Female lawyers seek space in profession

“Our male colleagues are of the view that lady lawyers know nothing about intricacies of law and lack confidence”, said Bushra who deals with criminal cases but infrequently appears in court.

She told that females mostly go for family cases rather than criminal ones. She said criminal cases entail, bail, murder trials, murder references including appeals against death sentences and life imprisonment, which is quite a tough job for a female lawyer. But in family cases, one has to deal only with divorce and custody matters, whose handling is comparatively easy by the women lawyers.  

Mian Muhammad Aslam, Vice President of LHCBA, said that lady lawyers mostly avoid taking criminal cases because of the harassment from the rival party and inappropriate questions put to them by the opponent lawyers during the trial.  

 “Three hundred and fifty female lawyers are enrolled with the LHCBA and around one hundred are practicing. Clients mostly approach male lawyers. There are a few established chambers of females as compared to male lawyers”, he told this scribe.

“We encourage females, but they should avoid criminal cases because it involves a lot of time making it extremely difficult for a female lawyer to maintain his family. By and large the legal profession is not suitable for females for varied reasons”, said Shiekh Muhammad Naseem, senior Advocate Supreme Court having 50-year experience in the profession.

“I think females are still in a grooming stage. It’s fine if they go for family cases only to save time for their families, who may suffer as criminal cases consume a lot of time”, he further observed.