From UM to Oxford to a world-leading law firm
Timothy Noelanders studied European Law in Maastricht and completed his Master’s in Law at Oxford. Now, he is part of a team establishing the first European offices of one of world’s largest and most prestigious law firms in Brussels.
He is reluctant to comment on recent developments in the United States. Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison, founded in 1875, is a white-shoe firm with over 1,200 lawyers and an annual turnover exceeding $2.6 billion. The firm has recently found itself in cross-hairs of the US Administration, primarily because it has represented opponents of the current President.
So things are indeed a little touchy, Timothy Noelanders acknowledges—particularly at a time when relations between the European Union and the US are strained. “Since last summer, we’ve been building the European headquarters of Paul Weiss,” he says via a video call from his flat in central Brussels. “It’s a great challenge full of opportunities and significant potential. We aim to establish a strong presence here in Brussels, and I’m optimistic we’ll succeed. Our focus is competition law, particularly international mergers and acquisitions. Whatever happens politically, the EU remains a key market. So, companies (including American ones) will continue to be active in Europe. My job is primarily legal, but what we do has an inherent political angle as well. With heightened geopolitical tensions come new challenges and it is our role to help our clients navigate them.”
A Peruvian experience
After high school, Noelander spent a year in Peru as part of a Rotary exchange programme. Together with other teenagers from around the world, he established a foundation to provide clean drinking water to native communities of the Peruvian Rain Forest. “I’d just turned 18, and what a year it was. I will never forget this adventure and the life lessons it taught me. One morning, after a night in the middle of the Amazon Rainforest, where you fall asleep with nature’s beautiful symphony, I woke up with a whole fish on my plate. I don’t normally like fish, but when I was told that the twelve-year-old son gets up every morning to catch fish for the entire family in the Amazon River, I could not say ‘I don’t like fish’. So, I ate it. It was the best food I ever had. As I was eating, I saw monkeys leaping from tree to tree. How lucky I was!”
Pinching pennies
The young lawyer, born and raised in Belgium, speaks candidly about having to watch every penny during his student days. “I am the first person of my family to attend university. When I told my parents I wanted to study in Maastricht, they were happy of course, but they were also worried about how we would afford the €2,000 tuition (compared to Belgium’s €600). Thankfully, the university allowed us to pay in instalments and that enabled me to afford my studies. I lived frugally. I lived in a modest student house on the Kleine Gracht with six others and made the most of Jumbo’s ‘four croissants for one euro’ deal! It was a great sacrifice for my parents, and I am very grateful they invested in my future. Today, I am glad to say that I reimbursed them in full.”
European ideal
Noelander was set on Maastricht. “Its Problem-Based Learning was right up my alley: working in small groups, discussing and solving problems actively together. Besides, there are few places better than Maastricht in which to study European law and gain insight into different legal systems. I genuinely believe in the European ideal, and in a way, Maastricht embodies that ideal: people from different backgrounds and cultures, working together and learning from one another.”
Oxford
Noelanders graduated cum laude in 2019, having also completed an Erasmus exchange at the University of Edinburgh. Then he gave his parents an even bigger shock. “I had applied to Oxford. It’s not easy to get in, but I somehow managed; the recommendation letters I received from my Maastricht professors surely played a big role—I am really grateful to them. I remember the moment the acceptance email arrived. I was sitting with friends in the hotel lobby near TEFAF (we’d managed to get free tickets). I screamed when I saw the email, and all the art collectors turned and stared at me.”
At Oxford, everything fell into place. “In Maastricht I’d studied criminal law, property law, and a range of other disciplines. At Oxford, I had the opportunity to delve deeper into four subject of my choosing: Intellectual Property Law, Law and Computer Science, Regulation and, Competition Law. It was intense—writing an essay every week, discussing and refining it with other students and the professor; not unlike Maastricht, actually. I even got to experience one-on-one tutorials with one of my favourite academics: A. Ezrachi. Academically, it doesn’t get better than that.”
Paul Weiss
Noelanders then returned home to spend six months with his parents. “After Peru, Maastricht, Oxford and the pandemic, I’d missed them,” he says. When he began applying for jobs, his Oxford degree proved to be key. After gaining experience at two leading American and British law firms, he joined Paul Weiss in autumn 2024. “Here in Brussels, I can put into practice everything I learnt in Maastricht and Oxford, especially the soft skills: collaboration within an international team, leadership, and adaptability. We’ve built a fantastic team, and we’re growing quickly. Maastricht will always have a special place in my heart. I go back at least once a year and I want to give back to the Maastricht community that gave me so much!”
Text: Jos Cortenraad
Photography: Timothy Noelanders
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