MSU – Minto, Saram & Usman

About Us

Bilal Hasan Minto, Muhammad Saram Israr and Muhammad Usman, partners at the erstwhile Minto & Mirza (1994-2023), founded MSU in 2023. They bring together their respective experience to the new firm.

MSU is a full-service firm offering litigious and non-litigious services. While we have our physical office in Lahore, we provide services to local and foreign clients all across Pakistan.

Our understanding of the legal landscape allows us to navigate challenging legal matters with precision and clarity. Whether it is litigation, corporate advisory, intellectual property, family law or other practice areas, our team possesses the acumen and proficiency to advise and advocate effectively on behalf of our clients.

We endeavor to integrate social development into our legal practice to include community advocacy, research and advisory work in collaboration with private and public sector organizations. We strive not only to achieve legal success but also to build enduring relationships based on trust, integrity, and results.

We are also committed to carry on the work of Mr. Abid Hassan Minto–who needs no introduction as one of the country’s most eminent Constitutional, Civil and Criminal lawyers–through a demonstrated commitment to the community by making pro bono contributions to issues of public interest.

Constitutional Litigation

We trace our tradition of high-quality Constitutional litigation to our Senior Consultant, Mr. Abid Hassan Minto – recognised as one of the foremost Constitutional lawyers in the Country. Partners of the Firm, especially Bilal, have assisted Mr. Abid Hassan Minto in several seminal Constitutional cases before the superior courts.

Some of the matters in which we have represented our clients in Constitutional Litigation before the High Courts, and the Supreme Court of Pakistan included questions relating to the criteria for appointments of Vice Chancellors and Deans in public sector universities, challenges to excess of jurisdiction by Federal Investigative Agency and other regulatory bodies, challenge to appointments of federal civil servants in provincial services, and many more matters involving enforcement of statutory provisions and protection of Constitutional Rights. We also represented the Competition Commission of Pakistan (CCP) in litigation involving a Constitutional challenge to its parent statute.

Over the years, our Senior Consultant and Bilal Hasan Minto, Partner, have been appointed amici curiae in several cases involving questions of Constitutional interpretation and enforcement of Fundamental Rights. They have assisted the superior courts on issues such as the status of electoral candidates holding dual citizenships, the role of prosecution and analysts’ reports in cases tried under the Control of Narcotic Substances Act, 1997, the role of Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) in complaints received under the Prevention of Electronic Crimes Act, 2016 (PECA), limitations upon the Ordinance making power of the President, qualification of candidates for general elections, and interpretation of election laws requiring minimum participation of women voters.

At MSU, we believe in standing for what is right, and in this spirit, we have been involved in a number of public interest cases before the superior courts of Pakistan of which some have been decided while others are pending. These include the “Land Reforms Case” (Workers Party Pakistan etc. v Federation of Pakistan etc.) in which the judgment in ‘Qazalbash Waqf Case’ is challenged on constitutional grounds – arguing that concentration of land holdings in the hands of the feudal elite violates the Constitution; the “Katchi Abadi Case” (Aasim Sajjad Akhtar and others v Federation of Pakistan) involving the right to housing and shelter guaranteed under the Constitution of Pakistan to the homeless/slum dwellers; the “Qazi Faez Isa Case” (PLD 2021 SC 1) in which the power, jurisdiction and procedure of the Supreme Judicial Council in the Reference filed against Mr. Justice Qazi Faez Isa were questioned; the “Electoral Reforms Case” (PLD 2012 SC 681) where a declaration from the Supreme Court of Pakistan was sought against electioneering practices involving wealth, power and influence.