Tymen J. van der Ploeg studied Law at Leyden University, The Netherlands. He worked from November 1972 until his retirement in August 2012 at the Faculty of Law of the VU-University at Amsterdam, since 1992 as full professor in civil law, especially law on legal persons and partnerships. He taught company law, law on associations and foundations and on religious communities and published –and still publishes- about these topics, also from a comparative perspective, as well as about the relation of NGO’s with government.