The Amsterdam Law Bureau is a legal service run by students either in their Bachelor’s or Master’s degree course, and it has provided legal assistance since September 1985. Located next to the law faculty in Amsterdam, we provide legal advice twice weekly, and we assist clients with different legal issues that may arise within various areas of law, including concerns over property, contract or tort law. We also provide for aid in the public law area, thus offering a broad, subsidiary legal outlet for those who are disadvantaged by the current tumultuous economic environment. During the 1980s, other law bureaus also came into existence. Next to the Amsterdam Law Bureau, there are bureaus that are more specialized in, for example, tax, migration or criminal law issues. It can be argued that facilities such as these law bureaus will play an increasingly important role in helping those on the fringes of the legal system, in the coming years.
To understand the significance of the law bureaus, it is important to understand why they came into existence. The law bureau came into existence in order to provide legal assistance for the people who were not correctly integrated into the law system. They either fell out of the system because of financial limitation or out of lack of knowledge of their legal position. During the nineties, different laws were created in order to remove some of these financial barriers. However, since the dawn of the economic recession, we have seen an increase in the range of clients seeking out our services. They now include not only those with less financial means, but also small businesses and people who can otherwise afford a lawyer.
With regards to procedure, when a client enters our Bureau, we ask him to fill in a form with all his contact information. After having done that, two volunteers accompany the client to our office. The client and the volunteers try to figure out what the legal issue is and what the Law Bureau can do to help. After having found the legal problem, the volunteers start to find out which legal steps they must undertake. Sometimes writing a letter to an employer is sufficient, but there may be cases where it is not. In that case we might collect all letters and start a case in order to go to court. During the process of building up a case, we carefully collect information so that our clients have the most benefit from our help. When our knowledge is not sufficient we consult a university professor or a lawyer. Our tendency is to seek consultation with a lawyer due to their practical approach; in contrast, advice from professors is more theoretical. To ensure quality and trust in our work, a lawyer will always check up on judicial documents before they leave our office. Sometimes the best course of action is referring the client to a lawyer either because it is a complicated case or the client has an important concern such as eviction. When a case is completed we usually send all documentation to the client, since our foundation doesn’t allow us the possibility of archive, due to the lack of space to keep up all the files.
In terms of benefits to be derived from the above practice, it can be agued that all the three parties involved with a Law Bureau are placed in a better position. Starting with the student; a student studying law normally finds the first year of law less interesting than the rest. I normally compare it with playing a game. In order to play a game one must know the rules. And if you ask anyone, nobody has patience to read the rules. The same happens with the first year of law school. The material is very abstract and sometimes a bit boring. A student working at a law bureau is faced with the daily practice of law. This forces the student to have a more practical approach to the codes of law. The material which was made stuffy and dry during the classes, is applied to real cases with real people. As a second year, I myself had wanted to do more with my course. I wanted to see how law worked in daily life and what it meant for people. When a friend told me about law bureaus I was intrigued. It is one of the reasons why I applied to the Amsterdam Law Bureau in November 2011, and was taken on by the team. The bureau gives students the opportunity to practise the legal skills learnt in a classroom environment and eventually benefit when working in a legal practice. Furthermore, if a law firm does not aide the law bureau, the student has recourse to rely upon university professors. Although professors have much information they normally tend to give more theoretical advice then practical advice.
The client also benefits from our legal assistance. There are three main reasons why the Law Bureau has a client base. First, it is free of charge except the costs pertaining to the case itself. So although client for example always needs to pay the costs of a writ or of a summons, the advice we provide is free; this is in contrast to the advice a lawyer gives. Furthermore, clients do not know how the judicial system works, and thus have no idea what kind of problem they are facing. They would like to find out whether the legal issue is a relevant issue to take to court. And they would like to do some fieldwork (which again is free) before going to a lawyer. Finally, we are more inviting than a law firm. At the law bureau there are only students, who look more attached to society then lawyers in high skyscrapers and wearing nice suits. For people with low income it is more appealing to enter a simple office.
Law also firms benefit from our law bureaus. Students who work at a law bureau have more motivation than other students. Since a law bureau is run on a voluntary basis, a student who works there really shows interest in the law and shows motivation in doing charity work. One important aspect of a law firm is attracting new lawyers. Obviously they only want the best. When working at a law bureau you frequently contact law firms; mostly for judicial questions or when sending documents to court. The great advantage for a law firm is that they can see the qualities that a student at a law firm has. They can judge if the legal skills are developed and if the student possessed other qualities relevant to the legal career. For law firms it is thus a good check to evaluate if they would like somebody who worked at a law bureau because they already are familiar with their work. Furthermore, another advantage that a law bureau student has is that they have in some cases already made legal documents and been to court, so they are in the first steps of becoming a legal professional. This in great contrast to a typical student who, after three years, graduates with little or no field experience. Law firms have no obligation to help a law Bureau, so when they helps us with cases, they do that on a voluntary basis. In the light of the advantages that accrue to both parties, in the end the best is for both organizations to work together in order to attain maximum benefit.
At the moment we receive a good level of support from law firms. Two lawyers visit our office once every two weeks and spend two hours answering the questions we might have. In addition, they are available via e-mail or telephone to answer questions. Once in a while we receive training from a law firm, in a particular area of law. This might range from contract law, to administrative law. In light of this collaboration and support, the Law Bureau has and will continue to play an important role in society, especially in the wake of the financial cuts affecting the judicial machinery. I hope many others will follow in my footsteps and try to do good to society.
Benjamin Knaff
University of Amsterdam
