A junior lawyer's experience of the Anglo-Dutch Exchange 2024

The ADE is organised by the Young Barristers’ Committee in England and Wales and the Young Bar Associations of Rotterdam, Amsterdam, and the Hague.

This year, it was the turn of the Netherlands to host the ADE and, for the first time, the exchange saw junior solicitors across England and Wales (including me) being invited to take part, alongside the usual cohort of barristers.

The aim of the ADE is to promote connections and learning, between our two jurisdictions. I can firmly say that this year’s programme certainly achieved that. 

The exchange kicked off on the eve of 9 July in Rotterdam, with a networking reception hosted by the very swish leading corporate and insurance law firm, Ekelmans Advocaten.

Unlike in the legal system of England and Wales where we describe lawyers as either solicitors and barristers, each with very distinct roles and responsibilities, it was interesting to learn that in the Netherlands there is no delineation.

A lawyer is referred to as an “advocaat” (attorneys-at-law) and they carry out both the roles and responsibilities of a barrister and solicitor.

The Hague

On day two, we headed to the Hague, known as the international city of peace and justice.

Our hosts arranged a visit to the De Hoge Raad Der Netherlands (the Dutch Supreme Court).

There, we were introduced to the Dutch judicial system with interesting debates about the differences in our judicial systems.

It was clear both the UK and Dutch highest courts shared similarities which stemmed from them being Western, liberal and democratic jurisdictions.

This included the importance of upholding the rule of law, human rights protection and open governance through the promotion of transparency and accountability to the public. 

However, there were also notable differences.

For example, the Dutch Supreme Court is a ‘court of cassation’, which means the court’s jurisdiction is restricted to the judgment of questions of law and does not include the judgment of facts.

The aim of cassation is to promote legal uniformity and the development of law.

Another difference was the fact the UK Supreme Court is a much smaller organisation compared to the Dutch Supreme Court.

The Dutch Supreme Court consists of the president, the vice presidents, and more than 30 judges.

These judges are divided into three chambers (the Civil Law Chamber, the Criminal Law Chamber and the Tax Law Chamber) each with specialist knowledge who rule on approximately 5,000 cases per year.

After our visit to the Dutch Supreme Court, we had the opportunity to visit the office of the Landsadvocaat (state attorney), Reimer Veldhuis.

Reimer has been the state attorney since 2018 on the appointment of the minister of justice and security. Due to his role, to avoid conflict of interest, he and other the firms attorneys are contractually obliged to never take action against the state.

We then headed to the International Criminal Court (ICC). At the ICC, we received a detailed presentation on its jurisdiction and the prominent cases that were tried there, including the case against Ugandan warlord Joseph Kony.

We also learnt about the difficulties of enforcement, as the ICC relies on states' cooperation for the enforcement of all its decisions, including the execution of arrest warrants.

For me, visiting the ICC was one of the highlights of the programme.

Human rights had initially sparked my pursuit into a career in law and there was something very special about being in such a symbolic place for international justice.

Amsterdam

The penultimate day arrived and we made our way to Amsterdam.

We visited the Netherlands Commercial Court (NCC) and were privileged to have the president of the NCC Court of Appeal, Judge Duco Oranje, give a charismatic talk about the NCC and how it is leading the way in English-language dispute resolution.

While the NCC operates under Dutch civil procedure law, both proceedings and judgements are in English.

After the NCC, we headed to international law firm, Loyens & Loeff. We headed up the 18th floor of the building, aptly named “Hourglass”, where we had a spectacular view of the wonderful city of Amsterdam.

This was followed by a padel tournament. While our hosts were undoubtedly the winners of the game, the delegates gave it their best shot.

After placing down our padels, we headed to the anniversary event of the Young Bar Amsterdam where drinks, food, good conversation and music all flowed.

It was clear that networking was as important in the Netherlands, as it is for us solicitors and barristers in England and Wales.

On the final day, our hosts planned a closing dinner at the iconic Euromast in Rotterdam where everyone we met across the four-day programme were invited.

Overall, with a range of networking events, tours of iconic judicial institutions, a chance to get to know another legal culture and, most importantly, network on an international scale, I would highly encourage any junior solicitors to apply for the ADE.

It has certainly been one of the best experiences of my career and I look forward to welcoming our friends across the channel to England next year.