Umer Gilani

CURRICULUM VITAE

Education

20013 – 2014   LLM, University of Washington School of Law, Seattle (Fulbright Scholar)

2005 – 2010      BA-LLB, Department of Law and Policy, Lahore University of Management  Sciences (LUMS), Lahore

Professional Experience

Partner, The Law and Policy Chambers, March  2016 – present

-          Independently represent clients before the Islamabad High Court, Regulatory Bodies, Special Tribunals, Courts and Arbitrations.

-          Provide legal advice to various large organizations including Pakistan Engineering Council and foreign companies including Salov S.p.a (Italian), DHL(German) and GEIP(Turkish)

-          Provide research assistance and policy advice to law reform institutions including the LJCP.

Bertha Fellow, Foundation for Fundamental Rights, Islamabad, March 2015 – March 2016

-          Drafted and filed fundamental rights constitutional petitions involving issues of due process and criminal procedure in the Islamabad High Court.

-          Successfully defended accused persons facing murder and anti-terrorism charges

Associate Lawyer,  Kundi & Kundi, Advocates, Islamabad, August 2014 – February 2015

-          Assisted the firm in handling a large volume of litigation in the Islamabad District Courts.

-          Assisted Afnan Karim Kundi, Additional Attorney General of Pakistan in handling various high-stakes litigation matters.

Law Clerk to the Hononable Justice Jawwad S. Khawaja, Supreme Court of Pakistan, August 2010 - 2013

-          Assisted Justice Khawaja in researching and drafting more than twenty reported judgments mostly involving questions of constitutional and administrative law. Prominent cases I was involved in included Hamid Mir and Absar Alam v. Federation, a seminal case of media law.

-          Assisted Justice Khawaja in drafting Urdu versions of his opinions.

-          Assisted the Supreme Court of Pakistan in setting up and managing its nascent clerkship program.

Short-term Research Positions

Research Assistant, Commission of Inquiry on the brutal murder of Syed Saleem Shehzed, Dec 2011 – Jan 2012

Assisted Justice Mian Saqib Nisar, President of the Commission, in researching, drafting and editing Part II of the Commission of Inquiry’s Report. Part II of this well-known document deals exclusively with issues of Media Law. This part of the report emphasized that protecting media’s freedom of speech is necessary for enforcement of the public’s right to information.

Research Associate, Prime Minister’s Committee on Legal Reforms, January 2015 – Mach 2015

Drafted the section on Civil Justice Reform for the Committee on appointed by Prime Minister; my contributions have been acknowledged in the Committee’s Report.

Research Associate, Federal Judicial Academy, November 2010 – Jan 2011  

Prepared a stage-wise institutional reform plan for the Academy based upon desk study of its statutory framework and on-ground review of its present performance.

Legislative drafting

Pakistan Engineering Council (Amendment) Act, 2017 along with Drafting Notes (ongoing project) - drafted upon the instructions of Chairman, Pakistan Engineering Council

The Right to Shelter Act, 2017 (ongoing project) - drafted upon the instructions of the Law and Justice Commission of Pakistan

Publications

Journal Articles:

Mirza Shahzad Akbar and Umer Gilani (2015),Fire from the Blue Sky: Drone attack victims from Pakistan, their voice and their struggle , SUR International Journal of Human Rights, SUR 22 http://sur.conectas.org/en//issue-22/fire-blue-sky

Umer Gilani (2010)Comment: The Qazalbash Waqf in LUMS Student Law Review

http://lumsstudentlawreview.blogspot.com/2010/12/comment-qazalbash-waqf-v-chief-land.html

Magazine Publications

Umer Gilani, (2019) Pak-Turk Schools Case And Proposals For Regulating Supreme Court’s Powers Under A.184(3), Courting the Law – an online magazine

http://courtingthelaw.com/2019/02/27/commentary/pak-turk-schools-case-and-proposals-for-regulating-supreme-courts-powers-under-a-1843/

Umer Gilani, (2016) No more Strikes, Please ,  Courting the Law – an online magazine

http://courtingthelaw.com/2016/03/25/commentary/no-more-strikes-please

Umer Gilani (2016)The Struggle of the Residents of Islamabad’s Katchi Abadis, Bertha Foundation Blog

http://berthafoundation.org/bejust/?p=1490

Citations in Newspapers

I have been cited in over 100 newspaper articles including those public in Express Tribune and Dawn in connection with the case which I pursue at the Islamabad High Court. These professional citations can easily be located through any online search engine. I take care to publicize only those cases where the client specifically authorizes me to go public with its case and where in my view its case stands to benefit from public attention.

professional associations, scholarships and fellowships

Bertha Be Just Fellowship, 2015 - 2016

Fulbright Scholarship, 2013 – 2014

Enrolled as Advocate High Court by the Punjab Bar Council;

Member, Islamabad High Court Bar Association; Member, Islamabad District Bar Association

Select Conferences

I was recently invited by Columbia University’s Global Freedom of Expression Program to participate as a distinguished speaker in its Justice for Expression Conference. The talk profiled a seminal telecom regulation case which I fought and won in Islamabad.

https://www.justiceforexpression.com/

Language Skills

Personal References

Justice (r.) Jawwad S. Khawaja, Scholar-in-Residence, MGHSS, LUMS, Lahore, Email: jawwad.khawaja@gmail.com

Dr. Tariq Hassan, Advocate Supreme Court, Partner, Hassan and Hassan, Islamabad, Email: law.hassan@gmail.com

Afnan Karim Kundi, Additional Attorney General of Pakistan, Islamabad, Email: afnan@kundilaw.com