is carried out as quickly and efficiently as possible.