Judge Joyce Lie: ‘People disengage with complex language. Teach law students to write clearly’

Joyce Lie, better known on social media as Judge Joyce, has a mission. Legal language needs to be simpler so that everyone can understand court rulings. She is just as clear about her student days: ‘I still vividly remember the lectures Erik-Jan Broers gave on torture methods.’

As an administrative law judge, Joyce Lie (47) has a busy schedule. Yet she takes a moment to talk to Univers about her student days. In a courtroom in ’s-Hertogenbosch, the good memories quickly resurface.

‘The first thing that comes to mind is ‘Het is een nacht… (Levensecht)’ by Guus Meeuwis,’ Lie says enthusiastically. ‘During the TIK-week (now TOP-week, ed.) in 1995, that song had just come out. It was our anthem: we sang it all the time. I knew Guus also studied law in Tilburg, but I was a first-year student then, so I didn’t know him personally.’

No male company

‘My student days were great, really an incredibly fun period. I was 18 and moved into a student house for the first time. I lived in a house with 39 other girls. The house was an old convent owned by Mr. Wagemakers, who owned many properties in Tilburg at the time. The rental contract stated that no men were allowed inside between midnight and 9 a.m.’ Lie laughs: ‘No male company during the night!

‘We had two very long tables where we could all eat together. I remember realizing that from then on, I could eat whatever I wanted every day, instead of what my parents cooked. In hindsight, it’s very mundane, but back then, I found it really special: it’s that wonderful feeling of freedom you have when you’re young.’

Lie continues, ‘I lived in that former convent for two years, then I moved to a smaller house with a few friends.’

Letting go

‘At first, I still went home on weekends. I’m from a village near Eindhoven, where I still had a part-time job, my boyfriend lived there, and I could do my laundry at home. Gradually, that became less frequent because I had built my own social circle in Tilburg by then.

‘Letting go is part of the process of leaving home. My children are now 14 and 17 years old. Sometimes I think: that time is coming for them too, and I find that way too early. But I’m sure my parents felt the same way back then.’

Studying for a long time

It was pretty clear to Lie early on that she would study law. ‘And also that I wanted to become a judge. I worked as an assistant clerk at the court during my studies. During a hearing, you sit next to the judge. I thought, what a fun job, I want to do that myself.

‘I earned two hundred guilders per session as a clerk; that’s where the term ‘two-hundred-guilder clerk’ came from at the time.’

Lie has noticed that there is a different pressure on students now compared to her time. ‘I studied from 1995 to 2002. Studying for a long time was considered a good thing back then. The idea wasn’t to enter the job market as an inexperienced young adult.

‘Time was certainly valued, but in the sense that you gained societal experience, served on a committee, were part of an association, had a job, and led a normal social life. Now, everything has to happen, and preferably all at once.’

Boring administrative law lectures

‘I remember the lectures by Erik-Jan Broers,’ Lie says with visible enthusiasm. ‘He taught legal history and criminal law history. I still vividly recall his lectures on torture methods in the Middle Ages. Especially his engaging way of telling the stories. Teaching like that is an art; it’s something you have to be able to do.’

There were also subjects that appealed less to Lie: ‘I found administrative law really boring. I thought, is this it? But when I ended up in administrative law as a judicial trainee (raio, ed.), it turned out to be about really interesting cases. It’s remarkable how poorly theory and practice matched.’

Clear language

‘Before my law studies, my dream was to become a journalist: I wanted to write and report. Now, of course, I wouldn’t want any other job, but the desire to write is still there.’

Lie didn’t become a journalist, but her love for language serves her well as a judge. Together with a colleague from the court, Head of Communications Ilse Westenenk, Lie came up with the Klare Taalbokaal (Clear Language Cup) in 2017, a national prize awarded annually to the writer of the most clearly formulated court ruling.

She illustrates: ‘If I, as a judge, make a ruling and the parties involved don’t understand what I’m saying, then I haven’t achieved my goal. The same applies to what is written down. When people read about complex things like legal articles and jurisprudence, they disengage.’

A task for universities

‘These rulings need to be much clearer. That’s not easy, but a lot has changed in the past ten years: many colleagues are making an effort to write in simpler language.

‘And honestly, when I look at my first judgments and see how convoluted my writing was, I have to laugh. Apparently, I thought that’s how it had to be.’

There’s also a task for colleges and universities, Lie believes. ‘Teach law students to write clearly during their studies. I’m regularly asked to come and talk about it, so I suspect they’re already working on it in education.’

Affinity with fate

As a self-proclaimed language zealot, Lie has personal annoyances: ‘I’m especially bothered by, for example: ‘the man which was walking on the platform.’ I can’t stand it when ‘which’ is used as a relative pronoun. Awful, it needs to go.’

The judge also has preferences, of course: ‘Dutch words like ‘verfomfaaid’ and archaic words like ‘desalniettemin,’ but that’s purely out of word love. I don’t use them in court rulings, though, because clarity always comes first.

‘My absolute favorite word comes from the argument in a case I came across online: the word ‘lotsverbondenheid’ (affinity by fate). That case was about a man who had to pay spousal support to his ex-wife, but she had made hurtful remarks about him.

‘‘Our affinity with fate has been broken,’ the man said. I think that’s beautiful because your fate is connected, whether you have children together or have been married. Or both.’ Delighted: ‘Affinity by fate, doesn’t that sound wonderful!’

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