Legal Complaints and Disputes Regulations

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"Of course, our firm will do everything it can to provide the best possible service. Nevertheless, it imay be possible that you are not fully satisfied with a particular aspect of our service. Below you can read what you can do in such case”.

Complaints regulations

If you are dissatisfied with the quality of our service or with the amounts stated on our invoice(s), you can submit your objections orally or in writing to Mr. J.P.M. (Joop) van Zijl.

When dealing with your complaint our internal complaints regulation is leading. You should submit your complaint within three months after the moment you took note of, or could reasonably be expected to have taken note of, the action or omission that gave rise to your com-plaint.

Kantoor Mr.van Zijl will always confirm a solution for the problem that has arisen in writing within four weeks of receiving your complaint. If you feel our firm has not handled your objections satisfactorily, however, you may submit a complaint to the Dutch Disputes Committee for the Legal Profession (in Dutch: ‘Geschillencommissie Advocatuur’). This option is also open to you if our firm does not settle your objections in writing within four weeks of submission.

Disputes Committee for the Legal Profession

The Disputes Committee for the Legal Profession handles the case in accordance with the Disputes Committee for the Legal Profession Regulation, which applies from the moment the complaint is submitted to the disputes committee. This regulation may be obtained on request from the:

Disputes Committee for the Legal Profession
Postbus 90600
2509 LP ’s-Gravenhage
Telephone: (070) 310 53 10
Fax: (070) 365 88 14

You can submit your complaint to the above address during a period of up to twelve months after the written response from Kantoor Mr.van Zijl. After that, this option is no longer open.

Our firm can also submit unpaid invoices to the Disputes Committee for the Legal Profession for collection.

The Disputes Committee for the Legal Profession makes its decision in the form of an arbitration award about a professional service. In the case of a service to a private client the regulation provides for a binding advice, unless the client turns to the regular Court within one month after settlement of the complaint by our firm. In the event of collection of a claim on a private client, the advice is only binding when the client has deposited the outstanding amount with the Disputes Committee. If he has not done this, the sum to be collected is also subject to arbitration.

The Disputes Committee for the Legal Profession has jurisdiction to decide on complaints concerning the quality of the service of the lawyer and the amounts of all sorts of invoices. It also has jurisdiction to decide on claims for damages not exceeding the amount of € 10,000. You may submit larger claims to the Disputes Committee for the Legal Profession only if you limit the amount of the claim to a maximum of € 10,000 and explicitly waive anything additional. In other cases the jurisdiction to decide on your damages claim remains with the Civil Court.

Decisions of the Disputes Committee for the Legal Profession about the quality of the service provided are not regarded as final and conclusive judgements in any judicial proceedings before a regular court involving damages claims of over € 10,000. This means that in any proceedings at a regular court for a damages claim of more than € 10,000, you cannot invoke a decision of the Disputes Committee for the Legal Profession.

The Disputes Committee for the Legal Profession judges to the exclusion of the regular court. No appeal is possible against a decision of the Disputes Committee for the Legal Profession.

Customer Satisfaction Survey

"Kantoor Mr.van Zijl aims at providing high level quality service to all its clients. In our view, this quality not only depends on a high level of legal and fiscal expertise and on applying this expertise in the interests of our clients. We believe that our service to our clients is equally important. In order to monitor and improve the quality of our services we therefore conduct an ongoing survey among our clients to ascertain their experience of these services.”