Legal Aid in the Netherlands: A View from England

Abstract

England has a long established legal aid scheme and spends more money on it than any other European country. Yet it is widely seen as failing, by government, lawyers and clients. The government complains of a rising budget and appears to have lost control of expenditure. The profession complains of falling remuneration and threatens to withdraw from the scheme. Meanwhile, the consumer lobby complains that the number of people eligible for help has fallen. How far are these problems unique to Britain? The Netherlands has the second most developed legal aid scheme in Europe in terms of money spent per head of population. Like Britain, it relies on private practitioners to provide the majority of the service. Unlike Britain, however, the Dutch scheme is not purely 'judicare,'l but has a well-established and securely funded salaried sector. The Ministry of Justice spends some 15 per cent of its legal aid budget on twenty 'buros voor rechtshulp,' which in English terms combine ffie functions of law centres and legal aid area offices. The Legal Action Group (LAG) decided to find out more about how the Dutch scheme works in practice, to see if it holds any lessons for England and Wales. In March 1991, Roger Smith and I visited Amsterdam and The Hague as part of LAG's Legal Services Project, funded by the Nuffield Foundation. We visited two buros and interviewed representatives from the Ministry of Justice, the Bar and the buro movement. In order to male direct comparisons between buros and English law centres, I also visited three London and three provincial law centres, and spoke to 14 staff.2 We found that the English and Dutch schemes share similar problems. Both face an escalating legal aid budget, a fierce pay dispute between the government and legal profession and the threat that consumers may have to meet a greater share of the costs. In both jurisdictions, rights of audience, specialisation, quality control and legal aid 'contracts' are under discussion. On the other hand, the Dutch scheme is less dominated by crime work. A greater proportion of the budget is spent on social welfare issues such as employment, housing, immigration and social security. The Dutch government also appears to have been more successful in its negotiations with the private profession. Although the number of cases has increased, it has kept a firm hold on the amount it pays per case. It seems that salaried services alter the political landscape. A strong salaried sector offers a counterweight to the power