Reinout Vriesendorp bows out: 'My main focus as a professor was always on teaching'
Valedictory lecture
Reinout Vriesendorp has been Professor of Insolvency Law since 2016 as well as a partner at law firm De Brauw Blackstone Westbroek. For nine years, he has advanced multidisciplinary collaboration, internationalisation and high-quality education. On 9 May, he will deliver his valedictory lecture after the 3rd international CERIL conference.
Why did you choose to move from Tilburg to Leiden after more than 20 years?
In 2015, I bumped into Jan Adriaanse at a conference in Vienna. I was aware that Leiden was searching for a successor to Bob Wessels who was due to retire. Jan asked if I knew of any suitable candidates. When he described the job profile, I realised it was a good match with my own background. He eventually suggested that I might be interested in the position myself.
After considering his suggestion over the weekend, I realised that I was actually very interested. The mix of law and economics in the profile really appealed to me. In Tilburg, the law faculty and the economics faculty were already working together, but when it came to insolvency law they were two separate faculties. Here in Leiden, with my dual appointment at the Company Law and Business Studies departments, you’re literally working in the same corridor which helps to increase collaboration opportunities. It was precisely that aspect that I found particularly attractive.
Looking back on your academic career in Leiden, what are you most proud of?
In recent years, I’ve been involved in a number of excellent research projects; for example, the project on the remuneration of bankruptcy trustees handling ‘empty’ estates that I worked on with Jessie Pool, Harold Koster and Peter van der Zwan, commissioned by the Ministry of Justice and Security’s Research and Data Centre (WODC). This has been an ongoing discussion for around 50 years and thanks to our multidisciplinary approach, we’ve been able to make progress in analysing the issue. Our findings were also presented to the House of Representatives at the beginning of this year.
I’m proud of the collaboration with colleagues, but certainly also with other faculties and disciplines. I think it’s vital that we keep developing these bonds – not only here in the Netherlands, but also at the international level. All countries have to deal with debt problems, and every country does so in a different way. I’ve always learned a great deal from examining other legal systems and speaking with international colleagues.
One good example of international collaboration is the launch of CERIL (Conference on European Restructuring and Insolvency Law) in 2016, now with 100 prominent experts on insolvency law (lawyers, academics and judges) from the whole of Europe. Co-founded by my predecessor Bob Wessels, among others, this independent think tank will hold its third international conference in the Academy Building on 8 and 9 May.
It’s important for professors to balance their time between teaching and research. What did you focus on?
There are often discussions about teaching load and time for research. Although I’ve been able to contribute to meaningful research, my main focus as a professor was always on teaching. It’s with good reason that the word 'leraar', meaning teacher in Dutch, is included in the word for professor, ‘hoogleraar’.
For me, education is about the master-apprentice principle: I set the example – and that’s certainly not always the perfect example – but the students choose what’s useful for them. It’s extremely rewarding to see how they develop in the course of their studies. After all, studying is more than just turning up for lectures and sitting exams. It’s also a time to develop and mature. The fact that you can make a difference through your role as an educator is something that’s very dear to me.
What does the future hold?
I’ve still got lots of plans. For some time now, I’ve been a deputy justice at the Amsterdam Court of Appeal and I certainly want to continue that work in the coming years. I’m also the chairman of CERIL and I’ll continue my activities on the licensing advisory committee of the KNVB (Royal Netherlands Football Association). I don’t see retirement as a black hole. They say that all good things must come to an end, and so now it’s time for others to continue the research and teaching. If all goes to plan, I’ll just have to set my alarm clock a little less often.
What will you miss most about working in academia and at the faculty?
I became a professor in Tilburg at the age of 34, a position I’ve now held for almost half my life. And even though it still feels like yesterday, I’ve seen a lot of changes over time. One thing that hasn’t changed, though, is the joy I get from my contact with students. Working with young people keeps me young too. Perhaps I'll miss that contact, but fortunately I’ve got children and grandchildren of my own, so it won't disappear completely. Still, I’d like to keep talking to young people in one way or another and maintain that contact.
The photo above was taken after Reinout Vriesendorp's final lecture for students on the Insolvency Law course.