Litigation

Litigation

Our litigation team is comprised of lawyers with exceptional advocacy skills and outstanding track records. They are known for providing straightforward and practical advice on complex matters and litigation outcomes. With assistance from our specialists in other practice areas, we work in an integrated way and approach issues from a variety of perspectives to produce the most favorable outcomes for clients.

We have wide-ranging experience representing national and multinational corporations as well as start-ups in a broad array of contentious matters before regulators, specialized tribunals, and conventional courts. We have successfully handled litigations in both trial courts and appellate courts.

Our litigation team offers the following services:

Business & Commercial Litigation

Business and commercial litigation forms the core of our litigation practice.

We provide a full range of services, ranging from evaluating potential risks to representing clients in civil courts, overseas courts, commercial courts, district courts, and high courts across Pakistan. We represent clients in matters involving, among others, disputes of sale and purchase agreements, equipment supply agreements, technical service agreements, distribution agreements, license agreements, technology transfer agreements, franchise agreements, agency agreements, real estate agreements, joint venture agreements, shareholder agreements, acquisition agreements, business fraud, breaches of fiduciary duties, breaches of restrictive covenants, and wrongful interference in contractual rights.

We have the necessary expertise and resources to handle the most complex cases involving cross-border transactions requiring application of the principles of conflict of laws. We routinely advise clients on the enforcement of foreign judgments and represent them in enforcement proceedings in local courts. We have advised and represented many foreign entities in local legal proceedings focused on breaches of foreign jurisdiction clauses, and we’ve assisted them in enforcing such clauses in local courts.

We have represented clients in many sectors, including IT and telecom, infrastructure, finance, utilities (energy and water), life sciences, and shipping.

 

Corporate Litigation

Our team is capable of managing complex corporate litigation matters. Our lawyers frequently represent management, shareholders, and creditors in winding-up / liquidation proceedings in high courts.

We also represent clients in proceedings for approvals of mergers and schemes of arrangements and reconstruction, as well as in proceedings related to investigations of oppression, mismanagement, and fiduciary duty breaches.

Employment & Labor Litigation

We regularly handle claims and defend clients ranging in size from small companies to major multinational corporations in civil courts, labor courts, labor appellate tribunals, national industrial relations commissions, and high courts, as well as in meetings with provincial labor departments, ombudspersons, and other federal and provincial agencies across Pakistan.

Our team has an excellent record of success aggressively defending against employment-related claims, including wrongful termination claims; breach of contract claims; unfair labor practice claims; end of service benefits claims; discrimination claims; sexual or racial harassment claims; and wage, overtime pay, and bonus claims.

We represent clients on a regular basis in local legal proceedings regarding the enforcement of confidentiality agreements and restrictive covenants, and we support them by obtaining emergency injunctions and restraining orders.

 

Government Contract Litigation

We understand that dealing with government and public sector entities may be different from working with private entities. Our litigation team has highly specialized knowledge of the federal and provincial laws governing public procurements and disposals of public assets as well as the principles and standards of Pakistani courts.

We regularly represent clients in judicial review proceedings in high courts to challenge or to defend the awarding of public procurement contracts. We also assist and represent clients in administrative grievance redressal proceedings under public procurement rules. We routinely appear before high courts in public interest litigation matters to defend privatization transactions and protect client interests.

 

Intellectual Property Litigation

We share with our clients our breadth of experience in all matters related to intellectual property rights, including those involving well-known trademarks, registered and unregistered trademarks, service marks, domain names, copyrights, and patents.

We represent businesses with large IP portfolios in enforcement actions before intellectual property tribunals and appellate courts, routinely obtaining emergency preliminary injunctions and temporary restraining orders against IP infringement and seizure directives for counterfeited goods.

We also represent clients before the Intellectual Property Organization of Pakistan (IPOP) in proceedings relating to the registration of IP rights and before intellectual property tribunals and high courts throughout Pakistan to challenge denials of IP registrations and wrongful IP registrations by IPOP.

We often handle enforcement and infringement cases involving computer programs, literary works, sound recordings, musical compositions, works of art and design, architectural works, luxury goods, and many other protectable works. We’ve also overseen incredibly complex IP matters involving disputes related to authorship, ownership, works for hire, copyrightability, originality, and fair use.

 

Product & Professional Liability Litigation

We also represent product manufacturers, distributors, and retailers in product liability actions in consumer courts and civil courts. Additionally, we represent professionals including architects, engineers, brokers, accountants, and financial advisers in malpractice and regulatory claims.

 

Recovery of Loans & Finances

Our lawyers regularly appear before banking courts and appellate courts on behalf of banks and financial institutions. The proceedings typically focus on the recovery of secured and unsecured commercial and consumer loans and finances and the enforcement of security-related documents.

Our multidisciplinary skills and expertise in banking and financial litigation, as well as insolvency and reconstruction, enable us to handle every aspect of recovery. From the initial review of security documentation efficacy to guiding a lender client through borrower default, possible insolvency, and the sale of assets and recovery, we provide cradle-to-grave services for the secured lender. We are proactive, time- and cost-conscious, and always pursue the fastest route to full recovery.

 

Regulatory Litigation

Our litigation team, in active collaboration with subject matter specialists from across the firm, provides support to clients when they must respond to troubling government regulatory actions. Our lawyers are widely recognized for their thorough understanding of administrative law and the principles governing agency conduct. They routinely counsel clients on whether to engage with regulators or go to court.

Our lawyers frequently represent clients in formal and informal proceedings with regulators, appellate forums, and high courts on matters involving federal and provincial regulatory environments.