Welcome to the VCAS homepage. VCAS was founded in 2010 with the aim of contributing to improve, in the interest of protecting the consumer – the litigant suspect, the quality of legal aid in criminal proceedings undertaken within the Supreme Court of the Netherlands. VCAS consists of criminal lawyers with demonstrable interest and experience in cassation proceedings in criminal matters.
Proceedings before the Supreme Court are very different from trials at the district court or the court of appeal. For instance, the Supreme Court does not look at the evidence, but bases itself on what the district court or the court of appeal has established. Only legal questions can be raised at the Supreme Court. Therefore, specialist knowledge is required for a proper proceeding in cassation. Although a specialized cassation lawyer is not required in proceedings before the Supreme Court, it is recommended that a litigant chooses a lawyer who has specialist knowledge.
VCAS has members and prospective members.
Lawyers can join VCAS if they can demonstrate they mainly focus on criminal cases, and have specialist knowledge and skills related to proceedings in (criminal) cassation matters. This is assessed by a committee which has been founded for this specific reason. For further details, see the procedure relating to the membership of the association.
The board of VCAS currently consists of mr. J. (Jacqueline) Kuijper (chairwoman), mr. R.P. (Robert) Snorn (secretary), mr. R.J. (Rob) Baumgardt (treasurer) and mr. C.W. (Carolien) Noorduyn (general board member).