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Way more expensive legal fees though, and a much slower "justice" system. In the Netherlands court, the legal fees were sub 1k, and the decision happened less

Way more expensive legal fees though, and a much slower "justice" system. In the Netherlands court, the legal fees were sub 1k, and the decision happened less than 2 months from the filing.

gnicholas 4y ago
How can the legal fees be less than a thousand dollars? It would take at least a few hours to research the law and write a brief, let alone prepare for court and make an appearance. Even if a lawyer was paid only $150/hr, it seems hard to come in under $1k. Regardless, it would certainly be much more expensive in the US, where decent lawyers are hundreds or thousands an hour.
- jlawer 4y ago
  I assume he did it without a lawyer. I know in Australia we have forums where you can represent yourself in these low level workers rights cases. He spent time himself researching the law and going through the process, but he can't claim for that
- ivan_gammel 4y ago
  I would call any legal system making it practically impossible to sue without a lawyer a failure. But even if using professional help is recommended, it doesn’t have to be expensive - you can use legal insurance to cover majority of the costs.
  - gnicholas 4y ago
    How does legal insurance work? The only time I ever heard of it I was pitched what sounded like an MLM. Is there another kind out there?
    - alexriddle 4y ago
      In the UK legal insurance is often bundled with home insurance for a small fee (~£8 a month for me). This covers the cost of legal advice across a broad range of categories (employment, housing, consumer protection, personal injury are all usually included) and if a case is likely to succeed (more than 50% prospects of success as judged by the law firm) then they will cover all the costs up to a certain limit which is usually enough for most cases (say £50,000 or so). It's not perfect but reasonably strong regulation of consumer insurance means that if you have problems with e.g the decision made, there is an independent organisation who can review the case for you. You usually have to use a law firm which has an arrangement with the insurer, or one who will accept the lower rates the insurers have negotiated but again if you feel there is an issue with the quality on offer you can make a complaint. I presume something similar is offered in NL.
- stingraycharles 4y ago
  We have “juridisch loket” over here in .NL which is advices people on legal matters for free. Especially common for housing and/or employment issues, but they deal with anything. It’s not unlikely the employee from the article used their services, even if just initially.
- michalu 4y ago
  Europe doesn't have case law, the law is written and codified so once you finish law school you have all the laws memorized. The judge can only apply specific paragraph of the law not create new ones. 1k is cheap yes, 5k would in such case be more reasonable to expect if you're in a similar situation if you go with a lawyer (depending on firm and location i.e. lawyer in big city vs provincial town)
  - anticensor 4y ago
    > Europe doesn't have case law Case law is a thing in civil law systems too, it is just not binding on the judges except special occasions.
- doetoe 4y ago
  In the article it says that the (compensation awarded for) legal fees were 585 euros

Way more expensive legal fees though, and a much slower "justice" system. In the Netherlands court, the legal fees were sub 1k, and the decision happened less than 2 months from the filing.

gnicholas 4y ago

How can the legal fees be less than a thousand dollars? It would take at least a few hours to research the law and write a brief, let alone prepare for court and make an appearance. Even if a lawyer was paid only $150/hr, it seems hard to come in under $1k. Regardless, it would certainly be much more expensive in the US, where decent lawyers are hundreds or thousands an hour.

jlawer 4y ago
I assume he did it without a lawyer. I know in Australia we have forums where you can represent yourself in these low level workers rights cases. He spent time himself researching the law and going through the process, but he can't claim for that
ivan_gammel 4y ago
I would call any legal system making it practically impossible to sue without a lawyer a failure. But even if using professional help is recommended, it doesn’t have to be expensive - you can use legal insurance to cover majority of the costs.
- gnicholas 4y ago
  How does legal insurance work? The only time I ever heard of it I was pitched what sounded like an MLM. Is there another kind out there?
  - alexriddle 4y ago
    In the UK legal insurance is often bundled with home insurance for a small fee (~£8 a month for me). This covers the cost of legal advice across a broad range of categories (employment, housing, consumer protection, personal injury are all usually included) and if a case is likely to succeed (more than 50% prospects of success as judged by the law firm) then they will cover all the costs up to a certain limit which is usually enough for most cases (say £50,000 or so). It's not perfect but reasonably strong regulation of consumer insurance means that if you have problems with e.g the decision made, there is an independent organisation who can review the case for you. You usually have to use a law firm which has an arrangement with the insurer, or one who will accept the lower rates the insurers have negotiated but again if you feel there is an issue with the quality on offer you can make a complaint. I presume something similar is offered in NL.
stingraycharles 4y ago
We have “juridisch loket” over here in .NL which is advices people on legal matters for free. Especially common for housing and/or employment issues, but they deal with anything. It’s not unlikely the employee from the article used their services, even if just initially.
michalu 4y ago
Europe doesn't have case law, the law is written and codified so once you finish law school you have all the laws memorized. The judge can only apply specific paragraph of the law not create new ones. 1k is cheap yes, 5k would in such case be more reasonable to expect if you're in a similar situation if you go with a lawyer (depending on firm and location i.e. lawyer in big city vs provincial town)
- anticensor 4y ago
  > Europe doesn't have case law Case law is a thing in civil law systems too, it is just not binding on the judges except special occasions.
doetoe 4y ago
In the article it says that the (compensation awarded for) legal fees were 585 euros