In Memoriam: Prof. Valentine Korah (1928–2023)

The first time I met Val Korah was in May 2005 during my job interview for a lecturer position at UCL Faculty of Laws.As part of the interview process, I had to make a presentation to the whole Faculty.Sitting at the front row, as she usually did, Val grilled me with very detailed and practical questions, most of which I had not thought before.Once I finished, having seen Val nodding disapprovingly during my presentation, I thought that was it and I was ready to get my train back home.… I was surprised, however, to hear Val, who took first the floor, that my views were 'iconoclastic' and although she totally disagreed with them, she felt it was an original argument.This small episode, I believe, shows the essence of Valentine Korah's approach to academic life: open-minded to new ideas, loving a critical discussion of the status quo and a good argument, interested in 'iconoclastic' views, tough, but also authentic in her assessment of the work of others.As my career progressed and I learnt to know more Val, speaking with her about different competition issues, but also the history of UCL and her love for swimming at the ponds of Hampstead Heath, good wine and classical ballet performances, to which she invited me occasionally to attend, I realized how much Val cared for her young colleagues and students and how unpretentious and a good-hearted human being she was.For me, and many colleagues in competition law and policy, she was an icon of our discipline: one of the founders really of the field of law we have been spending our professional lives working on and an international authority in the field for more than 6 decades.It is not an exaggeration to claim that there is no law library in one of the 130 countries that have adopted competition law which does not own in its collection at least one of Val's numerous books.Generations of students made their first steps in the world of competition law with