Riyadh-mission ticket
International law firms in Saudi Arabia are turning their attention to home-grown female lawyers in a bid to gain access to new clients
In Brief
Women who want to practise law in Saudi Arabia face numerous hurdles, not least they are not permitted to argue a case in court. But they can now study law at university in Saudi and a growing number of international firms in the territory are choosing to access the country’s new pool of home-grown talent.
It was only five years ago that Prince Sultan University in Riyadh introduced Saudi Arabia’s first law degree for women. Before that women who wanted a legal education could study abroad but there was no infrastructure to nurture talent at home. Today, there are seven colleges and universities in Saudi Arabia that offer women the chance to study law and, as the country’s second batch of graduates emerge, international firms in Saudi Arabia are beginning to take notice.
The situation for female lawyers in Saudi Arabia is complicated and while they are by no means on an equal footing with men, progress is on the horizon. Women can practise law as representatives and give legal advice to clients but they are not permitted to argue in court – in fact, they may not even be allowed to enter a court without a male guardian present. The country’s justice minister, Mohammed al-Issa, has begun to make concessions in that respect, however. In February 2010, he said his department was drafting legislation that would allow women to represent other women in family law cases and matters concerning women’s personal status, but not in general matters.
Even with the changes women will still not be able to open their own practice in Saudi Arabia and laws state that men and women must be physically segregated at work. This creates another hurdle in that any firm that wants to take on women must first create separate offices.
But a growing group of international firms in Saudi are choosing to jump through the necessary hoops to access the country’s new pool of home-grown talent as well as those who have pursued studies abroad.
“We’ve just completed the reconstruction of our Riyadh office to accommodate women and we’re starting to recruit experienced female lawyers,” says Robert Jordan, Baker Botts’ Middle East head.
Likewise, Squire Sanders’ Middle East and North Africa co-ordinating partner Kevin Connor told The Lawyer that his firm had taken space across the hall from their offices to build a women’s section.
“It’s the second year that there have been female law graduates coming out of universities and a few firms are opening women sections,” says Connor. “We’ve also begun interviewing women to join us as associates.”
Clifford Chance, which moved offices in Riyadh at the end of June, also built in extra space to accommodate female lawyers. A partner at the firm says this was done for international lawyers visiting the office rather than for new recruits, but the firm does not rule anything out in the future.
A number of the international firms in Saudi, such as DLA Piper and King & Spalding (which are both based on the 20th floor of Riyadh’s Kingdom Tower and so are exempt from the rule about having separate entrances for women) have also agreed with deans of universities that run the women’s law degrees to take on two students for a six-month placement every year. DLA’s Saudi office, in fact, has employed female lawyers for more than two years, according to regional managing partner Abdul Aziz Al-Yaqout.
And while most of the managing partners The Lawyer spoke with said that they believed training Saudi’s next generation of lawyers – both male and female – was to be encouraged as part of their corporate social responsibility and in line with their firm’s goals for equality, there is also a commercial reason for firms promoting the cause of female lawyers.
“We’re not just trying to be altruistic, here,” says Squire Sanders’ Connor. “Fifty per cent of the wealth in Saudi is controlled by women. A massive amount of power resides with women but they don’t have access to lawyers they are comfortable with. We think it would be great to have senior Saudi lawyers because that would grant us access to clients that we don’t have access to now.”
Saudi Arabia in the news
19 June 2012: Allen & Overy (A&O) has been mulling its future in Saudi Arabia as its contract with local sponsor Abdulaziz AlGasim expired. A&O’s association with the Riyadh firm began in 2007 as part of a five-year deal. The two firms have now entered into an automatic one-year rollover period. An A&O spokesman said the firm was now speaking with AlGasim about whether to continue the association but that no timeline has been put on the two parties reaching an agreement.
14 June 2012: Failed firm Dewey & LeBoeuf’s Riyadh practice joined US firm Patton Boggs to set up an affiliate office for the US firm, consisting of one partner and four associates. Former Dewey partner Khalid Al-Thebity, whose practice spans corporate, commercial, finance, real estate and Saudi-related litigation and arbitration, will lead the office.
23 Feburary 2012: Trowers & Hamlins was forced to terminate its exclusive alliance in Riyadh after its last associate in the city jumped ship to the firm’s local ally. Trowers’ exclusive tie-up with Feras Alshawaf Law Firm was dependent on the former having at least one employee in the country and now that employee has resigned, the formal alliance has come to an end. According to Mutawi, the associate, Abbas Khan, was frustrated at Trowers’ failure to redeploy another partner to Riyadh.
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Readers' comments (19)
Joe Bloggs | 27-Jul-2012 1:03 pm
@11.06 (first comment). 'Come back in 20 years time', you say. But if non-one takes the early steps like this now, why would the culture be any different in 20 years time?
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Anonymous | 27-Jul-2012 1:13 pm
With respect to "the difference between being a licensed lawyer capable of acting for a client and representing that client before courts and authorities..." The difference is that most lawyers working for international firms never go near a court (and the licence does not effect them going to governmental agencies) while most Saudi lawyers who go to court have little idea about the work the international firms are doing.
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Anonymous | 27-Jul-2012 3:12 pm
The simplest way to consider the issue of whether females should be licensed by the Saudi authorities, is to look at an example of two females (Ms. X and Ms. Y) who attended the same medical school, completed their residencies at the same hospitals and are more or less at the same level of skill as each other. At the end of this strenuous period, one is recognised by the medical community as a doctor, is referred to at the hospital by her colleagues as Dr. X and is allowed to perform her own solo surgeries. The second, is not allowed to wear the white lab coat around the hospital because those are only worn by members of the General Medical Council, is referred to by her colleagues as Ms. Y and is not allowed to perform solo surgeries as she must have an attending "supervise" her surgeries.
In this instance which of these women would you choose to perform your surgery? Personally speaking, even though they are both equally qualified and have had the same training and education, I would feel more comfortable with Dr. X performing my surgery than with Ms. Y. The exact same logic will apply to clients who are seeking legal advice, they would feel more comfortable taking legal advice from a qualified lawyer that is given the right of audience before a judge than from a consultant who may or may not be allowed to enter the court room. This is really simplifying the case and there are a lot more factors to take into consideration with regards to this matter, but as a starting point Saudi female lawyers must be given the same opportunities and qualifications as their male counterparts to truly be able to have an impact on the legal industry in the Kingdom.
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Anonymous | 27-Jul-2012 4:44 pm
I think an excellent opportunity has been given by the Kingdom . Being a lawyer in London for last 11 years I have not seen much opportunities even offered to women here too and solicitors and barristers are mostly men. I was born in Saudi Arabia forty years ago and stayed there until age of 18 and my mother used to practice as a doctor while my father also worked as doctor in the royal team . Through ages King Faisal introduced Laws that women can work and then King Khalid and King Fahad introduced many concessions to women. It takes on gradually since then and there is nothing barbaric or unusual. Women did not had a say in England until 1930,s and they did not had a right to vote thus their rights were derived gradually. Immense work is being done in Saudi Arabia and credit goes to present King Abdullah. I had personally met King Khalid and noted he was very progressive and noble King. I even met his Queen and she had all the rights in palace. The picture depicted outside is not real and Saudi Arabia is governed by Shariah laws and if a woman gets married she has to stay in ambit of her family laws and nothing restraints her to do the job just saying that husband do not like them to continue profession is wrong and I strongly deny this as one has to live in Saudi Arabia and study its culture in detail to give a comment . Segregation is not the right word to use but we can say both men and women have their own liberties in their own spheres .
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Anonymous | 2-Aug-2012 9:16 am
@ Anonymous | 27-Jul-2012 3:12 pm
Why are the lawyers working at a hospital?
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BR | 2-Aug-2012 2:25 pm
@Anonymous: Of course, they are. They have law/bar degrees, they attend meetings, advise clients. As far as going to court is concerned, most Saudi men in corporate law cannot do that either. So we are not lawyers then?
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Devilsadvc8 | 9-Aug-2012 11:19 pm
Actually, a jeddah based local firm, Bafakih & Nassief, had employed female lawyers since 2008. Their lawyers had attended and argued at court sessions for female clients and before progressive judges. Some of them visited the Ministry of Commerce (not the female section). It really depends on how receptive the individual judge or ministry employee is to dealing with a female. In any event it's a step in the right direction.
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Anonymouse | 13-Aug-2012 9:20 am
@BR
I keep asking this question. If they are lawyers, in what jurisdiction are they admitted?
Having a law degree does not make you a lawyer. Nor does meeting clients or going to court. We have Saudi GRO who go to court - they are not lawyers. We have paralegals and Saudi female graduates who meet clients. They are not lawyers.
This is my whole point. Saudi females cannot be licensed in Saudi Arabia due to Saudi government gender-based policies. It does not help their cause for people to fudge the boundaries of what is or is not a "lawyer". Until you get a licence from some regulatory authority in some jurisidction, you are not a lawyer.
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Anonymouse | 21-Mar-2013 9:44 am
A nice quote from today's Arab News (21 March) from one of the Saudi female law graduates
""We should not end up working as saleswomen after having studied law," said Zahran.
She added that she went with a fellow graduate to the Ministry of Justice to apply for a license to practice law, but officials in the Minsirty refused to give them even the application form."
Amazing.
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