Khan & Associates Advocates and Corporate Counsellors

As a full service law firm, Khan & Associates maintains a broad-based general practice, with an emphasis on corporate law, mergers and acquisitions, anti-trust, banking and finance, employment, joint ventures, agencies and distributorship. Khan & Associates has the distinction of acting on behalf of the acquirer in Pakistan’s largest corporate acquisition to date - a US$ 2.6 billion transaction - and continues to advise this acquirer on its business in Pakistan. The firm has also advised the Government of Pakistan on its US$ 600 million debut issue of Sukuk (Islamic bonds) which were listed on the Luxembourg Stock Exchange. And the firm has advised on the effects of Pakistani law on a Shari’ah compliant renewable energy fund.

With a preeminent dispute resolution practice and unmatched expertise in matters covered by the New York Convention of 1958, the value of Khan & Associates’ current dispute resolution matters exceeds US$ 5 billion. The firm regularly represents clients before Pakistani courts in different cities and is currently handling numerous cases for domestic enforcement of foreign arbitration awards and judgments. It has appeared as counsel in international arbitration proceedings conducted under ICC and ICSID rules. Most recently, the firm obtained injunctive relief for a client whose competitor was in the process of being awarded a procurement contract of approximately US$ 500 million in violation of public procurement laws.

In today’s economy, ideas and innovation drive economic growth and business success. Intellectual property has become a vital factor for success in business, science and the arts. Intellectual property has emerged as an important but challenging area of law practice in Pakistan on account of the prevalent violation of IPR and the slow response of the courts. Although the government of Pakistan has shown its commitment to the protection of IPR by setting up special intellectual property tribunals, these tribunals are still in infancy and would take time to mature to provide the level of protection international businesses generally expect.

K&A has an experienced team of qualified lawyers who regularly advise multinational companies on protection of their IPR in Pakistan. The firm possesses extensive experience in the registration and licensing of IPR in Pakistan, and regularly deals with the Intellectual Property Organization of Pakistan. We advise on novel and intricate areas of intellectual property laws.

Trademark

We at K&A fully appreciate the power of Brands for today’s businesses. We provide all services related to the registration of trademarks in Pakistan including: determining the registrability of the trademark, preparation of trademark applications, filing of the oppositions, and all other services leading to the grant of registration.

We have formidable experience in representing clients before courts in cases of infringement of their trademarks. K&A acts as the principal legal counsel in Pakistan of the world’s largest fast food restaurant chain and provides to it full support on, inter alia, IPR related issues.

Patents

It is well known that patents foster innovation and innovation is vital to the health of any economy. We are familiar with the procurement of patents and design protection, patent filings and prosecution, oppositions to the grant of patents and registration and assignment of the patents. We advise clients on all aspects ranging from patentability of an innovation to the grant of patents.

Copyrights

Copyrights protect businesses from counterfeit producers and provide a safeguard to authors of their publications. K&A is well-equipped to provide all the services ranging from procurement of registration of copyrights in Pakistan to effectively challenging the infringement of copyrights.

Pakistan has most recently revamped its labour and employment laws. This activity was spurred by a major amendment in the Constitution of Pakistan under which the four provinces of the country and the capital territory were empowered to separately legislate upon employment and labour issues. Subsequent enactments of provincial legislatures have resulted in a rapidly evolving legal landscape that the employers must be aware of at all times. Since each province has a separate employment law, a company with operations in several provinces needs to be cognizant of variations in laws across provinces.

Khan & Associates regularly advises clients on devising and managing labour and employment policies and practices to ensure that they fully comply with the complex web of federal laws and the current provincial labour and employment laws. The firm provides advice on the employment aspects of business transactions that involve massive reductions in workforce.

The firm regularly assists the clients in drafting sensitive management-level employment contracts with unique compensation packages, separation agreements and severance packages. The firm provides effective risk management advice to the clients and helps them resolve employment disputes without recourse to expensive and time-consuming litigation which may also entail reputational damages.

Our labour and employment practice team consists of lawyers who understand business considerations and intricacies and are fully equipped with superior advocacy skills, as well as in-depth knowledge and experience of local labour laws. Our team also conducts internal investigations on behalf of the clients of sexual harassment and discrimination complaints and allegations of misconduct