Thomas van Vugt

Thomas has in excess of 20 years of experience as a lawyer. He gained extensive experience in the civil advisory and litigation practice at a medium-sized law firm in Amsterdam and founded AMS Advocaten together with three partners in 2011. Thomas advises and litigates in the areas of Dutch law of obligations, media law and real estate law.

Track record

Thomas's work includes, among other things:

Thomas was involved, among other things, in lawsuits concerning the luxury department store Haussmann that should have appeared on the Rokin, but where Hudson’s Bay ultimately was established.

He also acted in various issues for the Ajax Supporters’ Association.

For Flixbus, he won summary proceedings in 2019 claiming performance of a continuing performance contract.

In 2022, Thomas successfully represented an Indonesian commercial agent in a dispute over an agency agreement with a Dutch company.

In 2022, he forced Facebook, with a summary proceedings summons, to remove a harmful fake account that targeted his client, a successful entrepreneur.

At the end of 2023, Thomas won a case for a well-known auction house at the Court of Appeal in Leeuwarden regarding the extrajudicial annulment of an auction purchase of two artworks by the famous British graffiti artist Banksy.

In addition, Thomas has extensive experience in proceedings in the areas of unlawful publication, slander and defamation, rectification and damages.

In 2015, he won the widely-known “revenge pornography in summary proceedings” against Facebook, which was widely reported in the Dutch press. The Amsterdam judge ordered Facebook to provide the information behind a fake account. Thomas also assisted the Association of Netherlands Dentists (ANT) in connection with a large background article in the national newspaper NRC and won a lawsuit about an unlawful publication in De Telegraaf.

In 2022, he successfully argued in summary proceedings before the Amsterdam District Court on behalf of Dutch wine importers against a well-known sommelier, who was ordered to print a retraction. In 2023, he successfully filed a complaint against the editor-in-chief of Omroep MAX with the Press Council on behalf of online travel agency eDreams.

In 2024, Thomas secured a retraction of a defamatory article that harmed his client's reputation in the Leeuwarder Courant.

Style of work

His style of work is characterised by a strong commitment to his clients’ business, decisiveness and short lines of communication. He can get to the core of the matter quickly, and – if desired – take immediate action.

In addition to his daily law practice, Thomas is an expert attached to the business news website BusinessInsider.nl.

Register of legal areas

Thomas has registered as principal areas of law in the register of legal areas of the Dutch Bar Association: law of obligations and real estate law. On the basis of this registration, he is obliged to obtain ten training credits in each registered principal legal area per calendar year, according to the standards of the Dutch Bar Association.