ABSTRACT
In the Netherlands, until recently, lawyers were not permitted to provide services on a no-win, no-fee basis, nor could the amount of their fee vary in proportion to the outcome of the particular case. The traditional line of argument in support of these restrictions has been one of professional ethics. To be of most value to his client, a lawyer, when representing a client in a case, should be independent, impartial and certainly not inuenced by any direct nancial interest in the outcome of that case. These restrictions have, however, been under discussion for quite some time now. Conditional and contingent fee arrangements have been introduced and are actual practice in other countries such as the UK and the US, so why not in the Netherlands?
