The National Committee for Legal Practice (NCLP) has demanded that authorities enforce the Saudi Legal Practice Act which stipulates that only lawyers licensed by the Ministry of Justice – some 1,300 lawyers – are permitted to act as legal defense in the Kingdom's courts, the Board of Grievances and judicial committees. Majid Mohammad Garoub, head of the NCLP, said that recent royal decrees to put into effect the new judicial system had encouraged Saudi lawyers to register their demands. Putting the system into practice will, according to Garoub, prevent the loss of approximately SR1 billion fees paid to agents and unlicensed representatives who are not qualified to practice defense in courts. Garoub said demands were strong for a national lawyers' commission to help develop the profession and practitioners and earn a share of the estimated SR3 billion that Saudi clients pay to foreign and Arab law offices to conduct affairs inside the Kingdom. The NCLP has also requested that the Minister of Justice convene the lawyers' annual meeting and asked the ministry undersecretary for a meeting to discuss issues including trainee lawyer licenses, amendments to the legal practice system, and the formation of a joint committee of lawyers and ministry officials to address lawyers' problems in courts.
