The Nationaal Keurmerk Letselschade and our memberships

In short

At the bottom of our website you will find four logos. You may have wondered what they stand for. This page explains them, because there is a difference between a quality mark and a membership, and that difference matters more to you than it may seem.

Nationaal Keurmerk Letselschade

The Nationaal Keurmerk Letselschade is the only true quality mark in our field. It is issued by De Letselschade Raad, an independent body in which victim organisations, insurers and claimant representatives work together.

A firm does not simply receive that mark. There is a set of regulations on how a personal injury case should be handled. How quickly you get an answer to a question. That you receive a copy of letters about your case. That we discuss with you how things stand if a case takes a long time. That you know what the costs are and who pays them. And that there is a complaints procedure if you are dissatisfied.

Those rules are checked. An independent auditor visits the office periodically, reads case files and tests whether we comply. If we do not, we are given time to put it right. If that fails, we lose the quality mark.

What does that mean for you? That someone from outside checks whether we do our work properly. You do not have to take our word for it.

You can check for yourself which firms hold the quality mark. The register is on deletselschaderaad.nl. We are listed as Munten Letselschade Advocatuur B.V. in Oisterwijk.

LSA, the association of personal injury lawyers

Wouter Munten is a member of the LSA, the Dutch association of personal injury lawyers. That is not a quality mark, but LSA lawyer is a protected title. You cannot simply call yourself one.

The LSA sets requirements you can read on lsa.nl. An LSA lawyer has a law degree, has at least five years of experience as a lawyer, has completed a specialist course in personal injury, works at least 500 hours a year on personal injury cases and follows courses regularly. Every year it is checked whether a member still meets those requirements. Of the roughly 14,000 lawyers in the Netherlands, about 400 may use this title.

Why that matters: personal injury is a field of its own. It involves liability, medical questions and losses that sometimes run for years. Someone who handles this only occasionally lacks the experience you need when the insurer pushes back.

Note this difference too. In the Netherlands anyone may call themselves a personal injury adviser, expert or specialist. No training or experience is required for that. For the title of LSA lawyer it is.

VASR

The VASR is the Dutch association for liability and compensation law. Its members are lawyers, legal professionals and academics who study who is liable for what and how losses are calculated.

This membership says nothing about how we handle your case. It says that we keep up with what changes in our field. Every year the courts hand down decisions that affect what you can claim. You do not want to miss those.

Netherlands Bar Association

Every lawyer in the Netherlands is registered with the Netherlands Bar Association. That is not a choice and not a quality mark, but it does protect you. Lawyers have a duty of confidentiality, fall under disciplinary law and must take continuing education. If you disagree with something, you can turn to the local dean of the Bar.

Keep this in mind when looking for help with personal injury. Not everyone working in this field is a lawyer. A claims handling agency, for example, cannot take your case to court.

What this gives you

In short: the quality mark is about how we handle your case and is checked from outside. The memberships are about our knowledge of the field. And registration with the Bar means there is supervision of our work as lawyers.

Would you like to know how we work, or do you have a question about your situation? Call us on +31 13 2088 038 or send us a message. A first conversation is free of charge.