- Ms. Justice Mussarat Hilali enrolled as an Advocate of the Peshawar High Court in 1988.
- She was the first woman to be elected as Secretary of the Peshawar High Court Bar Association from 1988-1989.
- She will retire from service on 7 August 2023.
Early life and education
Mussarat Hilali was born on 8 August 1961 in Peshawar. She received her Law Degree from Khyber Law College, Peshawar University
Legal Career
Ms. Mussarat Hilali started her legal career joining the male-dominated legal profession and went on to receive many accomplishments.
She enrolled as an Advocate of District Courts in 1983. She enrolled as an Advocate of the Peshawar High Court in 1988. She later enrolled as an Advocate of Supreme Court of Pakistan in 2006.
Ms. Mussarat Hilali was the first woman to be elected as Secretary of the Peshawar High Court Bar Association from 1988-1989. She was twice elected Vice President from 1992 to 1994 and again as General Secretary from 1997-1998.
She was the first woman twice elected as an Executive Member of the Supreme Court Bar Association from 2007-2008 and 2008-2009
She was the first female Additional Advocate General of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa from November 2001 to March 2004.
Appointments
She was appointed as Chairperson Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Environmental Protection Tribunal. She was appointed as the first female Ombudsman for Protection against Harassment of Women at the Workplace.
After the 2018 general election, Justice Mussarat Hilali became the first woman to head an election tribunal in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.
Peshawar High Court
Mussarat Hilali was elevated to the Peshawar High Court Bench as Additional Judge on 26 March 2013. She was confirmed as a permanent Judge of the Peshawar High Court on 13 March 2014.
Since 2016, she has been the only woman on the bench of the Peshawar High Court after the retirement of Justice Irshad Qaiser.
Both women also made history when they formed the first all-female bench in May 2013. The move was widely hailed to provide a soft image of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and the role of women in the judiciary.
She is the third woman to sit on the bench in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa after Justice Khalida Rashid and Justice Irshad Qaiser. She will retire from service on 7 August 2023.
