Flash interview with alumnus Kees van der Staaij: I’m still a lawyer at heart
Kees van der Staaij started studying Law at Leiden University in 1986, specialising in Constitutional and Administrative Law. He graduated in 1991.
Why did you decide to study Law and why Leiden? Did it live up to your expectations?
At the time, I was really interested in both law and political science. It was possible then to choose the specialisation Law and Political Science, a combination that was only offered by Leiden University. So that’s how I ended up studying here. After I’d completed the first year, I decided to go for the 'standard' Law degree.
My expectations have certainly been met and I’ve never regretted it. After doing my military service (ed: mandatory at the time) when I was a tank commander, I began my first job as a junior lawyer at the Council of State. I really enjoyed the work, so the degree I chose was the right one to put me on this path.
I’m a great fan of combining insights from constitutional and administrative law with political science. I still have my political science textbook and have often looked something up in it when I was an MP, and still do now I’m back working at the Council of State.
Which lecturer do you remember best?
Professor Nieuwenhuis who taught contract law made a lasting impression on me. He firmly believed in the academic tradition of teaching students to think for themselves. He provided many insights from texts of classical antiquity, Bible texts, from the roots of our ancient culture. He believed that you don't just come to university to learn about the positive law, but to learn how to think. And I also found lecturers with practical experience very inspiring, for example Max Rood on labour law and Peter Kooijmans on public international law.
What’s the nicest memory from your student days?
Well, maybe not the nicest memory, but it’s certainly the funniest. Something that taught me to take nothing at face value. When I was a student, bikes got stolen all the time. One day, I went to get my bike from the station and I noticed someone trying to open the chain lock fixed to my bike. Thinking I’d caught the thief red-handed, I called out to him. But it turned out that I’d not only locked my own bike, but that I’d put the chain around his bike too!
You were an MP for 25 years and party chairman of a political party for many years. Was that something you planned early on?
I’d been interested in politics from a young age. As a student, I worked as a volunteer photocopying parliamentary proceedings for the study centre of the SGP (Reformed Political Party). I didn’t have my sights set on a role in politics and would have been quite happy staying at the Council of State. However, I entered politics at the age of 29 and only ‘resurfaced’ 25 years later. So I hadn’t really planned my career, but it’s something that could have been predicted. I’m really a lawyer at heart, unlike those who studied law because they didn’t know what else to study. I love the analytical side, the constitutional aspect, working with the law. Even as a politician, I remained very much a lawyer. But now I want to be involved not only with the public domain, but also more with the law itself. Hence, the return to an advisory role at the Council of State.
What parts of your degree do you still find useful today?
The attention paid to the history of the constitutional structure has been very useful – the long Dutch tradition of give and take, consensus politics. Also the attention to our state institutions, the importance of our freedom rights and both the political-philosophical and constitutional reflections are still very useful to me. Recently, I even found a paper I’d written as a student which I used for background information on current issues, such as when it’s possible to ban a political party.
In hindsight, what did you miss in your degree that you would recommend including now?
As an MP, I felt I’d learnt too little about the law of persons and family law during my degree. It was offered as an elective course, but it could have been more prominent in the curriculum. Also, during my time as a student – at school and university – the focus was on acquiring cognitive knowledge. Social skills, which of course you develop to a certain extent at student associations, were not included in the curriculum. Offering a broader perspective, with more attention for psychology and social sciences, would have been good.
What do you enjoy most in your current position?
That I can contribute to the peaceful coexistence of differences. On the one hand, I can safeguard the system of the rule of law and, on the other hand, I’m aware of the importance of having sufficient democratic room for manoeuvre.
What advice would you give students?
Take courses you're really enthusiastic about without immediately knowing what you can do with them. You now have the time and opportunity to sharpen your critical thinking. Working on the side is fine, as long as it doesn’t take up too much time. Just enjoy being a student.
And finally, the guilty pleasure question…
Hardly something very ‘guilty’, but I do enjoy thinking about language and its interpretation. I was once caught reading the Van Dale Great Dictionary of the Dutch Language for my own enjoyment…