Leiden Revisited: Back to uni!
During Leiden Revisited, alumni from Leiden Law School were given the opportunity to relive their student days once more. This year, the event took place in the old and familiar lecture halls of the Kamerlingh Onnes Gebouw.
On 9 September, we welcomed our alumni at our university. This year, we were able to meet up in real life and in the, for the alumni, familiar surroundings of KOG. Neither the national train strikes, nor the Dutch rainy weather were able to prevent our alumni’s attendance. We got off to a good start with a wonderful turnout and inspiring opening words from Dean Joanne van der Leun.
This year, the alumni were asked beforehand which topics they thought were interesting, on trend, or important to discuss. As a result, the event was tailored to their wishes and interests, and this showed in the enthusiasm and the interactions during the seven parallel sessions. There was a real inquisitive vibe. Sharp questions were asked, there were debates and active participation: just like ordinary students, the alumni had to work together to solve cases.
The following topics were addressed:
Parallel session 1: Developments IE education & research in Leiden
Trademark law - Marjolein Bronneman
Sustainability and IE - Charlotte Vrendenbarg
Copyright law - Dirk Visser
Parallel session 2: Business Mediation - Arnaud Booij
Parallel session 3: Digitalisation & private law - Tycho de Graaf (Hybride)
Parallel session 4: Current affairs privacy and data protection law - Gerrit-Jan Zwenne
Parallel session 5: The new environmental legislation - Jan de Heer
Parallel session 6: Modernising the code of criminal procedure - Jan Crijns
Parallel session 7: Current state of affairs labour law - Stefan Sagel
In the parallel session on copyright, Dirk Visser spoke about a recent decision of the Supreme Court. In his session, the question was: when do you breach a person's portrait right? The question was triggered by an ongoing case brought by Dutch Grand Prix driver Max Verstappen against delivery company Picnic. In 2016, Picnic launched an online commercial in which a look-a-like of Max Verstappen delivers groceries in a Picnic delivery cart. In the advert, he's wearing a race outfit similar to what Max Verstappen wears. Verstappen invoked his portrait rights in his objection. The Amsterdam Court of Appeal initially rejected the appeal because it was clear in the Picnic advert that it was a look-a-like. Recently, however, the Supreme Court ruled in favour of Verstappen. The new ruling states that in certain circumstances, an image of a look-a-like can be a portrait of the person depicted. Visser discussed this in his parallel session, in which his own PhD student was dressed in a Max Verstappen outfit, and asked the public: when is he in breach of the portrait right?
In Arnaud Booij’s parallel session promovendi could sit back and relax. In his lecture on business mediation, he discussed the development of business mediation in the Netherlands. More and more often, complicated cases are being solved by means of mediation. What are the pros and cons? He referenced, for instance, to a recent article published in the Dutch newspaper ‘Financieel Dagblad’ which discussed the problems of family-owned businesses.
Booij explained how mediation becomes more complicated when family-run businesses are involved. Emotions and family ties often play a large role. As a result, people often refuse to budge on their points of view. Using interactive cases, he challenged his audience to determine in which cases business mediation might be a solution.
We thank all alumni for their presence and enthusiasm that helped make this day a great success!
