Mazloum agreed with his colleague Jomaa that lawyers are settling for very low wages, yet are working harder than ever because of the complicated legal, administrative and legislative measures in Iraq. In addition, administrative corruption hinders the legal process, Mazloum said.
The draft bill, submitted for parliamentary review in December, demands the establishment of an oversight board and bans government retirees from joining the bar association. However, the draft bill is still being debated. Moreover, according to Saadi's published article on the draft bill, the bar association is also partly to blame for the current situation of lawyers in Iraq because it has failed to protect them and act in their best interests.
The lawyers' dilemma reflects Iraq’s overall development crises. The problem of Iraq’s rentier economy, which is reflected in the labor market and where the economic wheel is linked to oil, has caused rampant corruption in the state’s institutions, where employment and posts are based on partisan connections and affiliations, according to Salim al-Wardi in his book “Oil Tyranny in Contemporary Iraq,” published in 2013.
The economic crisis is also weighing heavily on professions that do not require political support or string-pulling, such as the legal profession. One could also say that many have pursued the "easy" option of a law career — but they lack other options.
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