The Iraqi Lawyer

A law degree in Iraq is the equivalent of an undergraduate degree from a US university. All practising lawyers join the Iraq Bar Association, which is less a professional organisation like the American Bar Association and more like a state licensing body — minus the licensing part.

Essentially, anyone who graduates from law school and pays his or her dues can hang a shingle and practise law. There’s no Bar exam and according to an Iraqi lawyer I spoke with today, virtually no practical training. The lawyer told me that Iraqi law students, for example, don’t read cases.

There are also no law firms or law partnerships as in the US. And there are no corporate lawyers - or specialist lawyers, really, of any kind. One lawyer might take on more property cases than another, say, but that is most likely because that lawyer is friendly with someone who works in a deeds office or with a judge who adjudicates these kinds of disputes. Needless to say, Iraqi lawyers are underprepared to handle basic contract disputes, much less serve as local counsel for an international company that wants to do business here.

Last year I interviewed Rick Johnston, a Baker Donelson Bearman Caldwell & Berkowitz lawyer in Washington DC. Johnston had lived in Iraq for about a year near the beginning of the US occupation. He told me that when it comes to civil disputes, there are no guarantees. Companies that want to do business here need local contacts with strong connections. A paper document, if not backed by the right parties, is meaningless, Johnston said. Contracts are only as good as the parties who agree to back them.

The Iraqi lawyer I spoke to today said much the same. Civil courts are open and handling cases. But cases drag on for years. And even when decided, there is no guarantee that the decision will be enforced. The police, he said, have higher priorities.

Criminal courts function somewhat better, to the extent that there are trials and judgments that are usually carried out — but they are hardly just. The Iraqi authorities regularly torture suspects until they confess and their justification is that the system for gathering evidence and presenting cases is in such a shambles that they wouldn’t win any cases otherwise.

Defense lawyers, meanwhile, are also undertrained. In Iraq there is no tradition of a lawyer serving as an advocate for their client. They don’t know how to cross-examine witnesses, how to challenge evidence at a trial and neither they nor the judge is accustomed to them playing an active role. Furthermore, they often meet their clients minutes before a trial is to begin.

There are at least 200 US Government lawyers in Iraq, according to a rough estimate I heard today. Many are trying to help. And there is certainly hope, at least based on my impressions of the Iraqi lawyers I’ve met. They are aware of the gaps in their education and training and at least some seem eager for whatever help they can get from the West.

Hopefully by the end of my stay here, I’ll have a better idea of whether the assistance is working.