Partner

Anisul obtained his LL.B. (Hons.) degree from University of London, UK, in 2004 and upon successful completion of the bar vocation course at the Inns of Court School of Law, City University, London, he was called to the Bar of England and Wales from Lincoln’s Inn, London, in 2006. He thereafter worked as an immigration consultant at an immigration advisory firm in Newcastle upon Tyne, UK which was controlled by the Office of the Immigration Services Commissioner (OISC), UK. Anisul is an enrolled Advocate of the Supreme Court of Bangladesh.

Anis joined Chambers in 2009 and has been involved in banking, commercial, labour, telecommunication and litigation matters. Anis’s areas of practice in Chambers include advising clients in the areas of labour, telecommunications, project finance, loan syndications as well as other contractual and commercial matters. Since joining the Chambers, he has been closely involved in considerable number of transactions of merger and acquisition and loan syndication involving foreign and local financial institutions.

Anis has also been involved with advising local and international clients on labour law disputes, such as, Banglalink, Airtel, Edotco, Ericsson, Hewlett Packard, Perry Ellis, H&M, Timberland, Sainsbury, Apex, Next, Tchibo GmbH, Children‟s Place, Edcon, Powertek Berhad, Accenture, ITX Inditex, Target Sourcing, Oman Air, Gulf Air, Bangkok Airways, Gap, Wilbur-Ellis, Metlife, AFD, Telenor, Vimplecom, American Effird, Aga Khan Foundation, etc.

Email: anis@siaalaw.com

Partner

Nazia obtained her LL.B. (Hons.) degree from University of Wolverhampton, UK, in 2002 and her LL.M. degree from Brunel University, Uxbridge, in 2004, with specialization in international trade law including WTO laws and submission of a dissertation on intellectual property laws in developing countries.  She was called to the Bar of England and Wales from Lincoln’s Inn, London, in 2004.  After pupilage with Chambers, she qualified as an Advocate of the District Court, Dhaka, in 2007, and thereafter qualified as an Advocate of the High Court Division, Supreme Court of Bangladesh.

Nazia joined Chambers in 2005 has been involved in commercial, banking and company law matters. Nazia’a areas of practice in Chambers include advising clients in the areas of gas and oil exploration, power generation, telecommunications, PPP projects as well as other contractual and commercial matters. She has been closely involved in numerous projects sponsored by the ADB, ILO, JICA, IFC and other development agencies since joining the firm. She was a team member of Grameenphone Ltd. IPO legal team. She also provided assistance in review of papers on matters under the WTO regime. Nazia has assisted Partners and represented Chambers in various arbitration proceedings under the Bangladesh arbitration laws.

Partner

Asad received his LLB (Hons) and LLM degrees from Dhaka University in 1993 and 1994, respectively. He was enrolled as an Advocate of the High Court Division of the Supreme Court of Bangladesh in 1996. Prior to joining Chambers in 1998, Asad worked for a legal aid organization in Dhaka and also worked for chambers of Mr. Justice Md. Nizamul Huq, a present judge of the Appellate Division of the Supreme Court of Bangladesh.

Asad appears regularly before both the Supreme Court and the subordinate courts, civil and criminal matters, for the chambers. He has been dealing with civil, commercial, banking, human rights, and constitutional matters. He has appeared in various landmark cases in matters relating to taxation, civil and commercial law. He has also built up his expertise in litigation, admiralty matters and property disputes. Asad takes a keen interest in human rights issues and is involved with a number of charities involved in providing legal aid.

Managing Partner

Afzal received his BSc (Hons) degree in Chemistry and Management from King’s College, London in 1993. He then completed a postgraduate Diploma in Law in 1994 from Southbank University. Afzal was called to the Bar from Lincoln’s Inn, London in March 1996. Afzal is enrolled as an Advocate of the High Court Division of the Supreme Court of Bangladesh in 2001. Prior to joining Chambers Afzal worked for the Civil Litigation Department of Price Waterhouse in London from October 1995 to February 1998.

Afzal joined Syed Ishtiaq Ahmed & Associates in March 1998 and has been involved in commercial law matters. His areas of expertise in Chambers include advising clients in the areas of gas and oil exploration, power generation and telecommunications. Afzal advises many of the private sector telecommunication operators in Bangladesh and is familiar with the regulatory commission and its law. Afzal regularly drafts opinions and reviews regulatory issues and licensing matters for the private telecommunication operators and has experience of arbitration on behalf of a private telecom operator against a government owned and controlled operator. Afzal was also recently involved in negotiating and reviewing loan documentation for a multi-million dollar international and local syndicated loan for a private telecom operator. Afzal attended a seminar on ‘UK Oil and Gas Law’ presented by the Centre of Energy, Petroleum and Mineral Law and Policy, University of Dundee in Edinburgh in conjunction with the law firm Cameron Mckenna, London and also a seminar and workshop on ‘Petroleum Operations under the Bangladesh PSC Regime’ by Dennis C. Stickley.

Afzal has been involved in reviewing proposed/draft legislation circulated by the Law Reform Commission on information technology, copyright laws and has advised the Law Reform Commission on suggested amendments to the newly enacted Arbitration Act 2001. Afzal has provided legal services to the ADB as an external legal consultant on the Ashuganj Power Plant Corporatisation Project and was closely involved in the consortium looking into the Privatisation and Corporatisation of Biman Bangladesh Airlines as part of a World Bank funded project. He is familiar with the Guidelines for Foreign Exchange Transactions and has liaised with senior officials of Bangladesh Bank including the Governor on several occasions on behalf of banks. Afzal has experience in the arbitration process conducted under the Rules of Conciliation and Arbitration of the International Court of Arbitration of the International Chamber of Commerce and has also successfully assisted in defending a client before the World Bank Administrative Tribunal.

Senior Partner

Nihad obtained her BA (Hons) degree in Law from Cambridge University, UK in 1988. She was called to the Bar of England and Wales from Gray’s Inn, London in 1989, completed her LLM, also from Cambridge University, UK in 1991 and was granted her MA in 1993. She was enrolled as an Advocate in Bangladesh in 1990 and as an Advocate of the High Court Division of Bangladesh in 1991. In 2002 she was enrolled as an Advocate of the Appellate Division of the Supreme Court of Bangladesh.

Nihad joined Syed Ishtiaq Ahmed & Associates in 1991 and developed her expertise in civil, commercial, corporate, company, project finance and banking law matters. She was involved in several constitutional cases of note. The most notable case was the President’s Reference No.1 of 1995, the first ever President’s reference to the Chief Justice on a matter of constitutional importance under Constitutional provisions in Bangladesh, where Nihad assisted Senior Counsel, Syed Ishtiaq Ahmed in his role as amicus curiae. She appears before the Supreme Court routinely in constitutional, corporate and company matters and income tax references. Cases on double taxation argued by her have been reported and are used as precedents in the Supreme Court.

Nihad was a member of the Company Law Reform Committee formed by the Government of Bangladesh in August 2003, WTO Advisory Committee of the Ministry of Commerce, Bankruptcy Law Reform Committee for Bangladesh in 1994. Nihad was also the first Legal Counsel to the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) of Bangladesh from 1993-96. She taught Company Law at the University of Dhaka, Bangladesh in the academic year 1993-94.

Nihad worked as Counsel in the Office of the General Counsel of the Asian Development Bank (ADB) in Manila, Philippines from July 1996 to February 2000