L’ecole’s law society invites lawyers to dinner for a little inspiration

Sindh High Court Chief Justice Musheer Alam was the chief guest.

KARACHI:

March 9, 2007. Almost everyone remembers what happened. For some it was one of the darkest days in the history of the country and democracy.

It was the day when former president, Pervez Musharraf, summoned the chief justice of Pakistan and asked him to resign in the presence of five generals.

But for Sindh High Court Chief Justice Musheer Alam, March 9, was a ‘golden day’ and it should be marked as the first day of the struggle for an independent judiciary. He said this while addressing future lawyers at the annual law dinner of L’ecole for Advanced Studies, on Friday, March 9. The dinner was organised by the law society of the school at the institution’s courtyard. Justice Alam was invited as the chief guest. “L’ecole’s first law dinner was also held on the same date. It will always be remembered.”

The senior hierarchy of the legal fraternity was also present, including sitting justices from the high court, advocates from the Supreme Court, members of the bar councils, partners of law firms and senior legal associates. The courtyard was decorated gracefully with dim lights but the famous ‘black coats’ were the hallmark of the night, as the law students and the faculty members all wore this colour.

Perhaps it was the genuine camaraderie on campus that prompted Justice Alam to remark that he felt young among the L’ecolians. “You have already proved your mettle when you were qualified to be admitted in this prestigious institution,” he said. “You are young and ready to stretch your wings and fly.”

For Alam, out of the many law institutions all over the country, there were only a few in his knowledge which worked hard to inculcate moral and ethical values with studies. “L’ecole is one of them,” he said.

Referring to the lawyers’ movement for the restoration of judiciary, the chief justice reminded the students that they were the ones who had witnessed a change – from the rule of tyranny to the rule of law. “Now it is you who are responsible for delivering this change to every Pakistani who looks for it,” he said. According to Barrister Moiz Ahmed, a faculty member and the patron of the law society, the idea for arranging the dinner was driven by the thought of interacting with the legal fraternity. “Every young lawyer who is about to enter the professional life needs inspiration,” he said as the students followed his gaze, “And we see you [the senior lawyers] as our inspiration.”

For Musharraf Azhar, a second-year law student, L’ecole was different because the quality and standard of education had remained unmatched since the inception of its very first LLB programme in 2000. “The faculty is very involved because they want us to learn and keep up the nobility of the legal profession,” he said.

Published in The Express Tribune, March 11^th, 2012.