Legal system needs outreach

Conmen are posing as lawyers. The solution is to make information easily available

The UAE can be genuinely proud of its legal system, which aims to be efficient and impartial and deliver justice in as short a time as possible. And yet, unlike many of the other aspects of the UAE that we are proud of, most visitors never get to experience the legal system, and that’s a good thing. Nevertheless, the perception persists that the legal system is complicated and something to be feared, and it is this perception that allows conmen who pose as lawyers to dupe unsuspecting clients. As our story explained yesterday, fraudsters will hang around at courts and offer to “ease” a transaction for money. Most are not Emiratis and therefore they are not able to practise as lawyers, but often their victims do not know this.

The UAE’s legal system is complex – all modern countries have complicated laws – but there is also a particular difference with this country. Simply because of the demographics of the UAE, with the overwhelming majority of residents from abroad, the majority of those who pass through the legal system will be foreigners.

For them, therefore, the system is doubly daunting: they are involved in a legal system they don’t understand, in a language they often don’t speak. Small wonder that some, especially those who may have had a modest education and are frightened at the interaction with officialdom, choose to pay the first person who offers to help them.

The way to break this system is through outreach. The legal system should recognise the unique circumstances of the UAE and reach out to communities to explain to them what they can expect from a court appearance, and to direct them to valid sources of information. In particular, the Ministry of Justice, ideally in collaboration with embassies, should issue “primers” on the UAE’s legal system – some diplomatic missions do so already – so that as soon as residents begin their new lives here they understand what to do in the rare and unfortunate circumstances that they enter the legal system. It is only by opening up the conversation about our system that any residual fears will be alleviated.