Iraqi Bar Association files complaint over expansion of law schools

BAGHDAD, Iraq — The head of the Iraqi Bar Association, Ahlam al-Lami, has filed a formal complaint with the country's Competition and Monopoly Prevention Council over what she described as the uncontrolled expansion of law departments at investment-oriented universities. The complaint, presented during a meeting with council President Ahmed Younus Qasim, seeks a review of regulations governing the establishment of new law programs. Legal circles say law faculties opened in recent years at investment-oriented universities have sharply increased the number of graduates, creating what they describe as an imbalance in the labor market. The Bar Association's move shifts concerns over the quality of the profession and the future of legal practice into an institutional and legal process. Separately, land and investment disputes along Unions Street in Baghdad remain in the news, with the Integrity Commission opening an investigation into the properties in question. Al-Lami had warned against the takeover of union-owned land under the guise of investment and said irregularities in some title deeds warranted investigation. No further details were immediately available on the scope of the Integrity Commission's inquiry.