The UAE has since 2011, regulated various criteria’s for attaining a licence to officially provide legal consultations and services in Dubai or any part of UAE. These strict protocols are laid down by the government that every lawyer needs to qualify for practicing outside court.
Whether you are a criminal lawyer, real estate lawyer or a litigation lawyer in Dubai for practising your services out of court, one needs to be licensed. Let us dig through the regulations that need to be met for being licensed by the government.
Regulations for registration
A lawyer for getting their practice recognised has to be registered with the Federal law who regulates whether the lawyer is qualified or not. For practicing at Federal court, one has to be registered at the Ministry of Justice, whereas for practicing in other parts of emirates, the lawyer must be registered by Emiri Diwan.
Registration requirements
For being registered, the lawyer should be born as a national of the United Arab Emirates state. The age requirements of the lawyer should be 20 years or more.
The lawyer should be well aware of all civil laws, hold a good character and should not have any kind of criminal record or any disciplinary action taken against them in the past.
The educational requirements for licensing
For lawyer to practice in Dubai, one has to havein-depth knowledge and awareness about the Islamic law, which is part of the early education system of the state and universities. Along with that, the lawyer has to go through the compulsory training period.
According to UAE regulations, the basic education qualification needed is qualifying a bachelor degree in law programme, which is for around 3 to 4 years of duration. After this, the students can further apply for a master’s degree in law. They receive in-depth knowledge and training in forming contracts, legal documentation and practising general law.
Regulatory documentation
Department of Legal Affairs have to register candidates who want to practice their services in Dubai. The registration process includes documentation that requires establishing information that the lawyer has to provide to apply for licensing.
The Department of Legal Affairs also takes responsibility to provide licence to law firms in Dubai, who also have to accomplish the formalities that are regulated by the Department of Economic Development. If the law firm is operating in Dubai then they need to get themselves registered and licensed by Dubai Financial service authority as a service provider.
Besides, Emirates of UAE comes with different licensing system and regulations for legally practising law in that area.
Further restrictions that are mandatory to follow
Lawyers, who are practising in Dubai, are regulated by the ruler’s court. An individual, who is already practising in Dubai, requires to file for different licence depending on if they want to establish their practice in Emirates, keeping in with the regulations set by the authorities of emirates.
Can an outside application for licence to practice in UAE?
The outsiders are allowed to practice local laws, however, while representing a client in court then a Dubai national is only allowed to be present in court. In addition, the foreign national has to have the knowledge and proper command over the Arabic language and understanding about the diverse culture of the UAE.
Only licensed and registered lawyers are allowed to represent their clients in court in front of the Supreme Court and be part of the litigation process.
Summing up Therefore, to be a legal professional practising in Dubai, one needs to be licensed by the UAE government. Licensing is a step towards marking a code of ethics and regulations that needs to be followed by all the lawyers to ensure fair practice.