Nailah U. van Dijk is an Attorney at Law and the Managing Partner at Lawfirm van Dijk – Silos. She was born and raised in Paramaribo, Suriname. Nailah obtained her Master’s degree in Law at the Anton de Kom University of Suriname in 2009. During her studies she interned for her studies on criminology in the Netherlands and attended the University of Amsterdam, the “vrije Universiteit” and Erasmus College. From 2005 until 2010 she worked as a paralegal at Lawfirm van Dijk – Silos. In 2007 she started her own business (Incasso Bureau van Dijk) as a debt – collector.
She started her internship and lawyers education right after her graduation in January 2009 at Lawfirm Marica and Lawfirm van Dijk – Silos. She completed all modules of the lawyers trainee education and her internship as well as the permanent attorney education with success.
On the 3rd of September 2010, she was sworn in by the High Court of Suriname as an Attorney and admitted to the Surinamese Bar. In August 2015 the founding -partner transferred the firm to Nailah and she became the managing – Partner of the firm.
In January 2016 she was appointed as a Board Member of the Anton de Kom University of Suriname for a period of 5 years by the Minister of Education, Culture and Science.
In April 2017 she enrolled at the University of Cumbria in the United Kingdom of England for the International Business Law Program and in 2021 she will graduate and receive her LLM in International Business Law. Also in 2017 she was appointed treasurer of the board of the Institute for Graduate Studies and Research (IGSR) connected to the Anton de Kom University of Suriname.
In October 2019 Nailah enrolled in the executive Master program on International Politics at CERIS-University Libre de Bruxelles. In November 2019 she enrolled in the AMLCA certification program of the Florida International Bankers Association – Florida International University. In February 2020 she was certified as a Anti – Money Laundering Certified Associate. In June 2020 Nailah enrolled in the AML/CFT compliance gold standard CAMS certification program at ACAMS, with the aim to obtain the certification as a certified anti – money laundering specialist by december 2020.
Between 2015 and 2020 Nailah has trained, in the capacity as patron, 14 lawyers to become attorneys at law. She is a well seasoned lawyer, litigator, negotiator and Counsel with clients both regionally and in Suriname. Nailah has not only represented high profile clients and worked on very high profile cases, but has done hundreds of pro-bono cases also. Nailah has not only experience in litigation, but also in arbitration, negotiations and mediation. In June 2020 Nailah, in the capacity as the managing partner of Lawfirm van Dijk – Silos, entered into a collaboration agreement with Andersen Global.
Nailah is not only an attorney and a member of the Surinamese Bar but, she is also a member of ACAMS and a certified Anti-Money Laundering expert. The development of several Laws and regulations as well as the AML/CFT Technical Compliance analyses for the National Risk Assessment of Suriname are some of the projects that Nailah has worked on of the passed two years.
Nailah is a dedicated Lion within Lionsclub Wanica in Suriname and currently sits in the board as the 2nd Vice – President of the Club. In 2018 Lions Clubs International gave her the Honor award and she became a Melvin Jones Fellow.
Nailah her Principal Practice Areas are: