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The Judicial Commission of Pakistan has made history by approving Justice Ayesha Malik’s nomination as the first woman judge to enter the Supreme Court of Pakistan.
Justice Ayesha A. Malik’s nomination was secured by a 5-4 majority. She is currently fourth on the seniority list in the Lahore High Court and was elevated on 27 March, 2012.
If she is elevated to the apex court after approval from a parliamentary committee, considered a formality, Justice Malik will remain a judge of the Supreme Court until March 2031, and may even become the first woman to be chief justice of Pakistan.
This has not come without controversy as many lawyers had objected over the violation of seniority in the appointment. On September 9, 2021, the JCP did not reach a decision on nominating Justice Malik as four of the eight members had opposed her appointment to the apex court
The Pakistan Bar Council (PBC) had announced its opposition to Justice Malik’s elevation and announced a strike in the courts. Nevertheless, the elevation of a woman on the Supreme Court of Pakistan is a historic moment for the country.
Profile and Career
According to her profile on LHC website, Ayesha Malik was born in 1966 and completed her basic education from Paris and New York and did her Senior Cambridge from the Karachi Grammar School, Karachi.
She then did her A’ Level from Francis Holland School for Girls in London. She completed her B.Com from the Government College of Commerce & Economics, Karachi and studied law at Pakistan College of Law, Lahore.
She went on to do her LL.M from Harvard Law School where she was named a London H. Gammon Fellow 1998-1999 for outstanding merit.
During 1997-2001, she worked with Fakhruddin G. Ebrahim & Co., Karachi, where she assisted the noted judge Fakhurddin G. Ebrahim.
From 2001 till her elevation to Lahore High Court, she worked with Rizvi, Isa, Afridi & Angell known as RIAA, initially as a Senior Associate and from 2004 as a Partner and was in charge of the law firm’s Lahore Office.
She has taught law as a Lecturer of Banking Law at University of Punjab, Department of Masters of Business and Information Technology. She was also a lecturer of Mercantile Law at College of Accounting & Management Sciences, Karachi and spent many years voluntarily teaching English Language and Development in Communication Skills at Herman Meiner School in Lahore.
She has appeared in the High Courts, District Courts, Banking Court, Special Tribunals and Arbitration Tribunals. She was called upon as an expert witness in family law cases conducted in England and Australia involving issues of child custody, divorce, women’s rights and constitutional protection for women in Pakistan.
She has been counsel, pro bono for NGOs involved in poverty alleviation programs, microfinance programs and skills training programs.
Her publications include Why ‘Trade’ in Financial Services: An assessment of the Agreement on Trade in Financial Services under the GATS- The Journal of World Investment, Vol 1 No.2, December 2000. 12th Edition of the Global Report 2004 on the Independence of the Judiciary-Pakistan Chapter. Pakistan Secular Laws: The Oxford International Encyclopedia of Legal History published by Oxford University Press 2009, Volume 4.
She also compiled the Supreme Court of Pakistan 1956-2006 Selected Cases published by the Pakistan College of Law, published at the 50th anniversary of the Supreme Court of Pakistan.
She has regularly contributed to the Merger Control, Getting The Deal Through, being an International Journal of Competition policy and Regulation Global Competition Review.
She has been a Reporter for Pakistan for the Oxford Reports on International Law in Domestic Courts, a publication of the Oxford University Press. She is married and has three children.
