Ashtar Ausaf Ali is a Senior Advocate of the Supreme Court and the founding partner of the firm. He has served as Attorney-General for Pakistan and Chairman of the Pakistan Bar Council from 2016 to 2018, and as Special Assistant to the Prime Minister on Law and Justice with the charge of Minister of State from 2015 to 2016.
He has previously served twice as the Advocate General of Punjab, from 1998 to 1999 and 2012 to 2013, and as Prosecutor General of the province from 2011 to 2012. He has also served as Advisor to the Prime Minister on Human Rights in 1999.
As Attorney-General, he drafted the Twenty-Fifth Amendment to the Constitution of Pakistan, which merged the Federally Administered Tribal Areas with Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, and enfranchised all citizens. He acted for Pakistan in parallel international arbitrations before ICSID and ICC, and established the International Disputes Unit as a dedicated policy department for meeting the challenges of complex, cross-border arbitrations.
He successfully represented the federation before the Supreme Court in landmark cases involving the Supreme Judicial Council, the sentences of APS Peshawar and Parade Lane terror convicts, electoral disqualification, and criminal investigation. As Convener of the Treaty Implementation Cell, he oversaw the successful renewal of the European Union’s GSP Plus programme for Pakistan, and the fulfillment of core United Nations Conventions.
As Special Assistant to the Prime Minister on Law and Justice, he drafted legislative reforms relating to honour killing and compromise, overhauled the procedure for attaining succession certificates, and was part of the Prime Minister’s constitutional committee for Gilgit-Baltistan reforms spearheaded by Mr. Sartaj Aziz.
In over four decades of practice, Ashtar Ausaf Ali has represented clients in cases that have shaped the country’s constitutional history – including that of the deposed Prime Minister of Pakistan in 1993, leading to the first time that parliament was restored by the Supreme Court. He has advised on landmark transactions, and is recommended by Chambers & Partners for litigation and arbitration.
He was awarded the Sitara-e-Imtiaz for public service in 2018.
“He is hailed as smart and sharp…(getting) in and out with what the client wants.”
~ Chambers & Partners