"Who gets an opportunity like this?"

Back to 1966: 'I had no idea what I wanted'

"I began studying law in Groningen in 1966. Why law? Because I had no idea what I wanted, and I thought, rightly, that a law degree left all doors open. During my studies, I served on several boards, including - as one of the first students - the Faculty Board. The organisation of education interested me. More or less by chance, through an advertisement in the Leiden law faculty's journal seeking an 'unconventional lawyer', I ended up at the Educational Research Bureau of that university. The biggest problem at the time was the enormous influx of students. Teaching consisted mainly of lectures and tutorials that were often little more than lectures in disguise. Surely there had to be a better way?"

When the bureau celebrated its tenth anniversary, Cohen suggested visiting Maastricht. "We had heard that they had devised an entirely new educational system there: Problem-Based Learning. So off we went. My boss Hans Crombag and I met Wynand Wijnen there, the man who had laid the foundations of that system and given the university its own distinct identity.

I was impressed. This was a completely different approach to education, one that engaged students far more actively in their studies. Not passively listening to lectures but working in small groups on concrete problems. That approach seemed ideally suited to the study of law. After all, if there is one thing lawyers do, it is solving legal problems, isn’t it?"

On the train back, an idea for an article for the Nederlands Juristenblad immediately took shape. "Hans Crombag and I wrote it together. As a thank-you for our visit, we sent it to Maastricht, not knowing that people there were at that very moment considering expanding the university. And let us be honest: if you want to expand on a budget, a law programme is an obvious choice, isn’t it? Large numbers of students, relatively few staff."

One thing led to another. "I was asked whether I might like to play a role in this. It was quite a step for this born Haarlemmer who had studied in Groningen and lived for about ten years in Leiden and Oegstgeest. But then again, who gets an opportunity like this? Setting up a new faculty in your early thirties?"

A leap to Maastricht

Fortunately, Job's wife was fully behind the adventure. "She was a Dutch teacher and very quickly became a highly regarded member of staff at Sint Maartenscollege. I still remember us looking for a house. At the end of the day, it was my wife who said pensively that the house at Brusselsestraat 58 might be the most interesting one. I would never have thought of it myself, but we lived there happily for twenty years."

There was a settling-in period. "I can still picture myself standing at the butchers in that same street, too uncertain to say what I wanted to buy. I would rather point at things, because the moment I spoke, my northern Dutch accent would instantly give me away as one of those outsiders from 'Holland'. Gradually, though, we came to feel very much at home in Maastricht.

I still remember how touched I was when the Dagblad De Limburger reported it on the front-page years later, when I became a State Secretary. I had become a little bit Limburgish after all." 

Pioneering with a close-knit team

"I did not set up the Faculty of Law on my own, but together with Karl Dittrich and Cees Flinterman, whom I knew from Leiden, Jeppe Balkema, a fellow student from Groningen, Victor Rutgers as our first secretary, and Marlie Sprengers, our secretary from day one and very much more than that, along with a great many others. And it may be worth knowing: this group still meets every year, under the inexplicable name Klavertje 5." 

What did they do? "Attract new colleagues who were just as keen on doing something new and then spend a great deal of time discussing everything together. Yes, under my chairmanship. Looking back, I think I learnt a great deal from that, without really being aware of it at the time. I tried, usually successfully, to reach conclusions that everyone could live with. A precursor to keeping things together over a cup of tea, you might say." 

The curriculum began to take shape. "The first year consisted of six blocks of six weeks each. Students worked actively in small groups on problems we had developed, using the seven-step method we had adopted from the other programmes, Medicine and Health Sciences. We were a close-knit and enthusiastic group, with a passion for something entirely new. That was what bound us together: reshaping the study of law on a completely new footing, with an active role for students. That active role was truly the fundamental difference from traditional programmes."

After a year, the first materials were ready. "The first hundred students enrolled, with an average age roughly equal to that of the staff. Many were from Limburg, eager to study in their home province and keen to take part in the experiment we were setting up."

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Doubt, criticism, and perseverance

"It was certainly exciting, and I think it always will be. How do you combine systematic knowledge of the law with the ability to analyse and solve legal problems? And how do you convince the outside world that such a programme meets the required standard?"

The first accreditation visit was a moment of doubt. "I still remember vividly how extraordinarily conservative lawyers, or so we experienced them, made mincemeat of our approach."

He smiles. "Fortunately, things more than worked out in the end. Just look at where our graduates have ended up. The fact that a great deal has changed over the years is part of that too. Reason through what you do, look at the results, and remain open to criticism."

Looking outward: Europe as the next step

"Perhaps the most significant change has been the introduction of the European Law School. The driving force behind it was, if I remember correctly, the enthusiasm of Douwe Korff. I was still there at the very beginning, but the momentum it gained belongs to a period after my time. What does stand out is how defining that step has been for the international character of the faculty. Whereas in the early years many students came from Limburg, you now see tutorial groups with students from all over the world. The move to offer educaEnglish has visibly given the faculty a different dynamic. That turn towards Europe also sits well with the spirit of innovation that was there from the very beginning, and has, in light of current developments, only become more important."

The lawyer of tomorrow, according to Cohen

That is also how I picture the lawyer of today and tomorrow: socially engaged, critical, towards the outside world as well as towards themselves, and willing to keep abreast of developments in their field. 

And someone who, more than I did in my day, appreciates that peace, freedom, and Western values are of fundamental importance to our society." He closes with a wish. "I hope that lawyers look back on their time as students with a sense of satisfaction, as a period in which they discovered and developed their talent, and in which they found their feet in their discipline.

Getting to know your own talents: that, to my mind, is one of the most important things a period of study can give you. And if I was able to contribute just a little to that, 45 years ago, in those first tutorial groups with those first hundred students, then I am, in retrospect, very glad indeed."


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