Disputes

Ms van den Broek will do all in her power to assist you. Despite this, there may be some aspect of her services that you are unhappy with.

Internal complaints procedure

If you are unhappy about the quality of the service offered or the fees invoiced, Ms van den Broek will request you firstly to submit your compaints to her for consideration. You may also call in the services of the complaints manager, Ms A. Krim.

Ms van den Broek will discuss ways of resolving the relevant issue with you as soon as is possible. She will always confirm any such solution to you in writing.

If, in your view, the discussions do not lead to a satisfactory conclusion, you can submit a complaint to the Dispute Settlement Body for Lawyers. This can only be done after you have first made your complaints known to Ms van den Broek. The complaint procedure may also be started if Ms van den Broek has not replied to your complaint within four weeks of your deposition of the complaint with her.

Dispute Settlement Body for Lawyers

Ms van den Broek is registered with the Dispute Settlement Body for Lawyers. This Dispute Settlement Body was set up on 1 June 1999 and is supervised by the Foundation for Dispute Settlement Bodies for Consumer Affairs (SGC) as well as the Foundation for Professions and Companies (SGB) in the Hague.

You may submit your complaint to the Dispute Settlement Body for Lawyers up to a maximum of 12 months after the date of Ms van den Broek's written response.

The Dispute Settlement Body for Lawyers issues its findings in the form of an arbritational decision for corporate clients or in the form of binding advice if the complaint is brought by a private client.

The Dispute Settlement Body for Lawyers is authorised to give judgement on complaints concerning the quality of the service offered by the lawyer and on the fees invoiced. You may also believe you are entitled to damages. The Dispute Settlement Body for Lawyers is also authorised to give judgement on claims for damages up to a maximum amount of €10,000. You may only submit claims exceeding this amount to the Dispute Settlement Body for Lawyers if the amount you are claiming is explicitly limited to a maximum amount of €10,000 and you give a written confirmation that you will not pursue any claims for amounts above that maximum.

Ms van den Broek may herself bring claims for debt collection of unpaid invoices before the Dispute Settlement Body for Lawyers.

The Dispute Settlement Body¹ handles all cases

according to the Dispute Settlement Body for Lawyers' regulations prevailing at the time the complaint is lodged with the Dispute Settlement Body. No appeal is possible once the Dispute Settlement Body for Lawyers has issued its decision.

Addresses

Contact details for the office complaints manager

Krim Advocaten
Mw. Mr. A. Krim
Verspronckweg 2
2023 BL Haarlem
Tel. +31(0)23 573 7081

Secretary of the Dispute Settlement Body for Lawyers

Bordewijklaan 46 (2nd floor)
2591 XR The Hague
tel. +31(0)070 310 5310
PO Box 90600
2509 LP The Hague

¹ Legal supervision and disciplinary rules ensure that lawyers have to act correctly in their profession. The nature of the procedure with the Dispute Settlement Body for Lawyers is rather different: it is there to settle differences of opinion on the quality or cost of the service and therefore has no reason to resort to the legally established safeguards.