Despite patriarchal culture women lawyer’s representation rise to 37.5%

In its edition of today, An Nahar newspaper emphasized the growing involvement of women in the legal practice, pointing to an ascending trend to this effect. Against some 527 interning lawyers, some 632 were female lawyers (that is 54.5% against 45.4% males). The Courts Law Attorney, Nader Kaspar, attributed the above increase to the inherent disposition of young women lawyers who normally “boast a greater potential to learn, memorize and research as compared to their male peers.” Yet, the percentage shown in the general roster of lawyers is still below parity, Kaspar clarified. Nevertheless the level has now exceeded one third, with the total number of registered lawyers reaching 8044 lawyers, (5031 men against 3013 women, that is by 37.4% of those registered in the general listing), Kaspar maintained. He considered the said proportion as healthy for a country like Lebanon, given family and social responsibilities incumbent on married women. The married woman lawyer, Kaspar explained, is “not in a position to accomplish on par with young men lawyers during the first ten years of her professional career, for she has to attend to her married and family life, or choose to work in her free time,” as he puts it. A big number of married women lawyers usually resume their practice after their children become adults, and subsequently, they have all the time to make up for what they passed up particularly on laws and related topics. In conclusion, while considering that the criminal jurisdiction requires dedication and time, Kaspar pointed out that women lawyers in general take up files of civil nature. (An Nahar, August 3, 2016)