JEDDAH — A number of Saudi female lawyers alleged that the Justice Ministry has refused to accept their applications for licenses to practice law even though the ministry has already received the go-ahead from its special authority of experts to allow them to practice. Legal consultant Bayan Mahmoud Zahran told local daily Al-Watan on Thursday that the ministry's department of accreditation has refused to receive their applications to practice law. She said the ministry justified its refusal on the ground that it has not yet been officially authorized to accept or verify the applications of female lawyers. Zahran appreciated Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Abdullah's project to promote the Kingdom's judicial system and said it contained all the mechanisms needed to upgrade the system, including allowing Saudi women to work as lawyers. She warned the accumulation of female law graduates from six universities would further aggravate the problem. Shahad Abdul Jawwad, another female legal consultant, said the delay in giving women lawyers the required licenses to practice law might be the work of some officials in the ministry who were against women lawyers appearing before courts. She said about 40 percent of lawsuits being considered by courts all over the Kingdom involved women. The ministry's spokesman Fahd Bin Abdullah Al-Bakran said the ministry has not yet finished formulating the mechanism for registering women as licensed lawyers. “The ministry is currently working on this mechanism. “It is also working on creating a suitable work environment for women lawyers at legal consultancy offices and courts so they can do their job in ease and comfort.” The spokesman said the ministry had already announced that women lawyers would be included in its proposal for the establishment of an authority for Saudi lawyers and said the ministry had already submitted the proposal to the King for approval.
