Pauline Memelink, Visiting Professor

Courses taught: European Union and its Law System(s)

Expertise: Dutch Civil Law (Contract Law, Tort Law, Property law), Dutch Civil Procedural Law and Legal Findings.

Pauline Memelink (1971) studied law in Leiden (Netherlands), obtaining (an equivalent to) a J.D. in Civil Law in 1996. After graduating she worked as an attorney at law for almost five years at the law firm Barents & Krans Advocaten in The Hague (Netherlands). She first worked in a General Litigation Practice and later specialized in Supreme Court litigation.

In October 2001 Pauline returned to the Law Faculty of Leiden University to be a PhD-fellow at the Institute of Private Law; working on a PhD-thesis as well as teaching Civil Law. In February 2009 she defended her PhD-thesis, entitled: De verkeersopvatting. This book evaluates the subject of what, in the Netherlands, is called ‘generally accepted views', or ‘common opinion' (also ‘received opinion'). It articulates the difficulties of a static legal code in an ever changing world and the influence of common opinion upon private law. The book deals particularly with the interaction between case law and written (Code) law. Pauline studied, among other things, the influence of legal precedents in the Dutch Legal System and Legal Findings in Civil Law traditions.

Since January 2009 Pauline has been working as an associate professor and researcher at the Institute of Private Law, Leiden University. She teaches Civil Law at every level for students but also teaches courses for attorneys and other practitioners, such as judges. Pauline is editor of the yearly research compilation of the Institute of Private Law (BWKJ, a Yearbook), as well as editor of a Dutch Law Journal on Civil Law (Maandblad voor Vermogensrecht).