Partners and associates of The Law Counsel have represented as many as 12 defendants before Bangladesh’s first ever War Crimes Tribunal constituted to try commission of crimes against humanity and genocide during the War of Liberation in 1971. The firm collaborated with lawyers from 9 Bedford Row, London to set up defence and investigation teams for each of the defendants. The firm provided legal advice and representation to the defendants in a politically charged atmosphere ignoring repeated intimidation and harassment from the authorities. The firm’s robust defence of defendants before the War Crimes Tribunal was praised in an independent report on the Trial of International Crimes in Bangladesh authored by Geoffrey Robertson QC – ‘defendants have been represented by capable and courageous counsel, especially … where defence teams have been led by Abdur Razzaq, a Lincoln’s Inn barrister’.

The firm’s lawyers who have regularly appeared before the War Crimes Tribunal and the Supreme Court (which is the appellate forum) are widely regarded as having shaped the jurisprudence of international criminal law in Bangladesh.