For best experience please turn on javascript and use a modern browser!
You are using a browser that is no longer supported by Microsoft. Please upgrade your browser. The site may not present itself correctly if you continue browsing.

Debt clinic for informal helpers

As many as one in five Amsterdammers struggle with debt. This group usually does not come into contact with legal advisers or lawyers, but knocks on the door of non-committal places like community centres or voluntary organisations.

For counsellors without a legal background, questions around debt issues are often difficult to answer. To support these informal caregivers, we are establishing a legal back office for informal caregivers: the Schuldenbrug.

Our information provision is being developed by UvA students and researchers and we are advised by Gemeente Amsterdam, HvA, Sociale maatschap and Regenbooggroep. The project starts on 1 September 2024. 

Goals

  • Contribute to addressing Amsterdam's debt problems by providing legal assistance to non-legal aid workers who have clients with (also) financial problems.
  • Increase knowledge on complex legal issues related to debt problems by conducting (practice-oriented) research.

Activities

  • Giving low-threshold legal advice to informal helpers.
  • Setting up and coordinating a network of informal organisations in Amsterdam in need of legal information.
  • Designing, coordinating and conducting academic research on complex legal issues surrounding debt.
  • Training a new generation of law students (WO and HBO) with a broad social perspective.

Impact numbers

We are currently in the preparatory phase.

  • Students
    A group of five law students are laying the groundwork for this law clinic.
    They are: Jessenia Acevedo Cruz, Sam de Valk, Farah Qureshi, Feline Thoenes and Fiore van der Linden.
  • Advisory Committee
    A committee advises on its establishment, consisting of: Nadja Jungmann (professor of Debt Problems, UvA), Anna Custers (HvA), Sjoerd Bakker (process director of debt assistance at Gemeente Amsterdam), Will van Schendel (director, De Sociale Maatschap).
  • Funds
    Amsterdams Universiteitsfonds has given a financial contribution to fund the preparatory phase.

Contact

For questions or interest, please contact Susan Leclercq or Tim Verheij.