ABS & Co.

Antitrust, Banking and Finance, Corporate and Commercial, Energy, Intellectual Property, Mergers and Acquisitions, Projects and Infrastructure, Tax, Technology and Telecom, Venture Capital and Private Equity

Partner

Samar is an Associate Partner at the firm’s Lahore office where she works as part of the firm’s corporate and commercial department. In 2022, she was added to Legal 500’s list of recommended lawyers from Pakistan and is recognised for advising on “IP law, cyberlaw, fintech and the regulation of innovative and disruptive technologies”.

She has over ten years of experience in advising clients on corporate and commercial matters. Her practice cuts across a range of different sectors including competition/anti-trust, M&As, tax, technology and employment.

She has worked in a number of industries including construction, power, telecommunications and transport. She regularly advises Quaid-e-Azam Thermal Power Limited, Punjab Thermal Power Limited, China Gezhouba Group Companies, Punjab Skills Development Fund, Prosper Technologies, Tez Financial Services Limited, OrientSwiss SA, ZoodPay SA, Multan Sultans, GoldFin Limited, TMC etc. on a range of corporate and commercial matters. She also represents statutory authorities like WASA, FBR, PEMRA and other public sector entities in their matters before the High Courts.

Samar also has a keen interest in intellectual property law, cyberlaw, fintech and the regulation of innovative and disruptive technologies. She teaches two courses on “Intellectual Property Law” and “Technology and the Law” at the Sheikh Ahmad Hassan School of Law at LUMS and heads the practice group on Technology and Intellectual Property Law at the firm’s office in Lahore. She is also the consultant for a study commissioned by IGNITE, Ministry of Information and Technology relating to the startup and freelancing ecosystem in Pakistan.

Samar is actively advising startups on documentation for financing, structuring M&A transactions, establishing holding companies etc and is working with banks and financial institutions to offer digital lending products on a BNPL basis.

In the past, she has advised the Electronic Certification Accreditation Council (ECAC) on bringing changes to the Electronic Transaction Ordinance 2002 and has also drafted regulations relating to crypto apparatus, accreditation service providers, security auditors that will facilitate the Public Key Infrastructure (PKI) in Pakistan. She has advised the Rice Exporters Association of Pakistan on the protection of Basmati as a Geographical Indication in Europe against an application filed by India before the European Commission. She has also advised local as well as international investors from the private sector on issues relating to crowdfunding, e-REITs, digital banks and neo-banking in Pakistan.

Prior to joining ABS & Co, she was an Associate at Chima & Ibrahim where she worked on complex commercial transactions involving competition law and mergers and acquisitions. She was part of the team that worked on the largest merger in Pakistan’s telecommunication sector between Warid and Mobilink.

Samar is a certified director of corporate governance from the Pakistan Institute of Corporate Governance and is serving as an independent director on the Board of Directors of two NBFCs. She is also a member of Engro Corp’s Board of Directors.

Samar has an LLM from the University of Chicago. She read Law at SOAS, University of London.

English, Urdu

High Courts of Pakistan

LL.M., University of Chicago LL.B., School of Oriental & African Studies