Justice Ayesha A. Malik was born in June of 1966 in Karachi, Pakistan. As a child, Malik thought that she would end up as a Perry Mason-like criminal defence lawyer. In fact she never thought she would end up working in the judicial sector at all, but after she started her career as a litigator, she discovered how few women were on the bench. In Malik’s own words, “I realised that the profession needs more women for the scales to be balanced.” This, coupled with the advice her father gave to her to make her presence felt and always aim high led her to pursue a career in judiciary.
She received her early education from institutions in Paris, New York City, Karachi - where she did her Senior Cambridge from Karachi Grammar School - and London - where she completed her A Levels from Francis Holland School for Girls. Malik went on to study at the Government College of Commerce and Economics, Karachi, acquiring her Bachelor of Commerce. Soon after, she attended the Pakistan College of Law, Lahore, to obtain her Bachelor of Law. She then went on to attend Harvard Law School for her Master’s of Law, where she was named a Landon H. Gammon Fellow for academic excellence.
Malik started her legal career at Fakhruddin G. Ebrahim & Co, where she met the eponymous man whose words encouraged her to become a judge. She later on joined Rizvi, Isa, Afridi & Angell where she became a partner and was the driving force behind their corporate and litigation department at the Lahore office. Malik also holds experience as an educationist in Banking Law at the University of Punjab and Mercantile Law at the College of Accounting and Management Sciences, Karachi.
Outside of her formal work, Malik also volunteered her time teaching English Language and Development in Communication Skills at Hermann Gmeiner School in Lahore, which is a project by Save Our Souls (SOS) Children's Village. She also offered her services pro bono to numerous nongovernmental organizations where she primarily focused on poverty alleviation programs, microfinance programs and skills training programs. In addition to these services, she has also been credited with numerous publications and has had her work featured in the International Journal of Competition Policy and Regulation Global Law Review, the Oxford Reports on International law in Domestic Courts, and the Journal of World Investment.
The start of Malik’s judicial career was as a Justice of the Lahore High Court in March of 2012, when she became a part of the less than 5% of female judges in Pakistan’s High Courts. During her time spent on the Lahore High Court, she achieved a lot both on and off the bench. Some of her achievements off the bench include being a board member of the Punjab Judicial Academy where she made made significant contributions to the academic development of the institution, initiating the Punjab Woman Judges Conference in 2016 which brought awareness to the gender perspective and solutions to issues faced by female litigators, and being the Chairperson for the Judicial Officers Female Supervisory Committee which oversaw issues pertaining to female judicial officers.
On the other hand, Malik has also made significant accomplishments on the bench, most notably she outlawed the use of the two-finger test performed on victims of rape as a part of the investigation process for sexual assault cases in Punjab in a landmark case. She called these tests “humiliating” and said that they hold “no forensic value”. This ruling inevitably led to the two-finger test being outlawed in all of Pakistan by the Supreme Court, protecting victims of sexual assault all over Pakistan from undergoing an invasive and traumatizing procedure that would force them to relive their trauma.
Another one of her notable rulings in the Lahore High Court that helped to improve the position of women in Pakistan was when she ruled that policies promoting and facilitating women's employment in Punjab were not discriminatory. Rather, they were based on affirmative action which helped to improve the economic situation of women in Punjab. This was a step towards dismantling the patriarchal societal structure that still rules over Pakistan by giving women access to more job opportunities.
Her rulings also contributed to improvements in other areas, such as in the Orient Power Company (Private) Limited vs Sui Northern Gas Pipelines Limited (2019) case, where her ruling helped to enhance the sanctity of commercial court contracts in the context of international commercial arbitration.
Regardless of all these accomplishments, her elevation to the Supreme Court of Pakistan was highly contested as she was not first in line on the basis of seniority–it is somewhat of a custom for High Court Justices in Pakistan to be elevated to the Supreme Court on the basis of seniority, but it is not legally binding. This caused outcry from legal professionals across the country. However, despite all odds, Malik was elevated to the Supreme Court on January 6, 2022, and sworn in on January 24, 2022. Today, she is happily married, and has three children with her husband.
Malik is a symbol of hope for every girl in Pakistan as she is the first woman to be a part of the highest appellate court of the country. In an interview, she talked about how being the “first” gave her the responsibility to pave the way for more women to serve on the Supreme Court of Pakistan alongside her and after her. She may be the first, but she definitely won’t be the last.
Why Did I Choose to Research Ayesha A. Malik?
I chose to research Justice Ayesha A. Malik because she is a beacon of hope for numerous Pakistani girls who want to enter the legal field, including me. She has made a name for herself in a male dominated field and has stood strong in the face of adversity.
Not only does she signify that I too can one day become a Justice in the Supreme Court of Pakistan, but her work to improve the position of women in Pakistan and her achievements in the field of law are things I truly admire and think are deserving of recognition.
Works Cited
Dawn. (2022, January 10). JCP approves Justice Ayesha Malik's elevation to Supreme Court. Dawn. https://www.dawn.com/news/1667975/jcp-approves-justice-ayesha-maliks-elevation-to-supreme-court
Supreme Court of Pakistan. (n.d.). Mrs. Justice Ayesha A. Malik. Supreme Court of Pakistan. https://www.supremecourt.gov.pk/judges/mrs-justice-ayesha-a-malik/
Khan, A. (2020, December 30). Pakistan appoints first female Supreme Court judge. BBC News. https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-55541447
BBC News. (2020, December 30). Ayesha Malik: Pakistan’s first female Supreme Court judge. BBC News. https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/resources/idt-75af095e-21f7-41b0-9c5f-a96a5e0615c1
Mittal South Asia Institute. (2022, September 27). Ayesha Malik: Pakistan’s first female Supreme Court judge. Harvard University. https://mittalsouthasiainstitute.harvard.edu/2022/09/ayesha-malik/
University of Oxford, Faculty of Law. (2023, May 1). Conversation with Mrs. Justice Ayesha Malik, Supreme Court of Pakistan, chaired by Prof. Mindy Chen-Wishart. University of Oxford. https://www.law.ox.ac.uk/events/conversation-mrs-justice-ayesha-malik-supreme-court-pakistan-chaired-prof-mindy-chen-wishart
United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime. (n.d.). Malik’s story. United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime. https://www.unodc.org/unodc/en/human-trafficking/glo-act5/women_can/malik.html
Siddiqui, S. (2022, January 5). In focus: A look at Justice Ayesha Malik’s career. The Friday Times. https://thefridaytimes.com/05-Jan-2022/in-focus-a-look-at-justice-ayesha-malik-s-career#
Lahore High Court. (n.d.). Former judges. Lahore High Court. https://data.lhc.gov.pk/judges/former_judges
This article was published on 10/7/24