Legal aid in the Low Countries

Access to justice is a fundamental democratic right for all citizens. In order to exercise this right people need lawyers or other legal professionals to translate their everyday problems and conflicts to the distant legal world and to translate legal language into the ordinary language of the average (potential) litigant.

In both Belgium and The Netherlands the legal aid system is under pressure partly due to the economic crisis, partly because of the increasing demand for and use of legal aid. We live in times of austerity and the legal aid system is considered to be too expensive. In both Belgium and the Netherlands we see cutbacks and proposals to reform the legal aid system.

Legal Aid in the Low Countries deals with the system of legal aid in Belgium and the Netherlands. Central questions in the book are whether the conditions for a sound legal aid system are met, especially in the fields of law that mainly concern the ‘have nots’; the main ethical considerations that legal aid providers have to take into account; and the alternatives for legal aid and complementary solutions to enhance access to justice.

The approaches to legal aid are very varied: the socio-legal approach, the policy approach, the critical approach, the legal approach, etc. Legal Aid in the Low Countries is unique in how it brings these disciplines together. It broadens the debate on legal aid and sheds light on these questions from the perspectives of all these disciplines.

The book is written for everyone who is professionally or scientifically interested in legal aid.

Contents:

INTRODUCTION
1. Legal Aid and Access to Justice: How to Look at and Evaluate Legal Aid Systems? - Bernard Hubeau and Ashley Terlouw

PART 1. DEVELOPMENTS IN RESEARCH ON LEGAL AID
2. Dutch and Belgian Research into Disputes and Legal Services - Marijke ter Voert

PART 2. ACCESS TO JUSTICE AND LEGAL AID: CURRENT QUESTIONS AND PROBLEMS
3. Legal Aid in Belgium and the Netherlands: Convergences and Differences between Two Institutional Systems - Frédéric Schoenaers, Kathleen Adelaire, Christophe Mincke, Laurent Nisen and Jean-François Reynaert
4. Threats to Legal Aid and Legal Assistance in the Netherlands and in Belgium - Lia Combrink, Susanne Peters and Steven Gibens
5. Every Little Helps? - Mies Westerveld
6. Galanter Revisited: Do the ‘Haves’ (Still) Come out Ahead? - Bert Niemeijer

PART 3. LEGAL AID IN SPECIFIC LEGAL MATTERS
7. Providing Legal Aid in Asylum Procedures in the Netherlands: A Challenging Business? - Tamara Butter
8. Access to Legal Services for Small and Medium-Sized Businesses - Heinrich Winter, Oscar Couwenberg and Marc Hertogh
9. Legal Aid and Housing Issues - Steven Gibens and Bernard Hubeau
10. Legal Aid Provisions for Children and Juveniles: Formal and Quality Items - Eric Van der Mussele
11. Equal Access to Justice through the Right to Interpretation and Translation and Legal Aid - Yolanda Vanden Bosch
12. The Right to Legal Aid According to the European Court of Human Rights: A Study of the Rights of Undocumented Persons - Caroline Forder
13. Differential Treatment: Do Lawyers Make the Difference? - Ashley Terlouw

PART 4. ETHICAL QUESTIONS
14. Modernising the Napoleonic Structure of Bar Regulation - Nienke Doornbos and Leny de Groot-van Leeuwen
15. Independence of the Lawyer in the Netherlands and Belgium and Conflict of Interest - Edward Janssens
16. Legal Aid and Pro Bono Work: Part of the Essence of Lawyering? - Stefan Rutten

PART 5. ALTERNATIVES
17. Socio-Legal Services: The Link between Legal Aid and Social Work in a Democratic Market - Steven Gibens
18. E-Justice in the Low Countries - Koen Van Aeken

CONCLUSION
19. Stepping Stones towards a Sound Legal Aid System in the Future: Concluding Remarks - Ashley Terlouw and Bernard Hubeau