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The Internationalisation of Dutch Legal Education: Seeking a Balance Between Local Requirements, European Exigencies and International Perspectives

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The Internationalisation of Legal Education

Part of the book series: Ius Comparatum - Global Studies in Comparative Law ((GSCL,volume 19))

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Abstract

With the development of nation states, legal education has become a national business: linked to the national legal system and the national language. Legal education served national legal professions. This focus, as well as the control which national legal professions have on legal education, must be reconciled with Europeanisation and globalisation. How can and must legal education be transformed so as to cater for all legal needs of society: local, European and global? In this chapter, the author describes the development and evolution of Dutch legal education in this light. Law schools in the Netherlands steer between localism and globalization, seeking to educate a variety of lawyers for a variety of jobs, in a wide variety of settings. The local law firm, specialized in labor and welfare law; the niche boutique law firms and the major big law firms with international clients and English as an important language, as well as policy advisors, civil servants on the local, national, European and international level. Challenging indeed, but very worthwhile, because these new perspectives went hand in hand with opening up law schools for international staff, students and competition, increasing quality, and also allowed for new avenues of new comparative and international research.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    Exceptionally, 2 year master’s (120 credits) have been approved and accredited for research master’s and for one master’s program on international legal systems.

  2. 2.

    University of Amsterdam, Free University of Amsterdam, University of Groningen, Radboud University Nijmegen, Tilburg University, Utrecht University, Leiden University, Erasmus University Rotterdam, Maastricht University.

  3. 3.

    The Open University.

  4. 4.

    However only with a max 60 credits university offered or acknowledged linking-program/LL.M admission program.

  5. 5.

    This generally means that first year students are 18 or 19 years old.

  6. 6.

    Unless to some extent when operating with a numerus fixus, which most law schools do not in 2013/2014, after an experiment in 2012/2013.

  7. 7.

    This category of the legal profession will not be dealt with since it has specific bachelor and master requirements, which programmes are only offered in a few law schools.

  8. 8.

    So, allowing for a max of 40 credits for non-law courses.

  9. 9.

    Commissie Stagiaire-Opleiding, met recht advocaat. Een nieuwe opleiding: de Stagiaire-Opleiding, Nijmegen 2010.

  10. 10.

    For more information on this, see, (in Dutch): https://www.advocatenorde.nl/8219/advocaten/beroepsopleiding-advocaten-start-sept-2013

  11. 11.

    For more information on this, see: http://www.ssr.nl/index.php?page=De-nieuwe-initiele-opleiding-ZM&hl=nl_NL

  12. 12.

    This judgment is made by the professors, faculty board, faculty council, possibly also the university board, and it is occasionally discussed with other stakeholders, for instance through councils set up by a law school to interact with alumni and legal professions, or through ad hoc contacts and feedback from legal professions about alumni and the labor market’s perception of a law school’s curriculum, or through involvement of legal professionals in teaching within a law school.

  13. 13.

    For more information, see http://nvao.com/

  14. 14.

    The annual fee in 2013–2014 was 1,835 euro, and for 2014–2015, 1,916 euro (for bachelor and master’s).

  15. 15.

    The Open University is not included in the list of number of law students in bachelor and master since their students pay and study per course. Its students are counted among degrees.

  16. 16.

    Be reminded though that this is a % of all graduating master students. If we would leave out those master’s graduates who, for instance as foreign students, do not have a qualifying (Dutch) law bachelor from a Dutch university law school, the per cent would undoubtedly go up.

  17. 17.

    Offered by Groningen, Tilburg and Maastricht. See for the Maastricht curriculum: http://www.maastrichtuniversity.nl/web/Faculties/law1/EuropeanLawSchoolEnglishLanguageTrack.htm

    I have counted a law program that is with the word ‘recht’ or ‘law’ in the name of the programme. I have not taken into account other bachelor or master programs which might be offered by a law school but are no ‘law’ programmes, such as criminology or public administration.

  18. 18.

    Tilburg, Leiden, Rotterdam, Amsterdam, Groningen, Maastricht. Furthermore Leiden, Groningen, Free University Amsterdam, and Amsterdam University offer a bachelor ánd master program for the legal profession of notary public.

  19. 19.

    In Dutch: Rechtsgeleerdheid.

  20. 20.

    These have been highly successful, attracting 280 students in 2013/2014.

  21. 21.

    I do know of only one example where a law school offers to students in the Dutch law curriculum a compulsory course taught in English, about European and international law.

  22. 22.

    For more information, see www.europeancourts.blogspot.nl; many law firms do also publish European law oriented newsletters (for their clients) within their specific fields, such as public procurement and competition law.

  23. 23.

    For instance: Heringa 2011; Smits 2014; Kornet 2014; Heringa 2014; De Witte and Forder 1992; Faure et al. 2002; Heringa and Akkermans 2011.

  24. 24.

    Visitatiecommissie rechtsgeleerdheid (after its chair: the Commissie Zwemmer), established in 2010, concluded its work in 2011 by reporting to the NVAO (the competent accreditation agency).

  25. 25.

    See http://www.keuzegids.org/universiteiten

  26. 26.

    Gent, Wien, Hamburg, Bologna, Rotterdam, Marseille, Warszawa, Mumbai, Haifa; http://www.eur.nl/postacademisch/master/law_economics/

  27. 27.

    Groningen, Copenhagen, Oslo, Aberdeen.

  28. 28.

    Utrecht, Sheffield.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Maastricht University, Maastricht, The Netherlands

    Aalt Willem Heringa

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Law School, Sciences Po, Paris, France

    Christophe Jamin

  2. Faculty of Law, Bond University, Gold Coast, Queensland, Australia

    William van Caenegem

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Heringa, A.W. (2016). The Internationalisation of Dutch Legal Education: Seeking a Balance Between Local Requirements, European Exigencies and International Perspectives. In: Jamin, C., van Caenegem, W. (eds) The Internationalisation of Legal Education. Ius Comparatum - Global Studies in Comparative Law, vol 19. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-29125-3_13

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