Jaznan Mohammed Al Hajri, Lawyer and Vice-Chairman of the Qatar Lawyers Association, speaking during an interview. Pic: Qassim Rahmatullah / The Peninsula
A new law governing the Qatar Lawyers Association is in the making and the proposed draft law has triggered a controversy following disagreements between the Association and the Ministry of Justice, a senior Qatari lawyer has said.
It is a two-year long dispute as the ministry is trying to pass its draft law and the Lawyers Association is strongly opposing it and presenting its own draft, Jaznan Mohammed Al Hajri, Lawyer and Vice-Chairman of the Qatar Lawyers Association, said in exclusive interview with The Peninsula.
A recent meeting organised by the Association was aimed at explaining the lawyers' point of view on the ministry’s draft law as the Association understands its members' interests better than any other entity, Al Hajri noted.
“The ministry’s draft law includes amendment of twenty articles and the ministry wants to act not only as a regulator of the Association but also wants to organize and run the lawyers profession,” said Al Hajari.
On the other hand, the Association wants its name to be mentioned in the law, said Al Hajri, pointing out that the ministry was proposing the formation of a lawyers admission committee and enrollment of new lawyers as part of its mandates in the draft law while the Association believed that this should be done jointly.
“The lawyers admission committee should be formed by both and from both sides,” Al Hajri said.
The draft law proposed by the Ministry includes many terms and conditions and a failure to comply with them makes the new lawyer lose the chance to join the profession, he added.
The Qatari Lawyers Association was established in 2006, in accordance with the law regulating private societies and associations, with the aim of organizing all Qatari lawyers under its umbrella and playing a role in raising legal awareness in the Qatari society.
The Association, for this purpose, has organized many seminars, workshops, conferences and took part in many awareness campaigns in addition to using the media platforms during official and non-official activities.
The Association aims to help its members, advocate theirs rights and help them solve problems they may face, as an official channel representing lawyers in front of all ministries including the Ministry of Justice and the Supreme Judiciary Council and Public Prosecution.
The draft law proposed by the ministry has also many restrictions, punishments including suspension and dismissal from the profession and some of the reasons are enough to make the lawyer lose the profession, said Al Hajri.
As long as the judiciary system in Qatar is independent and the lawyers work is part of the judiciary system so the lawyers association has the right to enjoy the freedom and independence granted by the constitution, Al Hajri outlined.
The Association currently has 122 Qatari members and it has effectively proved itself at local and regional levels playing significant role in organizing the profession of lawyers.
The association signed partnership and cooperation agreements with several entities including the Cultural Village of Katara, National Human Right Committee (NHRC) where the association agreed to advocate any humanitarian case transferred from the NHRC.
The Association also signed an agreement with the Police College to present regular lectures to raise legal awareness among the college’s students.
Currently, the Association is facing many challenges including the lack of a permanent headquarters, lack of support from the government and has no budget, forcing the body to depend on its members' contributions to run its activities and meet its obligations.
Not only this, the Association also pays for the Ministry of Administrative Development, Labour and Social Affairs' annual fees of up to QR 10,000 and every three years pays more than QR35,000 and this amount is supposed to be part of the Association’s budget, said Al Hajri.
The Vice-Chairman of the Association emphasized the members' demand to remove these fees and instead support the association to enhance its role in the Qatari society.
Asked about the role of the Association in training new lawyers, Al Hajri pointed out that any new lawyer needs to join one of the accredited lawyer’s offices for two years training programme and join lawyer’s training course organised by the Ministry of Justice for six months. During the training, lawyers attend actual practices of lawyer profession, attending different types of cases at different level of civil and criminal courts.
Regarding the contribution of the Association to the development of the Qatari laws, Al Hajri observed that the Cabinet was continuously consulting the Association and its members about new draft laws or amendments to the existing laws before their final issuance.
