Jessie Pool is Associate Professor of Insolvency Law in the Department of Corporate and Financial Law at Leiden University. Her expertise lies in insolvency law, with a particular focus on the societal consequences of financial distress and insolvency proceedings. Her research demonstrates the limitations of insolvency law's traditional focus and examines how legal frameworks can better accommodate broader societal interests, including sustainability, poverty prevention, access to justice, and the protection of vulnerable stakeholders.

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Jessie Pool is Associate Professor of Insolvency Law in the Department of Corporate and Financial Law at Leiden University. Her expertise lies in insolvency law, with a particular focus on the societal consequences of financial distress and insolvency proceedings. Her research demonstrates the limitations of insolvency law's traditional focus and examines how legal frameworks can better accommodate broader societal interests, including sustainability, poverty prevention, access to justice, and the protection of vulnerable stakeholders.

Jessie combines doctrinal, empirical, comparative, and interdisciplinary methods to test legal assumptions and bridge the gap between law and practice. She studies, among other topics, decision-making and the balancing of interests in insolvency proceedings, as well as the role of different stakeholders. In doing so, she contributes to the development of evidence-based regulation and insolvency procedures that better reflect societal realities.

Her research has been recognised through several awards, including the Meijers Prize for the best publication within the Coherent Private Law research programme, the Van Wersch Springplank Award for talented young legal researchers, and the Best International Paper Award from INSOL International. She has also secured research funding, including a grant from the Leiden University Fund (LUF) for the project Pathways out of Poverty. In addition, she has obtained external research funding for commissioned research projects, including projects for the Dutch Tax Administration and the Research and Documentation Centre (WODC).

Jessie works closely with judges, insolvency practitioners, lawyers, policymakers, and other professionals to translate research findings into legislation, policy, and legal practice. She maintains close ties with legal practice and spent six months working with the WHOA pool through a placement at the insolvency division of the Midden-Nederland District Court. Her expertise is regularly sought by the Dutch Ministry of Justice and Security. She is actively involved in national and international professional networks, including INSOL Europe, INSOL International, and the Dutch Restructuring Association. She is a Fellow of INSOLAD and participated in the International Insolvency Institute's NextGen Leadership Program. Jessie regularly presents her research at national and international conferences, for professional organisations, and for government institutions. Her research has contributed to legislation and professional guidelines in the field of insolvency law.

Jessie plays a leading role in the development of empirical legal studies in the Netherlands and across Europe. She served as co-lead of Leiden University's Sector Plan initiative in Empirical Legal Studies, co-founded and chaired the European Society for Empirical Legal Studies (ESELS), and currently serves as Director of the Dutch Empirical Legal Studies Academy (ELS Academy) and leads Leiden Law School's strategic research theme Law and Empirics. She also serves on the editorial board of the European Journal for Empirical Legal Studies (EJELS). Through these roles, she promotes collaboration between legal scholars and researchers from other disciplines, contributes to the further development of empirical legal methods, and fosters the exchange of knowledge between academia and legal practice.

Jessie teaches across the field of insolvency law and supervises several PhD candidates. She also provides post-academic education for legal professionals and methodology training for PhD candidates and researchers. From 2022 to 2025, she served as Associate Director of Leiden Law School's Bachelor's programme in Law (approximately 4,500 students) and currently serves as Director of the Master's programme in Financial Law. She holds both the Dutch University Teaching Qualification (BKO) and the Senior Teaching Qualification (SKO) and is committed to educational innovation. In 2020, her initiative, the Legal Business Game, received the runner-up award for the Gouden Zandloper in the category Innovative Legal Education. She has also secured faculty funding for participation in the Flipping the Classroom project and regularly publishes on developments in legal education.

Publications