Barrister Haider Rasul Mirza was admitted to the Inns of Court School of Law (now known as City Law School) at the City University, London where he successfully completed his Post Graduate Diploma in Professional and Legal Skills. He was called to the Bar in October 2006 by the Honourable Society of Lincoln’s Inn.

Barrister Mirza has a LLB (Hons) degree from the University of London and a BSc (Hons) degree in Economics and Social Sciences from the Lahore University of Management Sciences (LUMS). He started his career in 2004 as an apprentice of former Judge of the Supreme Court of Pakistan and Chief Justice Lahore High Court Justice Manzoor Ahmed Malik and remained associated with his chamber before his elevation to the Bench in 2009. During his apprenticeship, he assisted the senior counsel in criminal trials pertaining to homicide and white-collar crime and developed a special interest in anti-corruption and accountability laws.

Barrister Mirza conducts criminal and civil litigation on behalf of business entities as well as individuals. Currently he is acting as defence counsel in numerous high-profile references filed by the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) which are pending adjudication before the Accountability Courts in Lahore.

He has also had the unique experience of representing a high-profile client before the United Nations Security Council’s ISIL (Da’esh) & Al-Qaida Sanctions Committee established pursuant to UNSC resolutions and arguing the de-listing request before the Ombudsperson of the Sanctions Committee.

Recently Barrister Mirza had the honour of assisting a five-member Bench of the Hon’ble Supreme Court of Pakistan as an amicus curiae and assisted the Court in rendering a landmark judgment, reported as PLD 2021 SC 488, on the issue of post-conviction mental illness. With the able assistance of amici curiae, the Supreme Court of Pakistan has now set a standard whereby a death sentence may be commuted in cases where the convict no longer has the higher mental functions to appreciate the rationale and reason behind the punishment. The commendable step towards the much needed progressive jurisprudence in our country has been duly appreciated by the United Nations human rights experts.

Barrister Mirza has several reported judgments to his credit ranging from constitutional matters to appeals against death sentence. He also engages in advisory work and is currently working as legal advisor to business concerns in the public and private sector along with acting as legal advisor to a leading women’s university in Lahore.

He is also associated with the academia since more than ten years. At Lahore School of Law, he teaches Criminal Law as a guest lecturer.