Chillin'Competition

The news has been out already for a while (thanks, Gianni!). Paul Nihoul, Professor of Law at the University of Louvain, has been proposed by the Belgian Government as a candidate for the General Court (he would join on 1 September 2016). Warmest congratulations from Chillin’ Competition!

I have known Paul since 2010. He was a member of my thesis jury and we have remained in touch since (last time in Japan for the ASCOLA conference). I would emphasise a personality trait that will no doubt assist him in his duties at the General Court. Paul is genuinely open to views that are different to his and is an excellent listener. His reaction when he read a blog post of mine that contradicted his views illustrates this very well. He was the one to take the initiative and contacted me to understand my position. He then invited me to contribute with a dissenting piece to a volume he is editing on the topic! This is definitely the openness one hopes to find in a judge.

I will also mention that his students have very good memories of him as a teacher (as I have wonderful memories of the day of my PhD defence). Many of his students from Louvain come to the LSE for an LLM, and it is fairly clear that it was Paul who sparked their interest in Competition Law. The ability to attract talented young students to our discipline is something for which we should all be grateful!