Diana Hamade is one of the most prominent Emirati legal practitioners.
A specialist in family law, Hamade is the founder and managing partner of Diana Hamade Attorneys at Law, a boutique law firm in the UAE offering services in private client, dispute resolution, family, and employment law.
As the nation celebrates Emirati Women’s Day on Wednesday, we caught up with Hamade to discuss the UAE’s development and the challenges she faces managing her own law firm as a mother-of-three.
Could you briefly share your background and career journey to date?
My career path was not necessarily the typical ‘law school grad into practice’, it was rather the wife and mother-of-two when I joined the Chamber of Commerce in Dubai as a legal assistant in the legal department.
I did graduate from the sharia and law faculty of the UAE University (UAEU) in Al Ain and continued my higher education in the UK where I did the LLM programme, a master’s degree in commercial law, but it was almost ten years later when I started working.
I set up my own legal practice six years later, after I had my third child, and I have to say it was not the easiest decision to make and not the least challenging step to take.
As an Emirati woman in law, are there any challenges you had to overcome in your career? If so, how did you overcome these? And more generally, what barriers do Emirati women face when entering the legal profession?
The UAE is what I would call a women empowering state—literally. The work force is open to women, in fact it encourages women to pursue their careers.
The challenges for me were probably related to being a wife and mother-of-three children and somehow I managed. I started my practice when two Emirati women had their own practice and I learned on-the-job, as you say.
The laws have since also changed to empower women further and the legal practice is where women can excel.
As a top family law practitioner, with several years of experience in the field, how have you seen UAE family laws develop over time, particularly in relation to the treatment of women?
The family law was recently amended to a great extent and length for women in their families to have the freedom they sought for years in relation to being able to work and have their own way in their personal lives too.
The law was initially drafted in a way to protect women with certain restrictions to keep the family intact.
Now the legislator is taking unprecedented direction in empowering women to have their independence in taking decisions regarding their own lives.
Indeed, the UAE has made significant strides in gender equality in recent years. In your view, what more can be done to enhance gender equality in the legal profession?
Talking gender equality is certainly on the agenda of the legislator as a prime issue and everyone is a witness to what the UAE has achieved in gender equality. The Federal National Council has women in senior positions, and is targetting 50% female representation to further the contribution of Emirati women in decision-making.
Finally, what advice would you give to aspiring Emirati female lawyers?
Take the law seriously. It is not just any job. You are not only responsible for your own interests, but for the country and generations of women and men.
I always say that the law has been my wings and it is true that it could take you places you never imagined.
So make sure you qualify, and you work hard to make that mark where you will be recognised for your efforts.
