Kristenmj

I was practicing international arbitration - mostly commercial and contract disputes, lots of construction disputes in Qatar. I cannot speak publicly about any details of my specific client work, but my clients included sovereign governments and large corporations.

I am SO EXCITED about the deportation story, actually, because I just received an email from the woman that she was finally able to leave the country yesterday!!!! Here's a quote: "We are finally home! Thank you so much for everything that you have done for me and my son. My family is so grateful. We are all grateful."

The woman was arrested after she delivered her first baby at the main private hospital in Qatar. She was taken from the hospital to jail because she could not provide a marriage certificate. The standard penalty for a baby out of wedlock is one year. She spent one year in prison with her baby boy. While there, due to the imprisonment, she defaulted on some loans she had taken out. That resulted in two years more imprisonment for writing "bad checks" (pre-dated checks are required in Qatar for most loans, so if you don't make a payment, the lender tries to cash the check, and writing a bad check is illegal, hence the jail time). Once she was released from jail, she no longer had a job or a valid visa to be in the country. Her son was also illegal. However, she could not leave the country because Qatar had imposed a travel ban due to the outstanding civil cases that had been filed against her in the interim. So when she was released from jail, she had several civil suits pending that amounted to many times the original loan amount due to interest and penalties, and despite having served a criminal sentence, she now had to face the civil suits and could not leave. Her son was stuck there too, illegitimate and unable to go to school. She was living with her cousin and being fed out of the kindness of peoples' hearts. I found out about the case through an anonymous news report on Doha News and contacted the reporter. Although I do not deal with Qatari administrative law, I had done a lot of pro bono work in immigration and administrative legal issues both in the States and in Qatar, and I knew someone who I thought could help her. My firm agreed to take on the case pro bono, and after a few months of meetings with ministry officials and the deportation department, they finally let her leave yesterday!

Unfortunately, her case is extremely common, and I have heard many, many similar stories.

There are a lot of theories on this. I'm sure overhead is part of the issue. You make a lot more if you have fewer people billing more hours than more people billing less hours. Also, there's an elitism to the system, that some people revel in and many excel in. There's a boot camp mentality, and a reward mentality that if you sacrifice everything, you'll ultimately win the prize. I know it's cliche, but it is probably true that the prize is like winning more pie at a pie eating contest.

Okay I'm going to come back to this question because it is a GOOD ONE, and will take me time to answer. Short answer: Yes.

Still planning on coming back to this one!

I was at a slight advantage when I transferred to Qatar because I was already established as an associate at my firm, so it wasn't difficult for me to find work. From a long-term future perspective, it would have been difficult to continue in Qatar since business is almost exclusively conducted by men still, and anything government related is heavily male dominated. I think the male-to-female ratio generally in Qatar was about 8-to-1. Some government ministries don't even have women's bathrooms.

I felt most of my gender-related issues as a woman lawyer, and especially as a new mother. That was not related specifically to Qatar, but was more related to the male-dominated legal industry. I found that in the upper ranks, especially in litigation/arbitration, women were a rarity. I was at a hearing recently where there were ZERO upper-ranked women, and the only women participating actively in the hearing (besides myself) were junior associates or paralegal/secretarial-types. The partnership ranks in my field are severely male-dominated. Over time, it has an impact, especially when you do not have a stay-at-home spouse and you have a young family. I think the general bias against women in the legal industry is short sighted because if a woman has a couple of intense years where she is raising a family plus working hard, she is still a major contributor to the firm and obviously can bring long-term benefits to the firm that go beyond the few "maternity" years. But from what I have seen, many firms (not just my own), get hung up on women who need to take maternity leave, have family responsibilities, or cannot work 110% of the time. Actually, this is true for men as well, but women tend to deal with it more because of the biological maternity aspect of things.

My opinion (which you have already heard) is that it was bought and paid for. I also think it is bizarre that Qatar would even want to host the World Cup for several reasons:

1. They don't have the infrastructure. The country is completely under construction. They are working on infrastructure, but everything is late in the construction world there because the system has been established where a few wealthy nationals hire a ton of money hungry contractors who are usually not A-class. The projects get messed up and delayed. Safety concerns abound. The city where the final cup is to be played is not yet built, and the stadium in it is also not yet built. And there is so much more infrastructure needed (although some may ask the question of why because the population is relatively low - 2 million total, most of whom are expats and workers!).
2. Qatar's values are conflicted. Drinking in public is illegal there and alcohol is strictly restricted. The World Cup, to me, involves a lot of drinking. Even if drinking is allowed in the stadiums, what about outside the stadiums? After-parties? General lifestyle issues associated with drinking? I have no idea how this will play out, but I imagine it will be extremely difficult for the country leaders to deal with. There is also a general cultural restriction on clothing and the need to cover shoulders and knees. Not sure how this will fly with the general attending public.
3. There's not much to do outside of the Cup if you are going to attend, so not sure how they are going to get the audience to attend. Qatar has been known to fill empty stadium seats with workers.
4. The heat issue, although I think this has been fixed if the games are moved to the winter. If it is in the summer, people will definitely absolutely die from the heat. Even if the stadiums are cooled, I can imagine overheating from crowds going to and from the stadiums and waiting outside to get in. Also after-parties and other gatherings would be miserable if hot.