Samenvatting

The use and expenditure of the Legal Aid System is ever increasing. In addition, some people make use of the Legal Aid System more often than others. In fact, a small percentage of clients (2,6%) uses a substantial part (11,2%) of the legal aid. This paper sheds light on the occurrence of multiple use of legal aid and gives insight into the frequency and characteristics of multiple use.
In the research described in this article, we have made use of the data from 2000 until 2009 concerning legal aid that was provided by the Legal Aid Board. This dataset contains over 3 million cases (so-called certificates that are issued by the Board). The main difference between this research and other (paths to justice) studies is that the dataset contains actually provided legal aid and not self-reported problems by clients. Therefore, the representativeness is guaranteed and no false recollections can occur. At the same time, this means that the research is limited to people who are entitled to legal aid (approximately 39% of the Dutch population) and have actually received a certificate.
The results show that the provision of legal aid leads to new cases for which legal aid is again provided. Also, certain certificates coincide with and act as a trigger for certain other certificates. In the discussion we clarify the significance and implications of the results that are presented. Furthermore, we discuss the recently ordered budget cut in legal aid in the Netherlands. We describe ways to decrease the use and expenditure of the Legal Aid System, some of which are already implemented in the system. Finally, we discuss possible other (non-legal) problems that can be experienced by multiple users of the Legal Aid System.