Increased funding for legal aid via legal aid clinics
State Secretary for Legal Protection Teun Struycken has made an additional €400,000 available in grants for legal aid clinics. This brings the total amount of this funding to €515,000 a year. Legal aid clinics offer low-threshold access to justice as they help anyone with a legal question free of charge. The extra funding will increase access to justice, allow the legal aid clinics to become more professional and expose students more to this form of legal assistance, potentially making them more likely to choose the profession of legal aid lawyer. The extra grants are available retroactively from 1 January 2025.
State Secretary Struycken: “Together with the Juridisch Loket (legal aid and advice centre) and citizens’ advisers, the legal aid clinics provide low-threshold access to justice for the most vulnerable in our society. Moreover, with the valuable work they do, legal aid clinics not only help people seeking justice, they are also the breeding ground for the legal aid lawyers of the future. With this extra funding, the legal aid clinics can help more people, make their organisations more professional and introduce more students to the wonderful profession of legal aid lawyer.”
Legal aid clinics
The Netherlands has around 115 legal aid clinics, where anyone can go for free legal help. Legal aid clinics offer consultation hours, information, legal advice and support at physical locations. Services may also include assisting people seeking justice in proceedings, help with writing letters or help with filling in forms. Thus, the legal aid clinics complement the other first-line legal aid facilities such as the Juridisch Loket and the citizens’ advisers. The work in legal aid clinics is mainly done by students and volunteers, who are supported in professionalising their services by the Dutch Association of Legal Aid Clinics (NVR).
Change to existing scheme
A grant was already available for legal aid clinics, but this grant had not been indexed since 2009 and not all legal aid clinics were eligible for it. As a result, only 33 legal aid clinics were able to benefit from the grant. The scheme for this grant has been changed so that all of the approximately 115 legal aid clinics in the Netherlands are eligible. To be eligible for this funding, legal aid clinics must satisfy certain conditions for accessibility, quality and design of services. They must also be members of the Dutch Association of Legal Aid Clinics or a similar sector association.
Legal aid clinics that assist more than 100 people seeking justice each year are eligible for additional grants. A number of additional conditions apply in that case. For instance, these legal aid clinics must have an active relationship with education and local socio-legal networks, they must undertake information and prevention activities, encourage the recruitment of legal aid lawyers and identify any deficiencies in legal protection.
The amended grant scheme was created in cooperation with the Legal Aid Board, which is also responsible for its implementation. The Dutch Association of Legal Aid Clinics and the Juridisch Loket were also consulted. The Legal Aid Board also asked a number of legal aid clinics, varying in size, location and type, to respond to the draft.
Originally published at https://www.government.nl/latest/news/2025/01/31/increased-funding-for-legal-aid-via-legal-aid-clinics
