Lecture by Bastiaan Assink 'Corporate Law should be transparent and predictable'
On Thursday 21 January, Bastiaan Assink, who has been appointed Professor of Corporate Law at the Erasmus University Rotterdam, officially accepted his professorship by giving a public lecture.
In his lecture, entitled ‘The Janus Head of Corporate Law – On Facilitating and Regulating Entrepreneurship’ Bastiaan states that it is the courts rather than the lawmakers that should shape those aspects of corporate law that are relevant to daily practice in a more structured way. Entrepreneurship is complex, so it is important for entrepreneurs that corporate law is clear and transparent so that their business is not complicated even further.
Bastiaan compares corporate law with the head of Janus, because it has two faces. On the one hand, corporate law facilitates the development of economic activity by entrepreneurs while on the other hand it attempts to regulate the behaviour of entrepreneurs and to counteract the destruction of value. Because the circumstances surrounding a case are going to play an increasingly greater role in answering legal questions, the law is becoming ever more unpredictable. Corporate law is therefore becoming more complex.
In his lecture, Bastiaan pleads for a possible solution in which the courts – particularly the Supreme Court and the Enterprise Chamber – actively resist the complexity of corporate law by identifying the requirements that the law sets for entrepreneurs in a more structured way, thus making these requirements more transparent and predictable.
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Bastiaan devotes four days of the week to leading the corporate law department at the Erasmus University. He also works for NautaDutilh as a lawyer in the corporate litigation practice, specialising in cassation.