Mr. Gilani has been a part of the legal profession since 2010 when he graduated with a BA-LLB (Hons.) from the Law and Policy Program at LUMS. That was also the time when he first conceived the idea of setting up a diverse professional services firm by this name.
In the early years of his career, he had the opportunity to work as a Research Associate (Law Clerk) at the Supreme Court of Pakistan. In 2013, he attended the University of Washington, Seattle on a Fulbright Scholarship and did a Masters degree in Asian and Comparative Law. Since 2014, he has been actively practicing law in Pakistan.
Over the years, he has had the opportunity to argue important cases in all the High Courts of Pakistan. He has concluded more that one hundred cases, many of which have been widely reported in the mass media and have also culminated in reported judgments.
Mr. Gilani has also been engaged for advisory and transactional work by many institutions, especially regulatory bodies and businesses. While he practice in diverse areas of law, his principal areas of expertise are: constitutional law, regulatory law, service law, public procurement law, citizenship law and business law.
Get Legal ConsultationUmer Gilani successfully represented APUBTA in a petition seeking the appointment of Vice Chancellors to all Federal Public-Sector Universities in Pakistan. The petition was monumental in highlighting the reasons for the failure of public-sector universities, including the ad-hoc appointments of statutory positions such as Vice-Chancellor, Registrar and Controller Examinations. Umer Gilani argued the petition at length, and the Supreme Court was pleased to direct all public-sector universities to comply with the law and ensure that all statutory positions were filled as per law.
In the well-known judgment regarding Monal and La Montana, which eventually led to its demolition through a Court order, Umer Gilani represented the Islamabad Wildlife Management Board and argued for the preservation of the Margalla Hills National Park. Inevitably, this required that all commercial activities in the Park cease immediately. The Supreme Court was pleased to direct Monal La Montana to shut down, along with a direction to the IWMB to demolish the building.
Despite directions from the Supreme Court, the Respondents, including the Cabinet Division and Chairman CDA, began interfering with the functions of the IWMB. As a result, Umer Gilani represented the IWMB before the Supreme Court once again and the Court was pleased to direct the Respondents to ensure compliance with its earlier orders and Judgment.
This case is one of Umer Gilani’s most substantial contributions to the jurisprudence in Pakistan. He fought valiantly for the rights of missing persons who have been illegally detained by the law enforcement agencies. This judgment offers a fresh perspective on the issue and has also laid down the law in relation to the responsibility of the State to provide maintenance to families of missing persons during the course of the illegal detention.
In 2024, amidst the growing tensions of Afghan deportations, Umer Gilani pled the principle of non-refoulment before the Islamabad High Court, defending the rights of an Afghan citizen who had come to Pakistan under dire circumstances. The Islamabad High Court, in one of the most seminal judgments on international law, quashed the FIR on the Petitioner.
In one of the most important cases on citizenship law in Pakistan, Umer Gilani successfully argued that Pakistan’s law recognized birth-right citizenship and it could not be denied to anyone on the pretext of their heritage.
Umer Gilani successfully represented the Pakistan Engineering Council in this case where the core question before the Islamabad High Court was regarding the interpretation of the Standard Bidding Documents prepared for engineering contracts.
Umer Gilani represented dozens of employees of ZTBL that had been retrospectively demoted by the Bank. The demotion orders of the Bank were set aside by the Islamabad High Court.
Umer Gilani successfully represented the Pakistan Engineering Council and had the petition dismissed as being non-maintainable. The Islamabad High Court was pleased to exhaustively lay down the principles on locus standi and other prerequisites for invoking the constitutional jurisdiction of a High Court.
A landmark judgment in the enforcement of foreign judgments in Pakistan, Umer Gilani argued and successfully got a foreign judgment from the County Court in London enforced under Section 13 of the Code of Civil Procedure, 1908.
Umer Gilani successfully argued that the Ombudsperson for Protection against Sexual Harassment had a limited territorial jurisdiction and was not vested with trans-provincial jurisdiction under the law.
The matter pertained to the appointment of non-engineers to engineering posts. Umer Gilani represented the Pakistan Engineering Council and successfully argued that the notification permitting the appointment of non-engineers to engineering posts was in violation of the PEC Act. The Islamabad High Court was pleased to declare the notification illegal.
Umer Gilani successfully represented a Swiss technology company in this case which concerned a challenge to a public procurement being carried out by the Federal Board of Revenue regarding Tracker Tracing System for Tobacco sector.
An amendment to PEC’s Engineering Education Regulations had been set aside by a Single Bench of the Lahore High Court. I successfully represented Appellant PEC in its Intra-Court Appeal and got the judgment reversed.
This case involved a real estate scam which took place in one of Islamabad’s famous new suburbs: IBECHS popularly known as Gulberg Greens.
This case involved questions regarding the protection of the fundamental rights of customers of katchi abadi residents, especially their right to a clean and habitable environment.
This case involved questions regarding protection of the fundamental rights of customers of microfinance institutions.
This case involved questions regarding the protection of the fundamental rights of customers of brick-kiln workers.
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