Recently, director Sophie de Graaf and board member Jeroen Brouwers were interviewed by the Advocatenblad.
We are very grateful to the Netherlands Bar Association (Nederlandse Orde van Advocaten) for the collaboration. Please find a translated version of the article below.
Forty years of Lawyers for Lawyers: protection for lawyers is needed more than ever
An anniversary is usually a time for cake, bunting and congratulations. But the 40th anniversary of Lawyers for Lawyers has a serious undertone. The organisation supports lawyers worldwide who are threatened, persecuted or arrested because of their work. That support is badly needed, especially now that increasingly more lawyers are under pressure.
According to director Sophie de Graaf, this growth is clearly reflected in the organisation’s work: ‘Five years ago, we were supporting a hundred lawyers in 25 countries; now there are around 250 in forty countries. Whereas signals used to come mainly from distant countries such as Colombia and the Philippines, we now see them coming more frequently from Europe and the United States.’
Working freely and independently
Lawyers for Lawyers was founded in 1986 following a solidarity campaign for Argentine lawyers who had ‘disappeared’ or been detained without trial under the military junta. Lawyer and cartoonist Willem van Manen founded the organisation, with the support of Amnesty International, the Nederlands Juristen Comité voor de Mensenrechten, the Netherlands Institute of Human Rights at Utrecht University and the Dutch Bar Association.
Over the past forty years, Lawyers for Lawyers has grown into an independent non-profit organisation with eight employees, 170 volunteer lawyers and thirty partner firms. Together with law firms, the Dutch and local bar associations, and international human rights organisations, they work towards a single goal: ensuring that lawyers can practise their profession freely and independently. In 2022, the organisation was awarded the prestigious Geuzenpenning for this work.
Government measures hit the rule of law
That pressure on lawyers is now coming closer to home becomes apparent from a recent example from the United States. President Trump issued executive orders against several law firms there. Amongst other things, these restricted their access to government buildings and affected clients’ government contracts. According to the government, the firms posed a threat to public interests. Critics, however, view the measures as retaliation for cases in which the firms opposed Trump’s policies. Lawyers for Lawyers submitted an amicus curiae brief on this matter to a federal judge. In the brief, the organisation expressed concerns about the pressure on the independence of the legal profession and the rule of law.
Despite the legal challenge, the consequences of the government measures are noticeable. During a meeting of Lawyers for Lawyers, an American lawyer explained that many firms have now become more cautious about taking on pro bono cases that could be labelled as undesirable by the American authorities. Board member Jeroen Brouwer finds this development worrying: ‘It is becoming more difficult for citizens to access independent legal aid. That undermines the rule of law.’
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