PROFILE: Who is Chief Justice of Pakistan Umar Ata Bandial?

Supreme Court Justice Umar Ata Bandial was sworn in as the country’s highest judge at a ceremony at Aiwan-i-Sadr in Islamabad.

Justice Bandial was born in Lahore on September 17, 1958, and attended elementary and secondary schools in Kohat, Rawalpindi, Peshawar, and Lahore. He earned a bachelor’s degree in economics from Columbia University, then a Law Tripos degree from Cambridge and a barrister-at-law qualification from the famed Lincoln’s Inn in London.

He was admitted as an advocate of the Lahore High Court (LHC) in 1983 and, a few years later, as an advocate of Pakistan’s Supreme Court.

Justice Bandial’s law practise in Lahore was mostly focused on business, banking, tax, and real estate concerns. After 1993, until his ascension, Justice Bandial also handled international commercial issues.

Justice Bandial has also appeared before the Supreme Court and numerous international arbitral tribunals in London and Paris.

On December 4, 2004, Justice Bandial was appointed to the LHC. When Gen Pervez Musharraf declared a state of emergency on November 3, 2007, he was one of the judges who refused to resume their oath under the Provisional Constitution Order (PCO).

He was reinstated as a judge, however, as a result of a lawyers’ movement for the restoration of the judiciary.

Justice Bandial then served as the LHC’s chief justice for two years before being appointed to the Supreme Court in June 2014.

Throughout his career in the superior judiciary, Justice Bandial has issued a number of significant decisions on public and private law matters. These include rulings on civil and economic issues, constitutional rights, and matters of public interest.

Justice Bandial also taught contract law and torts law at the Punjab University Law College in Lahore until 1987, and he was a member of its graduate studies committee while serving as a judge at the LHC.

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