Toby Craddock takes part in the Anglo-Dutch Exchange - Rotterdam 2024

The Anglo-Dutch Exchange 2024

The Anglo-Dutch Exchange has been running for over 60 years, and I was fortunate enough to take part in 2024. The Exchange alternates between London and the Netherlands each year and sees English barristers exchanging knowledge with their Dutch counterparts over several days and across several cities.  

In 2024, it was the Dutch Bar’s turn to host and thankfully I was spared the ordeal of navigating from court-to-court by bicycle. I don’t think I ever received my cycling proficiency… or lost my stabilisers. Instead, our tour between Rotterdam, The Hague, and Amsterdam was made entirely by train. 

Caption: Outside the International Criminal Court 

According to the locals, ‘Money is earned in Rotterdam, distributed in The Hague, and spent in Amsterdam.’ During my time there, it was clear that Rotterdam is industrial and industrious in equal measure. The port city was a key target in WWII and was practically flattened by German bombing. Post-war reconstruction saw post-modernist architects, like Rem Koolhaas, being given creative license and Rotterdam is full of quirk.  

The importance of the port to international trade and commerce is reflected in the shipping courts which operate in English, Dutch, French, and German. Evidence can be filed in any of the four languages and parties can be confident that the judges dealing with their case can conduct proceedings in the language of their choosing. In other words, the use of interpreters and translated documents does not delay the court process when the system itself is multi-lingual. 

Caption: Museum park, Rotterdam 

Rotterdam is also home to the Euromast observation tower, which played host to our gala dinner towards the end of the trip. It was brilliant to see some of the family advocates and judges in a more informal setting and we shared anecdotes over dinner, which demonstrated that, despite our relative proximity to the Netherlands, our attitude to adoption and fostering is worlds apart. 

I was told early on that Dutch children are rarely adopted. Adoption is not seen even as an option of last resort in the Dutch equivalent to public law proceedings, which are proceedings brought by the Council for Child Protection rather than individual local authorities. 

Fostering is deemed to be an appropriate avenue to achieving permanence for infants and toddlers and there is emphasis placed on the foster carers themselves facilitating family time between the child and their birth parents throughout childhood and into adolescence. 

Caption: At Loyens & Loeff in Amsterdam 

Much like in our jurisdiction, the voice of children is heard directly by judges. Unlike our jurisdiction, however, visits to the judge are not simply to ensure the child feels at the centre of their case but can also be utilised to directly inform case management and the final decision. 

To illustrate this – a child can actually instigate proceedings by writing to their local court. This is commonly seen in private law cases where the competent child wishes to amend arrangements that have already been agreed by their parents. The child’s letter is provided to a judge, who will arrange a meeting with the child that is minuted and, if the judge deems it necessary, a hearing will be listed for the parents to attend.   

After the parents are heard, the court will prepare a written judgment and draft its own orders, which are provided to the parties after the hearing. If this all sounds too good to be true to English lawyers that type furiously to take notes of ex tempore judgments and spend an inordinate amount of time negotiating the terms of draft orders, then the appeal process is even more accommodating: There is an automatic right to appeal from the court of first instance to the appellate court and if you are still dissatisfied then a relatively low threshold applies to granting leave to appeal to the Supreme Court, which sits exclusively in The Hague. 

Hoge Raad by Helen Verhoeven in the Supreme Court 

The Supreme Court embodied all the qualities of Dutch justice. It is housed in a glass building where transparency of process is celebrated, and where ideas and opinions can be shared freely. The exhibition of ephemera from Dutch jurists sits side-by-side with modern art that was commissioned specifically for the opening of the building in 2016. 

Hoge Raad by Helen Verhoeven depicts the chaos of society outside a court room, which is populated by key figures and lawmakers from Netherlandish history. When the ‘Class of 2024’ assembled for a photograph at the Supreme Court, it was evident there are talented juniors on both sides of the North Sea. Needless to say, I would encourage junior barristers and solicitors alike to apply via the Bar Council to be part of the ‘Class of 2025’. 

Toby Craddock

Deans Court Chambers 

Manchester 

11 November 2024