Nederlandse Orde Van Advocaten has set up a taskforce to better protect those working within the legal profession against threats from organised crime and illicit finance. The taskforce aims to increase the rule of law, awareness of the legal profession and improve the security of lawyers by increasing their resilience and improving safety measures.
This taskforce has been set up as an alternative to proposals which aim to deal with these issues in ways that are contrary to the rule of law, for example by restricting the free choice of lawyers and reducing the rights of suspects.
The taskforce will focus on improving the information available to lawyers based on research about the threats from organised crime and how it is targeting the profession, and on creating channels for lawyers to discuss potential threats and issues without breaching confidentiality. The taskforce will also look at whether current regulations need to be adapted whilst also ensuring that violations by lawyers are still effecively reported to the supervising authority.
The taskforce will be looking to cooperate with other legal regulators to identify signs of attempts by organised crime to subvert the profession both domestically and internationally.