Peter P. Rijpkema is Professor of Jurisprudence at the University of Amsterdam, the Netherlands. He studied Law (1981-1987) and Philosophy (1982-1988) at the University of Amsterdam. He got a master’s degree from New York University (1992), where he studied with prof. Thomas Nagel and prof. Ronald Dworkin and attended their Colloquium in Law, Philosophy, and Political Theory. He received his PhD in philosophy in 1995 from the University of Amsterdam (supervisors prof. Thomas Nagel and prof. Govert den Hartogh).

From 1994 to 1997 Rijpkema worked at the University of Aruba as assistant professor and later associate professor of jurisprudence. He was a Post Doc researcher at the Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam from 1997 to 2000, on a grant from the Dutch Research Council (NWO), before becoming associate professor of jurisprudence at Utrecht University in 2000. In 2005 he was one of the founders and subsequently director of Utrecht Law College, an honours college for bachelor law students. In 2007 he received the Teacher of the Year award from Utrecht University. In 2008 Rijpkema returned to his alma mater to become Professor of Jurisprudence at the Amsterdam Law School of the University of Amsterdam. From 2011 to 2020 he was also honorary Professor of Jurisprudence at the University of Aruba. In 2015 Rijpkema initiated the Amsterdam Law Firm (ALF), an ‘active learning’ bachelor program in collaboration with legal practitioners from leading law firms, government organizations and major companies. Until 2025 Rijpkema was the ALF’s director.

Rijpkema’s research focusses on the intersection of law and ethics, law and good governance, and the rule of law.