Juliette van der Jagt appointed professor by special appointment of Local Government Law

Mr. dr. Juliette van der Jagt has been appointed professor by special appointment of Local Government Law (Oppenheim Chair) at the Faculty of Law, effective January 1, 2026. The chair was established by the faculty's Foundation for Constitutional Law, Administrative Law, and Public Administration.

She will hold this position alongside her current job at the Association of Netherlands Municipalities (VNG).

Role of local authorities in society

The importance of municipalities, provinces, and water boards within society, government organization, and law has continued to grow in recent decades, and this development is not yet over. Policy-determining principles such as ‘decentralized where possible, centralized where necessary,’ as we know them in environmental law and the social domain, stimulate this development.

Due to this increase and change in the tasks of local authorities, the law governing local authorities themselves is also undergoing changes. For example, there are various legal issues concerning intergovernmental relations between, for example, the state and municipalities. Within the administrative layers of local authorities themselves, there are also renewed questions about the allocation and exercise of powers, and the democratic legitimacy of decisions.

The special chair focuses on the legal aspects of decentralization and the rights of local authorities across the board. Particular attention is paid to the institutional aspects of decentralization law and the place of local governments within the decentralized unitary state and in a European setting. The interaction between decentralization law and substantive areas of law (such as environmental law) is also discussed.

With her experience in the field of local government law, Van der Jagt is ideally placed to bridge the gap between academia and practice and to establish links between the various areas of law in which local authorities operate.

Curriculum Vitae

Juliette van der Jagt studied Dutch law at Utrecht University (majoring in constitutional and administrative law and criminal law). She obtained her PhD from the same university in 2006 with a thesis entitled ‘Milieuconvenanten gehandhaafd’ (Environmental Covenants Enforced), a thesis on environmental, administrative, and civil law concerning the enforceability and enforcement of covenants concluded between the government and the business community to achieve environmental objectives.

After working for almost ten years as a lawyer specializing in administrative and health law at the Pels Rijcken law firm, she joined the Association of Netherlands Municipalities (VNG) in 2016. Over the years, she has dealt with a wide range of topics, including open government, elections, electronic administrative traffic, and general administrative law. She currently works as a coordinating legal advisor on the implementation of the Environment Act and environmental law in a broad sense.

Van der Jagt is also a board member of the VAR, the Association for Administrative Law, and chair of the editorial board of the Sdu Commentary on the General Administrative Law Act.