In memoriam: Carl Everaert

To our great sadness, Carl Everaert passed away on 12 April 2023. Carl was the co-founder and namesake of our firm.

Carl was born in Surabaya on 27 June 1946 and moved to Voorburg with his parents and brothers at the age of 12. He studied law in Utrecht and, after his military service – which included time in Vietnam, became a lawyer in 1976, first at the firm of Fred IJff and then with Ingelse c.s.

Carl specialised in immigration law, a relatively unexplored field of law at that time. In 1982, he founded Sjenitzer & Everaert with Kees Sjenitzer, Ted Badoux, Pieter Boeles and Hans Jager, which would come to bear only his name after Kees Sjenitzer left in 1986.

Everaert Advocaten became the first law firm to focus exclusively on non-asylum immigration law. Carl insisted that you sell immigrants short by seeing them only as vulnerable people who need help. He showed us that migration also has another, business side. When labour and knowledge migration became the trend, our firm was ready to embrace this practice and was no longer dependent on developments in funded legal aid for its continued survival.

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“Without immigration, a country fades, becomes dull and falls into ruin.”

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Carl’s practice clearly showed who he was and what he loved: authenticity, creativity and art. He counted conservatories, museums and many well-known international visual and performing artists, companies and production companies among his clients.

Carl left the legal profession in 2007. To mark his retirement and the 25th anniversary of the firm, he was appointed Knight of the Order of Orange-Nassau for his important contribution to the development of immigration law in the Netherlands.

Carl remained associated with the firm as an adviser. In 2008, he was appointed a member of an independent committee that oversees the Repatriation and Departure Service, acted as immigration adviser to faith-based organisations in the Netherlands and was involved in drafting new immigration legislation.

In recent years, Carl was active as a volunteer for De Regenboog, where he used his expertise as a former lawyer to help people living in poverty deal with their debts.

More than a lawyer and director, Carl was a beautiful person; flamboyant, with an engaging character. He was beloved as a patron and mentor to young colleagues. It saddens us to talk about Carl in the past tense. We will never forget him. He will remain a lasting inspiration.

Our thoughts are with Lian and the family at this difficult time.