Nederlandse orde van advocaten
Among other duties, the NOvA manages the roll and, as a public-law professional body, sets additional professional rules.
Dutch lawyers’ atlas · regional Bars
Local bar associations: 11 districts
Where do lawyers have their offices, how is the local bar organised and where does the route to taking the oath begin? This dossier compares all eleven judicial districts without inventing local robe or sales claims.
11 local bar associationsDistrictDean of the BarSwearing-inRegister of lawyersCourtLawyer’s robe
Organisation
NOvA and local bar: national profession, regional oversight
All lawyers practising from an office in the same district form the local bar. The bar council is chaired by the local dean.
Eleven local bar associations
The local bar handles, among other things, the application to take the oath; the dean oversees the district and handles complaints.
Court
After approval by the local bar association, the candidate receives an invitation to the official swearing-in at the court.
No local robe design inferred: the district figures show where lawyers have their offices. They do not prove that each district has its own lawyer’s robe or purchasing policy.
Dutch lawyers’ atlas
The 11 local Bars and their judicial districts
The place names are the examples that NOvA itself gives for the districts. The figures come from De Balie in Beeld 2026.
Comparison
Lawyers, firms and swearings-in by judicial district
With 6,788 lawyers, Amsterdam was the largest district. Den Haag and Rotterdam followed at around two thousand. A larger professional population does not mean more robe orders.
| District | Lawyers 1-1-2026 | Law firms 2025 | Newly admitted lawyers 2025 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Amsterdam | 6,788 | 1,068 | 516 |
| Den Haag | 1,999 | 562 | 109 |
| Limburg | 732 | 303 | 39 |
| Midden-Nederland | 1,827 | 697 | 87 |
| Noord-Holland | 825 | 354 | 33 |
| Noord-Nederland | 772 | 283 | 43 |
| Oost-Brabant | 1,194 | 384 | 65 |
| Gelderland | 1,216 | 422 | 79 |
| Overijssel | 648 | 244 | 47 |
| Rotterdam | 2,071 | 670 | 123 |
| Zeeland-West-Brabant | 974 | 380 | 41 |
Firm definition: the eleven Dutch districts together account for 5,367 firms in the table. A further 127 are listed under ‘Abroad’; together these form the NOvA national total of 5.494. A firm may have multiple offices.
Regional route
From the local Bar to swearing-in, the roll and the robe
Law firm and supervising lawyer
The candidate finds a firm and a principal; additional conditions apply to self-employed trainees.
Local bar
The application to take the oath is submitted to the local bar of the district where the office is located.
Court
Approval is followed by the invitation to the official swearing-in. Article 27 requires a robe and bands for this occasion.
Register of lawyers
After the oath, registration on the roll follows and NOvA confirms the registration.
Check before commissioning
Which local points need to be confirmed?
Date and court
Confirm the time, location, security and registration procedure for the swearing-in or hearing.
National dress model
Check that the robe, bands and any cap comply with the applicable national dress decree.
Office provision
Ask whether a personal robe, office robe or loan robe is available and fits.
Fit and logistics
Arrange fitting well in advance and establish storage, transport, return and cleaning arrangements.
Explore the legal profession further
Four dossiers on robes, the Bar and law firms
The main guide remains the central dossier on lawyers’ robes. These pages add the official professional structure, regional organisation, the oath and practical office management.
The legal profession in the NetherlandsOfficial professional figures and definitions→
11 local bar associationsDistricts, lawyers and firms→
Admission ceremony and first robeFrom local bar association to the register and the courtroom→
Robe management for law firmsStock, size profiles, maintenance and onboarding→
Sources and definitions
Official sources and research limitations
The official professional figures describe the size, intake and organisation of the legal profession. The estimated annual number of requests to have a lawyer’s robe made is presented separately in the main lawyer’s robe guide.
Legal aid lawyers by district
The table follows the NOvA definition: lawyers who handled at least ten legal aid cases in 2025. Percentages are the table values from the official report.