Bayan Mahmoud Al-Zahran became the first woman licensed to practice law in Saudi Arabia in 2013, and in 2014 she opened the kingdom’s first ever all-woman law firm.
At the ribbon cutting of Al-Zahran's law firm
In a country that is one of the world's worst offenders of women's rights, evening banning women from driving cars, Al Zahran's accomplishment is a major step forward.
Al Zahran worked as a legal consultant for several years
before she was allowed to become a fully licensed lawyer last year, (along with
four other women who are now lawyers at her firm), going on to be the first
women to defend a client in the General Court of Jeddah in 2013. In January
2014. Al-Zahran opened an all female law firm with a mission to fight for the
rights of local women and help courts to understand legal disputes from a
female perspective. Though her firm will represent both men and women, one of
its stated goals is to argue cases on behalf of Saudi women in court.
Zahran told Arab News that her law firm is ready to fight
for the rights of Saudi women and relate women’s cases to the court, a task
which her male counterparts at times cannot understand or handle.
“This law firm will make a difference in the history of
court cases and female disputes in the kingdom. This is a very positive step
toward the Saudi court and justices as right now, we are four female lawyers
who got the license, but I am hopeful that in future, the number will
increase.”
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