Bastiaan F. Assink (1977) is professor of Company Law at Erasmus School of Law (Erasmus University Rotterdam) in Rotterdam, the Netherlands, where he currently teaches Corporate Governance & Corporate Litigation (master); lawyer (partner) at NautaDutilh NV in Amsterdam, the Netherlands, where he focuses on international arbitration, corporate advice and litigation, and proceedings before the Dutch Supreme Court; and deputy-justice in the Arnhem-Leeuwarden Court of Appeals. In past years he also taught Company Law (bachelor), Capita Company Law (master), Research Lab Company Law (master) and Corporate Litigation (master); he still teaches regularly to members of the bench and the bar on matters of company law and corporate governance. Bastiaan co-heads the business law research programme 'Lex Mercatoria' of Erasmus School of Law. He is case law commentator at Ars Aequi and regular contributor at Ondernemingsrecht.
Bastiaan acquired his law degree (masters in company law and private law) at the University of Groningen in 2002, his arts degree (master in American studies) at the University of Groningen in 2003 and his doctorate (cum laude) at Erasmus University Rotterdam in 2007. He was awarded the Harry Honée PhD award in 2010, for the best company law PhD thesis in the 2005-2008 period. Bastiaan joined NautaDutilh as lawyer in 2002, completed a five month secondment at the Delaware Supreme Court and Chancery Court in 2008, was appointed as professor of Company Law at Erasmus School of Law in 2009 and was appointed as deputy-justice in the Arnhem-Leeuwarden Court of Appeals in 2012. From 2008-2013, he ran a company law and corporate governance blog at this URL; the first in its kind in the Netherlands.
Bastiaan is a prolific scholar whose research covers many facets of company law and corporate governance, with an overarching focus on the interplay between facilitation and regulation of entrepreneurship through company law and corporate governance (to promote sustainable creation of wealth and help prevent destruction of wealth).* In his research, he has a keen eye for influences from non-legal realms including economy and social psychology. Bastiaan's most recent book is a three volume, 3000+ page treatise on company law and corporate governance published in 2013: the Compendium Ondernemingsrecht. Both in his academic research and his practice as a lawyer, Bastiaan aims at using his in-depth legal knowledge and experience to achieve results that are both sound and practical.
* An interplay that can be coined as the defining tension in company law and corporate governance, hence the name of the website as it captures the essence of Bastiaan's research interest. See the Compendium Ondernemingsrecht, § 2.1 and § 154.