News item | 02-06-2023 | 3:00 PM
The government is adopting the recommendations of the Lawyers Services Committee to the State. At the end of 2022, this committee issued advice on how to advise and assist the national government in matters that require independent legal advice and assistance. A government agency that can fully provide legal services for the State is not advised. It is, however, recommended to make more use of other law firms outside the state attorney. It is also recommended to provide a better overview of pending State cases.
The committee’s recommendations are a reason to consider, in addition to the contract with the state attorney’s office, how contracts that some ministries already have with other law firms can be extended to other ministries. Work is also being done to achieve as much uniformity as possible in the contract terms and conditions. The expectation is that the State will then more easily call in offices other than the state attorney and create more options in lawyers’ services.
The Commission’s investigation does show that there is less enthusiasm among large law firms other than the current state lawyer Pels Rijcken to bring in the State as a major client in a broad field and in any event do not wish to abstain from the State, as Pels Rijcken does. The offices would be interested in part of the assignments of the State.
Understanding Lawyer Services
According to the Committee, greater options for lawyer services for the State also provide better insight into the price/quality ratio of the lawyer services provided. In order to gain a better insight into the legal services provided, the working method abroad was also examined. Following the Danish national contract, the government has now also included a provision in a new contract of the State with the office of the national lawyer for a better overview of pending cases.
The government is also committed to more central coordination within the ministries for better monitoring of lawyers’ services. By registering data more structurally and in a uniform manner and periodically discussing this at interdepartmental level, it is expected that ministries will be better able to identify developments and that, as a result, more account can be taken when making choices in purchasing lawyers’ services.
State attorney contract
With the establishment of the committee in May 2022 after the fraud case at Pels Rijcken, the contract with the State Attorney had already been amended with additional requirements regarding business operations within the firm. This contract has now been further amended in response to the Committee’s advice. Over the years, the State Advocate has fully formed itself according to the needs of the State. The committee calls it a great strength of Pels Rijcken that it has an institutional memory regarding legal issues in which the State is or has been involved. However, the downside is that it also creates a dependency. The government therefore endorses the importance of increasing options in lawyers’ services and the need for stricter monitoring and better insight into pending cases.