Hamid Khan (lawyer)

Hamid Khan (born 16 April 1945) is a Pakistani writer, Politician, Supreme Court lawyer, a former Chairman Executive & Vice Chairman of Pakistan Bar Council, former vice Chairman of Punjab Bar Council and former President of the Supreme Court Bar Association of Pakistan (2001–2003) and one of the founding partners of Cornelius, Lane and Mufti, a leading law firm in Pakistan. Like many leading Pakistanis, he is a Punjabized ethnic Pashtun (Pathan) He wrote several books that are recommended reading for Pakistani students of law. Khan is also the senior Vice President of the Pakistani political party, Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf. In earlier positions he served as the President of the Lahore High Court Bar Association (1992–93).^[1]

Educational and professional background

Mr Hamid Khan studied law at the University of Punjab (Pakistan) and University of Illinois (US) and has been practicing for over thirty years. He is an Advocate of the Supreme Court and High Courts of Pakistan and is one of the founding partners of Cornelius, Lane and Mufti, a leading law firm based at Lahore. In 2010, he condemned the kidnapping of Iftikharul Haq.^[2]

Lawyer of Chief Justice

Khan was the lawyer of the Chief Justice of Pakistan, Mr. Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry, when General Pervez Musharraf put forward a reference against the Chief Justice and Chaudhary decided to defend his case in the court. Hamid Khan contributed considerably to the Lawyers' Movement of Pakistan which led to the restoration of Chaudhry as Chief Justice of Pakistan.

Khan regularly lectures on various legal subjects at Punjab University, the Civil Services Academy, the National Institute of Public Administration and the Pakistan Administrative Staff College.

Hamid Khan is married to Gulnaz Khan and has three sons and one daughter. One of his sons, Sikandar, is also a lawyer. Hamid Khan has two granddaughters from his daughter. His daughter-in-law, Shirin Sadeghi, is an Al-Jazeera English contributor. She is married to his second son, Dilawar. He currently resides in Lahore, in the prestigious AFOS neighborhood within the city's Cantonment.

Khan serves as the vice-president for Tehreek-e-Insaaf (Justice Party) Party and is one of its founding members.

Books authored

He has authored five books on legal subjects, three of which-Islamic Law of Inheritance, Principles of Administrative Law and Administrative Tribunals for civil Servants in Pakistan-are prescribed as Textbooks at law schools. He is an Ebert and DAAD Fellow, as well as a member of The Hague Academy of International Law.

His book "Constitutional and Political History of Pakistan" is taught at the LLB level, and is a comprehensive reference on the making of Pakistan. His work is also taught at the LLM level.^[3]