Patrick van der Meij (1978) is professor by special appointment of Criminal Law Practice and a partner and criminal defence lawyer at law firm Cleerdin & Hamer Advocaten in Amsterdam. He studied Dutch law from 1996 to 2001 at Leiden University specialising in criminal and criminal procedural law.

More information about Patrick van der Meij

Patrick van der Meij (1978) is professor by special appointment of Criminal Law Practice and a partner and criminal defence lawyer at law firm Cleerdin & Hamer Advocaten in Amsterdam. He studied Dutch law from 1996 to 2001 at Leiden University specialising in criminal and criminal procedural law. He was awarded a PhD from the same university in February 2010 for his thesis entitled ‘De driehoeksverhouding in het strafrechtelijk vooronderzoek. Een onverminderde zoektocht naar evenwicht in de rolverdeling tussen de rechter-commissaris, de officier van justitie en de verdediging’ (the triangular relationship in criminal preliminary investigations: the relentless search for balance in the division of roles between the examining magistrate, prosecutor and defence). He remained at the Institute of Criminal Law and Criminology as a lecturer until September 2010.

Research  

Patrick van der Meij conducts research independently and also in collaboration with other researchers at the Institute and within the research programme Criminal Justice as well as in the focus group Institutions for Conflict Resolution. He has many publications to his name on a variety of criminal law topics. These often reflect on the practical implementation of criminal law or on the position and responsibilities of actors (such as the lawyer, the public prosecutor or the judge) on the basis of fundamental principles and objectives of criminal law. Van der Meij will continue this cross-fertilisation between criminal law practice and scholarship with the Chair in Criminal Law Practice.

Onderwjs

Following his move to the legal profession in 2010, Van der Meij remained associated with Leiden University as a research fellow and guest lecturer. He regularly gave lectures and presentations to master’s students studying criminal law and procedure. Van der Meij is also a much sought-after speaker at symposia and expert meetings on topical issues in criminal justice. He also teaches courses for all professional groups in the field of Criminal Law, including the Dutch training certificate for the legal profession. Van der Meij will coordinate the course Practicum, part of the master’s specialism Criminal Law and Procedure.

Other acivities

Van der Meij was editorial secretary of ‘Tekst & Commentaar Strafrecht, Strafvordering’ and ‘Tekst & Commentaar Internationaal strafrecht’ from September 2003 to September 2010. He served as a deputy judge at the Court of Haarlem from 2007 to 2011. He has worked as a criminal defence lawyer at law firm Cleerdin & Hamer Advocaten since 2010 and  became a partner in 2016. He also teaches courses for the certificate for the legal profession in the Netherlands and also at SSR, the training and study centre for the judiciary. He has been a member of the editorial staff of ‘Strafblad, Tijdschrift voor Wetenschap en Praktijk’ since 2015.

Publications