Laurens Jan Brinkhorst (born 18 March 1937) is a retired Dutch politician and diplomat of the Democrats 66 (D66) party and jurist. Brinkhorst studied Law at the Leiden University obtaining a Master of Laws degree followed by a postgraduate education in Political science at the Columbia University obtained a Master of Social Science degree. Brinkhorst worked as a paralegal at Shearman & Sterling in New York City from September 1961 until December 1962. Brinkhorst worked as a researcher and associate professor of International law at his alma mater in Leiden from December 1962 until January 1967 and as a professor of International law, International relations and European law at the University of Groningen from January 1967 until May 1973. After the election of 1972 Brinkhorst was appointed