LAW Career Talk | Barrister Rashna Imam | De Jure Academy

Barrister Rashna Imam is an Oxford scholar, an advocate of the Supreme Court of Bangladesh (both Divisions), and the Managing Partner of Akhtar Imam & Associates.

Before joining Akhtar Imam & Associates, Rashna gained expertise as a corporate associate at Baker & McKenzie (London Office) through advising global giants like Arcelor Mittal and Schneider Electric on M&A and post-acquisition integration.

Her specializations include corporate and finance, foreign investment, and dispute resolution. Previously she has advised different entities of Visa Inc. on the establishment of a liaison office, payments systems, and mobile financial services; British American Tobacco Bangladesh on the scope of trade promotional activities in view of anti-tobacco laws; The Department of International Development (DFID), Bangladesh on establishing a Credit Information Bureau for microfinance; Ernst & Young (E & Y) on foreign exchange control laws and closure of branch office and the Federation of Bangladesh Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FBCCI) on the proposed reform of the Companies Act 1994 to create an enabling business environment in Bangladesh.

She regularly represents her clients before the Supreme Court in judicial review proceedings against decisions of public bodies, in company litigation, and in commercial arbitrations under different rules of arbitration (ICC, UNCITRAL, FOSFA, GAFTA, Arbitration Act 2001 of Bangladesh, etc.). She is currently representing ABB India Limited (a leading engineering MNC), as junior counsel in international commercial arbitration proceedings against Power Grid Company of Bangladesh Limited (PGCB), an electric power transmission organisation in Bangladesh, challenging imposition by PGCB of liquidated damages on ABB for alleged contractual violations. The contract was for the commissioning of power substations across Bangladesh. She is also representing the Exclusive General Sales Agent of Gulf Air in Bangladesh in enforcement proceedings by GF of ICC award against the GSA and in litigation arising out of arbitration before the Supreme Court.

She has made inroads in establishing and enforcing health rights in Bangladesh through public interest litigation (PIL) and advocacy. Her landmark cases in this regard include PIL for the establishment of a legal framework for emergency medical services for road accident victims and the protection of good Samaritans, and PIL for the formulation of guidelines for the prevention of medically unnecessary C-sections, both of which she filed on behalf of the leading NGO, Bangladesh Legal Aid and Services Trust (BLAST) and the case leading to the judgment directing reform of the Human Organ Donation and Transplantation Act 1999. Her stellar work through PIL earned her two international recognitions/fellowships: Asia 21 Young Leader (2018) and Global Programme for Women’s Leadership (2019). She is a member of the s Advisory Group of Bangladesh Health Watch (BHW), a citizens’ platform to bring about lasting improvements in the health sector of Bangladesh, and a member of the high-level Advisory Committee to guide and steer the program on ‘Bangladeshi Labour Migrants in Maldives: Mitigating the Risks and Vulnerabilities to Trafficking and Irregular Migration’, a collaboration of the Refugee and Migratory Movements Research Unit (RMMRU) with the Asia Foundation, supported by the Department of State, USA. She was awarded “Women of Inspiration, 2021” by Junior Chambers International Bangladesh.