For the ‘News’ section

+ on the main page (scrolling screen/pictures) : picture of Richard Steppe and text ‘Richard
Steppe (LL.M. ’18) tells us about his amazing experience at Harvard Law School’

+ on the main page (scrolling screen/pictures): ‘The newly selected Boas Scholars introduce
themselves’

Testimonial from Richard Steppe, LL.M. ‘18

A few weeks ago, I completed an LL.M. degree (Master of Laws) at Harvard Law School. The
year has passed surprisingly quickly, yet it was memorable at each step of the way. With 65
countries represented in the LL.M. class (and many other programs and schools within close
reach), engaging with bright legal minds from a wide variety of backgrounds has never been
easier or more exciting. HLS offers over 400 thought-provoking courses, seminars, and
reading groups, with more than half of those hosting fewer than 25 enrolled students. This
framework catalyzed many fascinating classroom discussions and collaborations, allowing
participants to fully experience the US methods of legal analysis and teaching. In addition,
the facilities on campus, as provided by, e.g., the HLS Library, Graduate Program, or Dean of
Students Office, were truly impressive; and the world-renowned professors nothing short of
excellent.

The courses I opted for related mostly to antitrust and intellectual property law or had a
significant skills-oriented dimension, the latter in the form of collaborative seminars or
courses on non-legal analytical methods. In addition, my year at HLS was filled with
extracurricular activities. As the President of the Harvard European Law Association (HELA), I
worked closely with faculty members, scholars, and associations at Harvard and beyond.
Under the auspices of HELA, we organized a dozen lunch talks as well as the 2018 Harvard
European Law Symposium, the latter exploring the topic of isolationism in the US and Europe
by hosting a variety of speakers from both sides of the Atlantic, such as international
academics, supreme court judges, policymakers, lobbyists, attorneys, and enforcement
officers (among which various previous Fulbright scholars). Furthermore, as a Submissions
Editor at the Harvard Business Law Review and a Submissions Committee Member at the
Harvard Journal of Law & Technology, I helped assessing the academic quality and fitness for
publication of contributions submitted to both law journals.

The abovementioned endeavors comprised an excellent opportunity to get to know and

collaborate with many talented people, not only from the pool of LL.M. candidates but also
from the J.D. program, different schools at Harvard, and universities in Boston and New York.
Being able to befriend such a terrific ensemble of Americans and internationals, whether it be
in the context of HLS (extra)curricular activities, various travels across the US, the Fulbright
Gateway Orientation, or the Boston nightlife, was an incredible privilege for which I will
always remain grateful.

Since graduation, I have been working as a Visiting Researcher at HLS to further develop a
paper into publishable scholarship. Upon my return to Belgium, I will resume activities as a
Ph.D. Fellow of the Research Foundation Flanders and Teaching Assistant at the KU Leuven,
Faculty of Law. Looking back, the experience at Harvard has been life-changing on diverse
personal, academic, and professional levels. In that context, it would be difficult to
overestimate the tremendous support provided by the Frank Boas Scholarship for Graduate
Studies in realizing this objective. In a time where international mutual understanding and
cooperation are highly relevant and important, the Frank Boas Scholarship enables students
from a broad spectrum of disciplines to engage in an enriching experience at Harvard and to
interact with a community of talented scholars from across the globe. I am truly grateful to
form part of the Boas family and will work to also help future students obtain the
opportunities essential to fulfilling their aspirations, opportunities which have been provided
to me so generously by the Frank Boas program.
The new Boas Scholars introduce themselves!

Bram Devolder (Harvard Law School)

After obtaining my law degree at Ghent University in 2015, I became a teaching assistant at
KU Leuven (Centre for Methodology of Law) and started my doctoral research on regulatory
disruption by the sharing economy under the supervision of Dean Bernard Tilleman. The focal
point of my research is situated on the interface between contract law, economic regulation,
law and technology, and law and economics. By pursuing an LL.M. degree at Harvard Law
School, I aim to take my research to a higher level through increased knowledge of the U.S.
legal system and improved skills in legal methodology. Being submerged in the profound
interdisciplinarity of scholarship at Harvard will help me to become a more mature legal
scholar.

Having read the testimonials of past BOAS scholars, I am convinced that spending an
academic year in Cambridge is about much more than taking courses in my area of interest.
Harvard is well-renowned for its social events, such as daily lunch seminars where influential
scholars from around the world discuss their latest research results. I look forward to
discussing preliminary ideas with renowned experts and meeting international students and
scholars with similar interests in the implications of technology for law and society. It would
be an honor if I could make a humble contribution to the intellectual and social life at
Harvard Law School.

I am very grateful for the opportunity to pursue graduate studies at Harvard with the support
of the Boas program. It is both an enormous privilege and an astounding responsibility to join
the impressive family of Boas scholars. I have the ambition to make a difference in the world
by giving back to society, and hope to live up to the examples set by past Boas scholars.
Friso Bostoen (Harvard Law School)

I feel immensely privileged to be a part of Harvard’s LL.M. class of 2019 as a Boas scholar. I
obtained my initial master’s degree at KU Leuven in 2016 and started working as a Ph.D.
researcher at my alma mater immediately afterwards. My research focuses on the
application of antitrust law to online platforms (such as Google, Amazon, and Facebook).
While my enthusiasm for law and technology will be duly reflected in my course schedule, I
equally look forward to gaining broader perspectives on the U.S. legal system. During my
year in Cambridge, I also hope to explore more of the fascinating country that is the United
States.

Laurens De Poorter (Harvard Business School)

I am part of the MBA Class of 2020 at Harvard Business School.

I was born and raised close to Antwerp, Belgium. Even as a child, I was fascinated how
technology had such a big positive impact in our world. After finishing my secondary
education in Mathematics and Sciences at Sint-Jan Berchmanscollege in West-Malle, I
commenced my engineering studies at KU Leuven. By studying to be an engineer, I wanted to
make my own contribution to a better world.

In the summer after my Bachelor studies, I went to Peru to build a wind turbine to provide
electricity to a local school. During this life-changing experience I realized that if you combine
technology with a profitable business model, you can scale and have a much larger impact. I
became a strong advocate of social entrepreneurship in which business is used to address
one of society’s social challenges.

Immediately after my exchange year at Imperial College London, I founded Academics For
Development (AFD) in Leuven. AFD is a student-led non-profit organization that allows
students to help social entrepreneurs in developing countries start or grow their social
businesses. The novel concept attracted large interest from students and academic
institutions as well as social entrepreneurs and non-profits. Today, our organization has
expanded to Louvain-La-Neuve (Belgium), Utrecht (Netherlands) and Stellenbosch (South-
Africa). In total, more than 150 university students have worked on more than 35 projects
across Africa, Asia and South-America.

After working as a management consultant for the Boston Consulting Group (BCG) for almost
4 years to hone my business skills, I will now start my MBA at Harvard Business School (HBS).
In parallel to pushing the growth of AFD to the next level and expanding the organization to
North-America, I would like to explore further opportunities to leverage business and
technology in order to – and fully in line with HBS’s mission – become a leader who makes a
difference in the world. To get there, I hope to build upon the solid academic foundation in
business, as well as the entrepreneurial eco-system, resources and network of HBS and the
wider Harvard community.

In my leisure time, I love sailing and kitesurfing in summer and skiing in winter. I am an avid
traveler, and hope the move to Boston will enable me to explore more of the Americas – both
up North as well as down South. Finally, I am a true bon vivant when it comes to food and
drinks, and enjoy spending my time with friends and family.
Tom Vos (Harvard Law School)

I am currently a PhD Candidate at the KU Leuven (Belgium). I also did the research master in
law at the KU Leuven, where I specialized in business law and tax law. Currently, my research
is in the field of corporate law, and more specifically about the protection of shareholder
against dilution when corporations issue shares to investors. In my research, I compare the
law in Belgium, the United Kingdom and the United States. This was also one of the main
reason for enrolling in the LL.M. program at Harvard Law School, to learn more about
corporate law in the United States.

Since my studies, I have also been interested in negotiation and I founded a student
association about negotiation. Nowadays, I regularly teach students about negotiation and
mediation. As Harvard has been described as the “birthplace of negotiation theory”, I am
very enthusiastic about learning more about negotiation during my time at Harvard.

In my spare time, I like reading, traveling and playing guitar. I have always been fascinated
by American music and literature, and I am very excited about discovering more about the
United States during my LL.M next academic year and during my travels in this period.