Saudi Women can now practise Law

One of the most welcome developments from the region for some time has been the licences tom practise law granted to four women by the Saudi Ministry of Justice (see Jonathan Ames "Saudi Arabia grants first woman full lawyer practice rights" 8 Oct 2013 The Lawyer).  My heartiest congratulations to all of them and my best wishes for the future.

As Jonathan Ames points out in his article this development will make it much easier for Western firms to set up joint ventures with local law firms.  One firm that already has an alliance with a Saudi law firm is Simmons & Simmons.  Their local ally is Hammad & Al-Mehdar of Jeddah which already employs Ms. Arwa Al-Hujaili as a trainee lawyer.