General Counsel
LLM – University of Law
LLB Honors – University of Liverpool
Bar Professional Training Course (BPTC) – City Law School, London
Member of The Honourable Society of Lincoln’s Inn
Omer Ghias is a Barrister, Called to the Bar of England and Wales at the Honourable Society of Lincoln’s Inn. He graduated from the University of Liverpool, where he received the Vice Chancellors International Attainment Scholarship 2017, and holds a Master of Laws (LL.M) specialising in Bar Practice from the University of Law (Birmingham).
EDUCATION
- LLM – University of Law
- LLB Honors – University of Liverpool
EXPERIENCE
Omer has considerable experience working in the United Kingdom representing various clients in family-related issues. In particular, Omer has
- Worked with the Liverpool Law Clinic representing clients before various forums in matters relating to divorce and child custody.
- Worked with Legal Advice Centre (Birmingham), where he was tasked with in managing, advising and representing clients before the Welfare Benefits Tribunal. This included representing clients appealing the Tribunal’s decision of refusing to grant Personal Independence Payments (“PIP”) and refusing to enhance the amount of Employment and Support Allowance (“ESP”). Both of these Appeals resulted in the Tribunal reconsidering its decision, allowing PIP and enhancing the ESP.
- Represented and advised private clients in pre-divorce mediations and in Financial Remedy Proceedings before the Family Court of Sailsbury (sitting at Swindon) involving the division of assets of up to GBP 500,000. In addition to the above, Omer was chosen to work as a mini pupil at the 7 Harrington Street Chambers (Liverpool) and was amongst the few lawyers chosen under the Lincoln’s InnMarshalling Scheme to Marshall the Honourable Judge Davis White QC of the Queen’s Bench Division of the High Court of Leeds.
Other then the above, Omer specializes in advising global tech companies, and acts as a legal consultant to a Berlin based IT services firm (the “Firm”). As a consultant, Omer is engaged in:
i) developing and drafting the Firm’s policies and procedures.
ii) drafting and negotiating various contracts and agreements (including SaaS Agreements, IT services agreements, software and website development agreements, software support agreements, and staff augmentation agreements)
iii) ensuring the Firm meets all its legal and regulatory requirements.
In addition, Omer has been engaged as a transactional legal counsel for an IT services company in restructuring its shareholding and facilitating the sale of its shares to a third party and has further been engaged as transactional legal counsel by a co-founder, in structuring the exist from the start-up which is valued at 15 million euros. Currently, Omer has been engaged by the World Bank as a Local Law Expert, advising, and opining on the legal framework of Pakistan (2021 – date), and has contributed to the World Bank’s Women, Business and the Law Reports of 2022 & 2023.
Omer has also been engaged in various Arbitrations and is currently engaged in resisting the enforcement of an Arbitral Award passed by the Singapore International Arbitration Center against a national steel pipe manufacturer and is currently representing a national construction firm in a pre-arbitral dispute resolution process. Omer is also engaged by a leading global commercial firm (Ranked Band 1: Chambers and Partners, Dispute Resolution: General Commercial, Asia Pacific), where he is part of the team, and co-counsel, in inter alia the following matters:
- Representing an IT Solution Provider against claims worth $16 million, in an arbitration pending before the London Court of International Arbitration.
- Representing the Government of Pakistan in an Arbitration pending before the London Court of International Arbitration.
- Resisting the enforcement of Arbitral Awards passed by the DIFC under the DIFC-LCIA Rules on behalf of Samsung EC Pakistan (“Samsung”).
- Representing a healthcare and technology professional enterprise by filling a reference to Arbitration under the Arbitration Act, 1940.
- Resisting a reference to Arbitration filed against one of the largest telecommunications providers operating in Pakistan (the “Telcom Provider”), under the Arbitration act 1940 in a matter concerning the termination of an Indefeasible Right of Use (IRU) agreement worth $20 million.
- Challenging Show Cause Notices issued by the Punjab Revenue Authority to the Telcom Provider, calculating tax liability in excess of Rupees three billion for alleged nonpayment of withholding tax on International Interconnect Charges.
- Challenging an order of the Appellate Tribunal of the Inland Revenue disallowing expenditure in excess of Rupees one billion as income of Pakistan’s largest mobile network operator.
- Defending the levy of Sales Tax on Services levied by the Sindh Revenue Board, before the Supreme Court, on various Manpower and Labour suppliers and on Membership Clubs. The amount in question was unquantifiable and ran into the billions of Rupees.
- Challenging the levy of Sales Tax on Services levied by the Punjab Revenue Authority on Samsung, on inter alia the grounds that the services provided constituted Export of Service such that was outside the jurisdiction of the PRA.
- Filling a claim on behalf of Samsung, for the recovery of amounts in excess of $21 million from one of its authorized distributors.
- Advising Samsung on the risks associated with launching and operating an online marketplace, and an NFT marketplace, in Pakistan.
- Advising a global human resources services and technology company (valued at USD 2.9 billion) on its compliance with local data privacy laws and the GDPR. This includes drafting and updating privacy policies and managing exposure to risk of non-compliance.
- Advising one of Pakistan’s largest telecom operator on the renewal of its LDI (Long Distance International) License.
- Advising a leading retail chain on the risks associated with allowing its users to make payments via cryptocurrencies through ‘CoinPayments’ on its E-store.
- Advising an unlisted Public Limited Company on company and corporate compliance procedures in accordance with the Companies Act, 2017. This includes advising on holding of general meetings, equity issuance procedures and other issues related to securities law.
- Drafting and vetting the terms of a software licensing agreement allowing Pakistan’s largest By Now Pay Later service provider to be appointed as a distributor and licensor of the Samsung Knox product suite. This included ensuring compliance with local competition laws.
- Advising Bloomberg Asia on its compliance with local labour and employment laws.
AREAS OF PRACTICE
• Arbitration (Domestic and International)
• Tax law (Litigation and advisory)
• Technology (including Crypto Currencies)
• Securities Regulation and Company Law
• Intellectual Property
• Media and Telecommunication
• Civil Litigation
MEMBERSHIP
Punjab Bar Council
Member of the Honourable Society of Lincoln’s Inn