ISLAMABAD: The judges of the superior courts, district judiciary and law officers are visiting the United States to attend a conference on Alternate Dispute Resolution (ADR).

The US Department of Commerce Commercial Law Development Program (CLDP) is organising the weeklong conference.

The Pakistani delegation consisted of Supreme Court Justice Shahid Waheed, who is a member of the ADR Committee constituted by the Chief Justice of Pakistan, Chief Justice High Court of Balochistan Justice Mohammad Hashim Khan Kakar, Justice Jawad Hassan of Lahore High Court (LHC), Justice Yousuf Ali Sayeed of Sindh High Court, Justice Syed Mohammad Attique Shah of Peshawar High Court and Justice Miangul Hassan Aurangzeb of Islamabad High Court.

From the district judiciary, Additional District and Sessions Judge (ADSJ) Narowal Uzma Farnaz, District and Sessions Judge Karachi Sadaf Khokhar, ADSJ Abbottabad Shabana Mehsood, ADSJ Quetta Shams Uddin Sarpara and Civil Judge Islamabad Sanam Bokhari are among the delegation.

Additionally, Additional Attorney General Malik Javid Wains, Secretary Law and Justice Commission Riffat Inam Butt and Additional Director Federal Judicial Academy Jahanzeb Akhtar are also among the delegates.

With a backlog of 2.3 million cases, the country has about 4,300 judges across the country to adjudicate them. Roughly 60,000 cases are pending before the 16 judges of the highest court of law in the land.

The law to settle the legal dispute through mediation or ADR was introduced a few years back; however, the judiciary started establishing mediation centres a few months ago.

Top judges of the apex court have repeatedly urged resolving disputes through ADR to reduce burden on the regular courts in a bid to end the huge backlog.

In a related development, the LHC Bar of the Rawalpindi bench signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with a website to connect with international clients abroad, facilitating everything from petition preparation and filing to case hearings and decisions. The website is named “wooqlaw.com”.

President of the Bar Malik Jawad Khalid was hopeful that the new legal platform will not only open new professional avenues for lawyers both domestically and internationally, but will also increase their sources of income.

This is particularly beneficial for young and female lawyers who, for various reasons, may not continue legal practice after graduation.

They will be able to leverage this platform for professional and economic benefits from home, he added.

Published in Dawn, August 24th, 2024