The Iraqi Bar Association confirmed on August 10, 2026 that the draft amendment to the Lawyers Law (Law No. 173 of 1965, as amended) has advanced to its second reading in the Council of Representatives, moving the most significant overhaul of the Iraqi legal profession in decades to within one step of adoption. The notice published by the Bar marks the transition from committee scrutiny to plenary vote: once the second reading concludes, the bill proceeds to a final vote, presidential ratification, and publication in Al-Waqai' al-Iraqiya (the Iraqi Gazette), which is the trigger for entry into force.
For every advocate registered with the Iraqi Bar Association, every law firm operating in Iraq, and every foreign counsel appearing before Iraqi courts, the amendment will reset the rules on admission, licensing, professional secrecy, conduct, and discipline. The Bar itself framed the milestone as one its members have been awaiting, reflecting both the breadth of the changes and the controversy around one structural transfer.
What does the second reading change for Iraqi advocates?
Procedurally, it moves the bill from debate toward a near-final form. A first reading was placed on the parliament agenda on July 6, 2026, and the Bar held a members' consultation on July 11, 2026 to read the text, propose revisions, and forward a report to parliament. PUKMEDIA placed the second reading on the Council of Representatives agenda for August 10, 2026, and 964media reported that parliament had completed the reading and discussion, with MPs flagging specific provisions for amendment.
The substantive reach is broad. According to the Bar's own tracking and the expected-news registry monitoring this reform, the draft reorganises bar admission (ijazat al-mahama), licensing and renewal, professional secrecy, conduct rules, and the discipline regime. 964media reported that MPs raised the consultant-title rules, sanctions on candidacy for the Bar presidency (the nageeb), and a proposed two-term limit on the nageeb.
Which reform is contested, and why does it matter for independence?
The most contested provision is structural: the draft transfers supervisory oversight of the Bar from the Minister of Justice to the Supreme Judicial Council. The Bar has opposed this shift, framing it as a question of professional independence. Under the current Lawyers Law, the Bar is the legal-profession regulator: it licenses advocates, sets conduct rules, disciplines members, and protects the profession's independence, and Bar membership is a precondition to practising law before Iraqi courts. Moving the supervisory anchor from the executive, the Ministry of Justice, to the judicial branch, the Supreme Judicial Council, would alter who ultimately answers for the Bar's governance.
For compliance leads, the practical question is which authority will issue implementing bylaws, hear discipline appeals, and sign off on licensing-rule changes after adoption. Until the final text is gazetted, firms should treat the current Law No. 173 framework and Bar bylaws as live, and map their internal admission, secrecy, and conduct controls against both the current rules and the draft's direction of travel.
What is the timeline, and when does it bite?
No firm entry-into-force date exists yet. The bill must still clear the second reading, a final vote, presidential ratification, and Gazette publication. The expected-news registry had tracked second reading and adoption for the fourth quarter of 2026. Until publication in Al-Waqai' al-Iraqiya, nothing is binding: the Gazette date, or a later date fixed in the instrument, is the universal trigger for entry into force under Iraq's legislative process.
| Milestone | Date or window | Status |
|---|---|---|
| First reading on parliament agenda | July 6, 2026 | Completed |
| Bar members' consultation and report to parliament | July 11, 2026 | Completed |
| Second reading in the Council of Representatives | August 10, 2026 | In progress |
| Final vote, presidential ratification, Gazette publication | Q4 2026 (tracked) | Pending |
| Entry into force | Gazette date or later date fixed in the law | Pending |
How does this interact with Iraq's FATF obligations?
The reform does not land in isolation. The FATF added Iraq to its list of jurisdictions under increased monitoring on June 19, 2026, and Iraq's first FATF progress review is expected at the October 2026 plenary. Iraq's action plan covers supervision of designated non-financial businesses and professions, including lawyers, notaries, and accountants, and the gatekeeper reforms will require customer due diligence, beneficial-ownership, and suspicious-transaction reporting duties on advocates. Lawyers Law amendments are one of the instruments expected to carry those duties, so firms should expect conduct and secrecy provisions in this bill to interact with upcoming AML/CFT obligations rather than stand alone.
Foreign counsel should also note that the Kurdistan Regional Government maintains its own Kurdistan Lawyers Syndicate operating in parallel within the Region. Federal Lawyers Law changes do not automatically rewrite KRG practice rules, though divergences are typically tracked closely.
Continuous, per-jurisdiction monitoring surfaces this kind of legislative movement the moment the source publishes it, so compliance teams can brief upstream before the Gazette date.
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What to do next
Confirm whether your firm's advocates are registered with the federal Iraqi Bar Association or the Kurdistan Lawyers Syndicate, and which supervisory regime applies. Map current admission, licensing, secrecy, and discipline controls against the draft's direction of travel, especially the proposed transfer of Bar oversight to the Supreme Judicial Council. Brief the AML/CFT team on the overlap with Iraq's FATF action plan ahead of the October 2026 plenary, and track the second-reading outcome and Gazette publication before treating any provision as binding. Obsidian follows this reform as it moves from plenary vote to entry into force.
