MR STEVEN GIBENS

(°Antwerp 19th of May 1970) is Master of Laws (1993 ) and Master of Criminology (1995). He has studied at the University of Antwerp and the Catholic University of Louvain. Since 1995 he has been member of the Antwerp Bar, first as a trainee, and since 1998 he has been a full member. Now he is a partner of the Law Firm TERECHT C.V.B.A. ( www.terecht.be ). He is also a substitute justice of the Peace in Antwerp (5 the district).

In 1996 he was a part - time researcher at the Catholic University of Louvain Department of Criminology examining the legal implications of the LinguaNet system in communicating information between law enforcement agencies in different countries.

From 1998 he has been a part - time researcher at the University of Antwerp (Centre for the Sociology of Law) where he is studying the legal aid system in Belgium and since 2008 he has been teaching at Hogeschool-Universiteit Brussel.

From 2000-2005 he was President of the Commission for Legal Aid in the district of Antwerp. The Commission has the duty to organise the consultations of private lawyers giving legal advice. The Commission supports the coordination and collaboration between the different legal aid centres. The third task of the Commission is the spreading of information about legal aid to the citizens. The Commission is entitled to advise the Minister of Justice on legal aid matters. Since 2007 he has been President of the Antwerp Bureau for legal Aid.