The Ukrainian Legal Chamber in the Kingdom of the Netherlands (ULCNL) was established by board decision on 2 November 2025. Lawyers from Ukraine working in the Netherlands work together here on legal assistance for people affected by the war.
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The Chamber is the forum of lawyers from Ukraine working in the Netherlands. They advise on residence and temporary protection, reception and benefits, work and study, documents and family law, and they lodge objections and request information from authorities and courts.
The Chamber works independently: it determines its own priorities, positions and working method and is accountable to the board. The board intervenes only in case of conflict with the law, the statutes or the regulation.
First-line legal assistance to war victims — residence and temporary protection, reception and own contribution, work, education, documents and family law — with referral where needed. Support in objections, appeals and complaints procedures, help with resident councils, seminars, webinars, publications and translations, analysis of legislation and case law, legal clinics and pro bono assistance, and mediation in disputes with institutions, employers or landlords.
Requests, written submissions, motions, objections and complaints to administrative bodies; requests under the Dutch Freedom of Information Act; enforcement requests; participation in consultations and advisory bodies; speaking in municipal councils, provincial councils and parliamentary committees; contact with the National Ombudsman, the Children’s Ombudsman, the Dutch Human Rights Council and the Dutch Data Protection Authority; contact with the Ukrainian authorities and the Embassy of Ukraine; memoranda of understanding with governments, educational institutions and civil society organisations; public statements and media work.
Appearing as interested party or authorised representative in administrative proceedings — objection, appeal, further appeal and requests for provisional measures — and in civil proceedings for people affected by the war, insofar as the law and the statutes allow. Complaints to complaint bodies, dispute committees and disciplinary courts. Assisting as authorised representative where no mandatory representation by a lawyer applies; where it does apply, a qualified lawyer is brought in. Written submissions as third party where the court allows it.
Petitions to the European Parliament, complaints to the European Commission and the European Ombudsman, communications and reports to the Council of Europe and the United Nations, and requests to intervene at European and international courts. Participation in international networks, conferences and professional bodies, and representation of participants before Ukrainian, Dutch and international professional organisations.
Compliance with and enforcement in the Netherlands of international and European sanctions adopted because of the aggression against Ukraine: research in open sources and registers, signals and enforcement requests, criminal reports, administrative and civil proceedings, and proposals for a social purpose for assets. The Chamber documents and analyses international crimes committed in connection with the war and prepares communications to national and international law enforcement and prosecution authorities, including the International Criminal Court.
A network of lawyers from Ukraine residing in the Netherlands, with programmes for professional integration, training and language acquisition, cooperation with universities and professional bodies. In addition, research into the needs of war victims and the structural barriers they encounter, resulting in memoranda, advice and proposals for governments and institutions.
Lawyers with a Ukrainian legal education or professional qualification — lawyer, jurist, notary, judge, public prosecutor or academic. The Council may also admit other lawyers and experts. Participation is personal and voluntary; in elections each participant has one vote. Participants are not remunerated.
The Council consists of five participants, elected by all participants for a term of two years and without limit on re-election. The Council decides on the admission of participants and the termination of participation, and advises the chair. Decisions are taken by majority, remotely if necessary.
The participants elect a chair from among themselves for a term of one year; the same person cannot serve more than two consecutive terms. The chair leads the Chamber, represents it externally, signs its correspondence, and may appoint a deputy and coordinators. The board grants the elected chair a standing power of attorney within fourteen days.
The chair may establish working groups, which work under a coordinator and report to the chair. The working groups cover residence and temporary protection, reception and social rights, sanctions compliance and international criminal law, and professional integration and training.
The Chamber has no assets of its own: income and expenditure run through the foundation and its budget. Gifts, subsidies and other contributions for the Chamber accrue to the foundation and are spent on the Chamber’s activities. Participants work unpaid, unless the board decides otherwise; costs approved in advance may be reimbursed.
The chair keeps a register of the Chamber’s activities and outgoing documents, and reports in writing to the board before 1 March each year. The board incorporates the main lines of that report into the foundation’s annual report — so the work of the Chamber is covered in the annual ANBI reporting.
Publications, announcements and activities of the Ukrainian Legal Chamber.
The YouTube channel of the Ukrainian Legal Chamber in NL carries the videos of the Chamber.
The Council of the Ukrainian Legal Chamber consists of five participants elected by all participants for a term of two years. They are eligible for re-election without limit. The Council decides on the admission of participants and on the termination of participation, and advises the chair of the Chamber. The Council and the chair are organs of the Chamber, not of the foundation.
The Chamber is not a law firm. Participants use only professional titles they are lawfully entitled to use and state the country in which the title was obtained. They maintain confidentiality, report conflicts of interest to the chair and withdraw from the matter concerned. When using artificial intelligence tools, the lawyer remains responsible for every legally relevant outcome and checks that outcome before it is used.