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Maastricht Institute for Legal Education

Research Institute

The Maastricht Institute for Legal Education (MILE) is a content-driven centre at the intersection of educational development and law. We seek to provide inspiration, cultivate innovation and generate impact regarding legal education. In doing so MILE facilitates research into the development of legal education.

Additionally, we have tasks and goals beyond that of a traditional research institute. MILE offers education professionalisation courses and curricula to academic staff, it harbours the Law Faculty’s Teacher Information Point (TIP), it is the academic home of the study advisors and education policy advisors, and it governs the Law Faculty’s teaching fellows pool.

Research

MILE provides for a pioneering research environment that is closely intertwined with the ‘values’ pillar of the Faculty of Law’s research programme. Every jurist’s path starts with their legal education. In these formative years, the foundation for every jurist’s career are thoroughly laid. Seeing how fundamental the importance of legal education is, it is noteworthy that research on legal education traditionally focusses on what should be studied in legal curricula. MILE seeks to shift this onus more to how law should be taught, not only by doing research in the scholarship of teaching and learning of law, but also by doing fundamental normative research into legal education. While realising that input and methods from other disciplines can be valuable, MILE seeks to do this research primarily through the legal discipline’s own methodologies.

Research stream MILE values

MILE’s research mainly takes place in the following research stream:

1. Values

News

Publication of the Report by the Legal Expert Group (LEG) on the Right to Demonstrate at Universities

A group of legal experts from the Faculty of Law has provided advice on the exercise of the right to demonstrate at Maastricht University (UM).
hand holding documents

Paula Lozada named Face of Science

As one of the Faces of Science, Paula will communicate her research and her work as a scientist to society in various ways.
Portrait of Paula Lozada

Donna Yates Appointed UNESCO Chair in Cultural Heritage and Emerging Crime

Donna Yates (Associate Professor in the Criminal Law and Criminology department) has been appointed UNESCO Chair in Cultural Heritage and Emerging Crime.
Portrait of Donna Yates

Appointment of Frank Nellen as Professor of Value Added Taxes and Supply Chain Levies

The Executive Board has appointed Dr Frank Nellen as Professor of Value Added Taxes and Supply Chain Levies as of 1 March 2026. He succeeds Ad van Doesum, who was appointed Justice in the Tax Chamber of the Dutch Supreme Court as of 1 January 2026.
Picture of Frank Nellen by Suzan Alberts

Law schools Zuyd and Maastricht University strengthen cooperation

Unique in the Netherlands: some credits from higher professional education in law count directly towards the pre-master's degree.
Dries Lodewijks (directeur financiële-, management- en rechtenopleidingen Zuyd), Saskia Brand-Gruwel (bestuurslid Zuyd) en Jan Smits (decaan Faculteit der Rechtsgeleerdheid, UM). Staand op de achtergrond (vlnr): Koen Savrij Droste (opleidingsmanager HBO-Rechten Zuyd en programmadirecteur Samenwerking UM – Zuyd), Bart Paumen (adviseur Strategie, Zuyd), Eric van de Luijtgaarden (lector en bijzonder hoogleraar Preventive Law bij, respectievelijk, Zuyd en de UM) en Brahim Ait Mellouk (directeur Faculteit der Re

Blogs

AI-Generated Representations of Architectural Works and Limits of Architectural Copyright

  • Law

Copyright lawsuits in the US brought by groups of writers, artists, and musicians against AI developers have mainly focused on the AI training stage rather than the output stage. One of the reasons for this focus is that claimants often struggle to demonstrate that AI outputs are copies of original works. Architecture is different: where general-purpose AI models like GhatGPT reproduce copyright-protected architectural designs, the similarity is remarkable and therefore it becomes easier to demonstrate copying. While we have not seen lawsuits from architects yet, they are likely to be unsuccessful nevertheless. Why?

an architect's working table with drawings

Developing Agnostic Network AI Models for Financial Crime Detection

  • Law

Can we trust AI with our financial integrity? With financial crime, the stakes aren't just monetary—they involve the rule of law and the health of our democracy. But in the COMCRIM AI PhD project, we are facing a unique challenge: How do you train a machine to find a needle in a haystack when that 'needle' is constantly changing its position? Trying to answer this question, we provide an overview of how AI can support the detection of financial crimes that threaten the rule of law and democracy.

risk meter

Does the ban on designer drugs in the Netherlands work?

  • Law

On Thursday, January 22, 2026, the Research and Data Centre (WODC) and the Trimbos Institute jointly organised the annual symposium of the National Drug Monitor (NDM). During the meeting, the latest figures and trends were presented: who uses drugs, and what developments are visible? What stood out? The rise of the new psychoactive substance (NPS) 3MMC, best known by the name MIAUW.

Uitwisseling van drugs voor geld

Sorting out competence related conflicts of physicians in specialty training

  • Law

Nobody likes a conflict, especially not about being good enough to belong to a certain profession. All the same, nobody wants to receive medical treatment from a doctor, without sufficient professional performance. So, after graduation, a medical specialist should be competent to provide the level of care sufficient to the norms of the specialty, regardless of any disputes or obstacles during training.

Cover of Judith Godschalkx-Dekker's thesis

What Makes “a Great Jurist”? A Legal Educator’s Reflection on the Film La Grazia, by Paolo Sorrentino

  • Law

The recently released movie La Grazia (2025) is about love, doubt, and a moral dilemma. Yet, this post argues that, through the story of President Mariano De Santis, we are also prompted to consider what it means to be a great jurist.

Poster for the movie La Grazia

Upcoming events