Jolande ter Avest quits law practice over disciplinary law concerns, Digi Mart USA News (Netherlands): Dutch family law attorney Jolande ter Avest will soon stop practicing law out of frustration with how disciplinary law works. In an interview with the Volkskrant, Ter Avest said attorneys in cases involving domestic violence and intimate terror are not allowed to describe reality sufficiently.
Ter Avest said the disciplinary panels in the legal profession have too little knowledge of intimate terror, a severe form of controlling behavior toward a partner that often continues after separation. Suspects in these family law cases frequently direct their aggression at their ex-partner’s lawyer through threats and by filing disciplinary complaints.
She said these disciplinary proceedings cost her between 30,000 and 35,000 euros per year.
According to Ter Avest, disciplinary panels rely too heavily on the principle that a family law attorney must remain neutral during divorce proceedings to prevent escalation. “With intimate terror, it is too late to de-escalate,” she said.
“Then it is my responsibility to bring this to the attention of judges. I cannot and will not defend victims with my hands tied behind my back and duct tape over my mouth.”
Recent research showed that a substantial number of family law attorneys face disciplinary complaints filed in proceedings involving partner violence. Of 440 participating family law attorneys, 74 said they no longer accept this type of case for fear of complaints from the opposing party, and 38 of them dropped an ongoing case for that reason.
Seventy-six attorneys who still handle these cases said they do not mention domestic violence in court in order to avoid disciplinary proceedings.
In September, Ter Avest was reprimanded by the Disciplinary Court for a “lack of professional distance” after she stated in court that the opposing party was guilty of intimate terror. According to the disciplinary judge, she should not have raised that characterization as an attorney, but only on behalf of her client or through an expert.
Ter Avest said such rulings show that the disciplinary system lacks sufficient specific expertise on this issue.
In a LinkedIn post responding to the Volkskrant article, Ter Avest wrote that she will stop practicing law next spring. She said she has often criticized professionals who, out of fear of complaints, did not dare to name a pattern of violence, protecting themselves instead of victims and children.
She said she intends to continue working to improve disciplinary law.
The disciplinary obstacles facing family law attorneys have also reached politics. At the urging of PRO member of parliament Songül Mutluer, State Secretary Claudia van Bruggen of Justice and Security last week promised to investigate the misuse of disciplinary law in family law cases and to inform the House of Representatives later this year.
Forty percent of family law attorneys are threatened in cases involving partner violence. The vFAS described this as “shocking.”
