Hassan Mehmood

LLM (Manchester, UK), Legal Practice Course (Chester, UK), LLB (Aberystwyth, UK

Before moving to Pakistan, Hassan had been practicing law in the United Kingdom and has an extensive four years commercial litigation experience from a renowned regional law firm, MTA Solicitors LLP. Following his move to Pakistan, he started practicing as an advocate High Court in Islamabad and in a very short period, he had been involved in advising and acting for some of the major corporate entities both national and multinational, statutory bodies, NGOs and INGOs.

In appreciation of his outstanding legal acumen and capabilities, he was employed as a Consultant, Ministry of Law and Justice in 2017. He was primarily responsible for performing core functions of the Ministry which includes but not limited to legislative drafting, tendering legal opinions to the organs of the State, drafting and vetting of agreements extended with other countries, international organisations and the agreements, treaties and MOUs of different Ministries/Divisions etc.

Since joining, he has been actively involved in legislative reforms. He was nominated as a member of the core team of Minister for Law & Justice Barrister Dr. Mohammad Farogh Naseem.

In 2018, Ministry of Law and Justice created a task force for Civil Law reforms; and to implement the daunting task, Hassan was handpicked and nominated by the Minister as the focal person for civil law reforms. In order to curb delays and ensure speedy and effective justice, he proposed radical reforms in Code of Civil Procedure, 1908 which after extensive scrutiny and debate has now been enacted by the Parliament as Code of Civil Procedure (Amendment) Act, 2020. It is worth mentioning that first time in the history of Pakistan; reforms in the civil procedure have taken place since 1908. Other provinces, in particular Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, have adopted the amendments drafted by Hassan in the Code of Civil Procedure, 1908.

His other notable achievement includes drafting of Enforcement of Women’s Property Rights Act, 2020 for the protection of inheritance rights of women; Letters of Administration and Succession Certificates Act, 2020 for issuing of succession certificates in favour of legal heirs by NADRA without need of going to courts; Legal Aid and Justice Authority Act, 2020 for providing legal assistance and financial aid especially to women and children in criminal matters; COVID-19 (Prevention of Smuggling) Ordinance, 2020 and COVID-19 (Prevention of Hoarding) Ordinance, 2020 to prevent and curb the menace of smuggling and hoarding of essential commodities especially food items to ensure free flow and supply of goods in the market.

Under the leadership of Parliamentary Secretary for Law & Justice, he initiated Action Plan for Women and Girls in Criminal Justice System and successfully devised a five year action plan.

Hassan is currently holding the portfolio of Legislative Advisor and his day to day work includes drafting and vetting of legal instruments and opinion writing on complex legislative issues.

He regularly attends Standing and other committees of the Parliament in order to defend government introduced legislation and to provide assistance on questions of law to members of the Parliament arising out of any issues being deliberated before the committees.

Hassan is admired by members of Parliament for his sound understanding of the law and is regularly consulted for his unique ability to simplify complex legal issues before the Parliamentary committees.