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Hamburg gets a new arbitration board

In the 100th year of its existence, the public legal information (ÖRA) in Hamburg is expanded to include an arbitration board for the equality of people with disabilities.

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Hamburg gets a new arbitration board

In the 100th year of its existence, the public legal information (ÖRA) in Hamburg is expanded to include an arbitration board for the equality of people with disabilities. Anyone who feels disadvantaged by a public body, such as an office, due to their disability will receive help there from 2023, announced Social Senator Melanie Leonhard (SPD) on Tuesday.

The arbitration board will be open to all people with disabilities and associations free of charge, explained Leonhard. The task of the office will be to settle disputes out of court. It was said that she would work in a low-threshold, barrier-free and independent manner. That is why she is ideally placed at the ÖRA. As has been customary there for 100 years, the advice of people with disabilities should also be taken over by honorary judges and lawyers.

"The main task of the ÖRA is legal advice outside of court proceedings for people who - to put it bluntly - cannot afford a lawyer," explained Friederike Klose. The ÖRA, which is a real Hamburgensie, has existed since October 4, 1922. Legal advice is available nationwide, but in this form only in the Hanseatic city.

"In Hamburg, there were already social efforts in the early 20th century to help the poor get their rights," says Klose, who swapped the management of a prison for the management of public legal information in 2019. More than 100 years ago, the first legal advice associations existed in the city.

"The largest was run by the young court assessor Hannes Kaufmann, who was very committed to ensuring that the city took over social welfare in this area as well." And that's how he finally got his way. "Two years after the establishment of the Hamburg Welfare Office - the forerunner of the social welfare authority - legal advice became part of this office," says Klose. And she still is today.

In almost all other federal states, legal advice is regulated differently: those seeking advice who cannot afford a lawyer first have to go to the district court, explained Senator Leonhard. There they received a counseling aid certificate and would then have to find a lawyer themselves.

Not an easy task for most of the potential clients. As a rule, law firms only specialize in a certain area of ​​law - and several inquiries from those affected are necessary before they have found a lawyer for their problem. It is also questionable whether he will then take over the mandate. Because the amounts that can be credited via the advisory aid certificate are not particularly high.

The ÖRA advises without going to the district court and is also staffed by lawyers from a wide variety of disciplines. One of the volunteers is Klaus Tempke - a former criminal judge. Since he first heard about the ÖRA in a judges' meeting more than 36 years ago, he has worked there as a consultant.

For him, social commitment is a matter of course. "If no one is involved in organizing the community, then things will go down the drain," says the 71-year-old. As a criminal lawyer, it was always exciting for him to work in other areas of the law. He is also happy "if you can help low-income citizens with results that they would certainly not achieve without legal assistance."

The ÖRA had 30,000 consultations per year before Corona. “We are very proud that there were 25,000 again last year,” says Klose. The spectrum is huge. “There is a lot of labor law, but also family law, tenancy law, civil law in all forms - lots of telecommunications contracts - criminal law, and all road traffic matters. Social law is also a big field, as is migration law - from asylum procedures to family reunification.”

But the ÖRA is not only legal advice, it also offers mediation and is a settlement and conciliation body. A procedure with her can also help against the statute of limitations. And that can sometimes lead to strange situations, as ÖRA manager Klose knows: "At the end of 2003, more than 15,000 disappointed T-shareholders from all over Germany submitted applications by the laundry basket to protect their claims against Telekom against the statute of limitations."

The ÖRA presented the previously unknown problems. “New fax machines were purchased to enable timely receipt. Police officers stood at the court's night mailbox to ensure that the mailbox did not overflow and that the applications reached the ÖRA on time," says Klose. Even more rooms had to be rented and new consultants recruited. "And it took years to process all the applications properly." In view of the almost 100-year history of the ÖRA, that was probably more of a blink of an eye.

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