Gijs is an all-round EU legal expert, adept across the wide spectrum of European law and specialising in state aid, the internal market and market regulation. He has many years of experience providing legal assistance to public authorities and companies in these fields. He advises parties on a range of matters, including those related to area developments, finance, public-private partnership, energy regulation as well as matters where private sector and public sector interests intersect. He also regularly litigates on diverse matters and regulations with an EU legislative dimension

Gijs studied European Law at Utrecht University and the College of Europe in Bruges, Belgium. He began his career in the legal profession in 2010 at Pels Rijcken, before moving to BarentsKrans in 2017. After spending five years as an EU law specialist and section head at the Advisory Division of the Council of State, he returned to the legal profession, joining Straatman Koster in December 2024.

Gijs is a highly regarded author in the domain of EU law and state aid in particular. He is also editor of the Dutch Journal of European Law (Nederlands tijdschrift voor Europees recht, NtEr) and is a board member of the Netherlands
Association for European Law (Nederlandse Vereniging voor Europees Recht, NVER).