Civiel effect
(this information is only for students with a Dutch Bachelor's degree in Law)
What is it and how does it work?
In order to practice as a barrister in the Netherlands, or to fulfil certain roles within the Dutch judiciary, you have to meet certain conditions. These conditions pertain to your degree, your acquired titles and the courses you followed during your Bachelor’s and Master’s. If you meet these conditions, you can receive a declaration of ‘civiel effect’, or in other words you are admitted to the bar in the Netherlands.
Conditions for receiving a declaration of ‘civiel effect’
- You have acquired an LLB title and an LLM title at a Dutch university
- Your study programme (Bachelor’s and Master’s) consisted of at least 200 EC worth of legal courses, 60 EC of which were at a Master’s level
- The following courses were a part of your Bacherlor’s trajectory: Administrative Law, Civil and Administrative Procedural Law, Constitutional Law (or Tax Law), Property Law, Introduction European Law (or European Law), Substantive Criminal Law, Private Law in Perspective, Public International Law, Criminal Procedure, Corporate and Partnership Law and Law of Obligations.
You can find more information regarding your examination programme in your student progress overview and the EER that is applicable to your study programme.
Legal and non-legal courses offered at the UU School of Law
Please note that not all courses that are offered within the School of Law are legal courses.
In 2021/2022, the School of Law offered the following non-legal courses:
Bachelor’s courses non-legal :
RGBUPRV013 Economics and Business Management
RGBUSTR004 Criminological Research for Law Students
RGBUSTR006 Introduction to Criminology Law Students
RGBUSTR008 Transnational Organised Crime
RGBUSTR009 Introduction in Forensic Psychiatry and Psychology
RGBUSTR010 Forensic Psychopathology
RGBUSTR011 Advanced Criminology
RGBUSTR023 Crime, Media, Culture.
Master’s courses non-legal :
All courses and the thesis in the Master’s programme Criminology
You can see whether courses you are following this academic year are legal courses in the Course Catalogue (link). This information is included under the headings ‘course description’ and ‘content’.
How to acquire ‘civiel effect’ in the following situations:
After completing your Bachelor’s, you will attend another university to do a Master’s degree
Upon graduation from your LLB, you can indicate on your graduation form that you would like to receive a ‘Declaration of progress in attaining ‘civiel effect’ alongside your Bacherlor’s diploma. On this declaration you can see what legal courses you would still need to follow to attain ‘civiel effect’
You are only doing your Master’s at Utrecht University
If you have completed your Bachelor’s in Law at another Dutch university and you want to acquire a declaration of ‘civiel effect’, you must provide a ‘Declaration of progress in attaining ‘civiel effect’’. You can request this declaration with the Board of Examiners at the university where you obtained your Bachelor’s. This declaration must include what requirements you still need to meet in order to obtain your ‘civiel effect’.
You can subsequently hand in this declaration at the Student Information Desk Law, or you can mail it by post, addressing it to the Board of Examiners, School of Law, Janskerkhof 3, 3512 BK Utrecht.
The other university can also send the declaration directly to the Board of Examiners by emailing it to examencommissie.rechten@uu.nl
You have already completed a Master’s and are doing a Bachelor’s in Law afterwards.
In order to obtain ‘civiel effect’, you can request a ‘Declaration of Civiel Effect’ upon graduating from your Bachelor’s programme.
The official title requirements concerning the profession of barrister and the Dutch judiciary ‘civiel effect’ can be found in the Education and Examination Regulations Master’s in attachment 5. You can direct any questions you might have regarding ‘civiel effect’ to the Board of Examiners at examencommissie.rechten@uu.nl