Zoals u wellicht weet ben ik (van meet af aan) lid van de Pan European Organisation of Personal Injury Lawyers (PEOPIL). Ik heb ook 12,5 jaar een bestuursfunctie mogen bekleden. Onze directeur Wolfgang Resch heeft tijdens een congres van de American Association for Justice (AAJ) de Thomas Henderson Penguin Award ontvangen als eerbetoon voor zijn jarenlange (internationale) inzet en lobby ten behoeve van slachtoffers. De prijs werd overhandigd door (de mij bekende) Martin Blake. En dit is wat hij over Wolfgang zei:

 

“A legal academic with a distinguished record, a man fluent in English, German and Dutch who can also converse in Italian, Spanish, French and Japanese and an internationalist who has served the interests of consumers throughout Europe for many years, the recipient of this year’s Penguin Award is Dr. Wolfgang Resch. Wolfgang holds two Masters Degrees in law and an MBA. He has also studied law in different countries including the United States, Holland and Germany. You might think that such a person would be ideally suited to lead an international legal organization in Europe and in this case you would be absolutely right as he is the CEO of PEOPIL, the Pan European Organization of Personal Injury Lawyers, an organization that he has led since its formation in 1999. 

 

PEOPIL is an extremely important organization in Europe as it is the sole representative organization for all PI lawyers in Europe and is acknowledged and respected as the voice of personal injury in Europe at the European Commission where laws affecting consumers throughout Europe are evaluated and at the European Parliament where such laws are passed. One cannot underestimate the importance of this work as Wolfgang, who is a registered lobbyist, has most recently helped initiate a progressive law regarding limitation periods. It is therefore fitting that this first Tom Henderson Penguin Award should be awarded to such a distinguished international leader.“ 

 

Wolfgang was uiteraard zeer verguld met deze prestigieuze prijs. Zijn dankwoord was kort en krachtig:

 

“I am deeply honoured and I think this award is not only for me but also for PEOPIL as organisation as we all achieved so much together as big family team over the last 19 years!”

 

Mooie woorden allemaal. Het maakt nog eens duidelijk waarom ik het zo leuk en prettig vind om lid te zijn van PEOPIL.

Rotterdam, augustus 2016

Maarten Tromp