Profile Of Head Of Chambers

Mr. Mizan Sayeed was enrolled with the Bangladesh Bar Council as an Advocate on 1st of April 1995 and became a member of Dhaka Bar in the same year. He undertook pupillage under the auspices of Barrister M. Amirul Islam from March 1995 to February 1996. Subsequently he joined M/S. Huq and Company, Barristers & Advocates headed by Barrister Rafique-ul Huq, former Attorney general of Bangladesh in 1996. He has been practicing in the High Court Division of the Supreme Court of Bangladesh since 1996. He became a member of the Hon'ble Society of Lincoln's Inn, London since 2001. Mr. Sayeed used to work as a Senior Associate lawyer of HUQ & COMPANY since 1996 to 2004. He worked in the Central Bank Strengthening Project (CBSP) of Bangladesh Bank financed by World Bank as “Resident Legal Adviser” since October 2004 to October 2006 as part of a team consisting of two international law firms viz. Gide Loyrette Nouel ("GLN"), (France), Fox Mondol (India) and one local law firm namely, A. Hossain and Associates. While working in the said Project he –

- advised Bangladesh Bank on regulatory and various contemporary banking issues;
- was involved in reviewing and revamping three basic Banking legislations namely, Banking Companies Act, 1991("BCA"), Bangladesh Bank Order 1972 ("BBO") and Financial Institutions Act 1993 ("FIA");
- was involved in compilation, rationalization and indexing of Circulars issued by various departments of BB and edited three volumes of circulars.
- was involved in the drafting of the "Money Laundering and Terrorist Financing Prevention Act" in collaboration with the Money Laundering Department of BB.
- advised Bangladesh Bank on the corporatization of Nationalized Commercial Banks (NCBs).
- delivered lectures on various Training Sessions/Legal Awareness Programme arranged by Legal Counsel for the high officials of Bangladesh Bank.

Apart from the above he also -

- worked for a number of corporate and individual clients on the issues and disputes related to various procurement contracts, tender disputes etc.
- worked for a number of local and foreign Companies, Multi-national Corporations including AES Corporation, USA;

- conducting cases both in the High Court Division of the Supreme Court of Bangladesh and lower Court on various issues including procurement contracts and related disputes; - conducting local and international arbitrations, drafting documents, preparing case briefs; - negotiating for joint ventures;

- giving opinion on various legal matters, doing advisory works like property verification, drafting and verifying various deeds, agreements etc. including the security/financing documents of different local and foreign financial institutions etc.

Career Achievements:

A number of cases are reported in the local law reports e.g. DLR, MLR, BLD (where I appeared as advocate along with Senior Counsel Barrister Rafique-ul Huq, former Attorney General of Bangladesh.)

Areas of practice:

Banking, Corporate/Company law, Anti-corruption and Money Laundering Laws, Civil and Criminal litigation, International Trade, Energy, Leasing, VAT, Islamic finance, Procurement/tender, Contract, Shipping & Admiralty, Customs, Taxation, Constitutional law, local and international Arbitration, Merger and Acquisition, Bankruptcy, land/property law, Copyright, Trade mark and patent etc.

Advisory activities include:

-Worked for AES Corporation Singapore- a regional branch of AES Corporation, USA (a Global Power Company) and one of the biggest foreign investors in Bangladesh as the Junior Legal Retainer for HUQ & COMPANY, Barristers & Advocates in establishing a 350 MW Power Project in Haripur, Narayanganj, Bangladesh and also a 460 MW Power Project in Meghnaghat, Bangladesh;

-While working for the project the relevant works include incorporation of AES Haripur Private Limited and AES Meghnaghat Private Limited as foreign Companies, all relevant documentations in respect of establishment of the projects in two sites at Haripur and Meghnaghat, including in particular, drafting and verification of financing documents, negotiation on behalf of AES with the Govt. of Bangladesh and other parties concerned;

-Advised various local and foreign financial institutions/Banks from time to time on various legal issues relating to loan transactions and other Banking affairs and also have working experience with Credit Agricole Indosuez (Now Commercial Bank of Ceylon Ltd.), Arab Bangladesh Bank Ltd., IFIC Bank Ltd., Social Investment Bank Limited, Islami Bank Limited, Prime Bank Limited, Premier Bank Limited, Jamuna Bank Ltd., Beximco Group of Companies, BOC Ltd., ACI Ltd, North South University, Agrani Bank, Janata Bank, Trancom Beverages Ltd., Social Marketing Company, Akij Group, Prime Textile Mills Ltd., Multimode Ltd. QC Shipping Company Ltd., BRB Cables Ltd., Meghna Group, Jamuna Resort Ltd., Phoenix Group etc.;

-Maintained liaison and worked in close collaboration with Linklaters Singapore, and Fulbright, USA (Foreign Law Firms) in respect of financing of the projects from International Finance Corporation (IFC) and other syndicated lenders consisting of local and foreign Banks;

-Acted for Transcom Beverages Ltd. in collaboration with Barrister Rafique-ul Huq in taking over Pepsi franchise from Bangladesh Beverages Ltd which involved $million deal;

-Acted for Civil Aviation Authority of Bangladesh (CAAB) in establishing a five star hotel, an international club and a Golf Course near Zia International Airport, Dhaka, Bangladesh, negotiated for the CAAB with the foreign investor IPCO Singapore and drafted and verified all relevant Deeds of Agreements with IPCO;

-Conducted two arbitration cases in International Cotton Association Limited (ICA), Liverpool, England to represent Akij Textile Mills Limited against Cargill Cotton, England and also UNICOT (Switzerland) in collaboration with Barrister Rafique-ul Huq.

-Represented Korean EPZ (KEPZ) Corporation BD Limited in the Arbitration between Alpha Concrete Industries Limited and KEPZ.

Legal Adviser/Panel Lawyer

Bangladesh Bank, Prime Bank Limited, Jamuna Bank Limited, The Trust Bank Limited, The City Bank Ltd., Investment Corporation of Bangladesh, Akij Textile Mills Ltd., Universal Health Services and Research Limited, Shahajalal Group, Lakeshore Hotels and Apartments Ltd., Venture Investment Partners Bangladesh Ltd., Flora Telecom Limited, Dynasty Business House, National Civil Engineers Limited.

Interesting Cases:

-Assisted Barrister Rafique-ul Huq, Senior Advocate, in a number of landmark cases, which include JTV case, Mujibnagar case, various Bank cases in connection with sections 17 and 46 of the Bank Companies Act, Bank cases in connection with CIB, waiver of interest and re-schedulement, share scam cases and also various cases against Securities and Exchange Commission, Patimas case relating to tender/procurement dispute etc.

Education:

Mr. Sayeed passed S.S.C from Cox’s Bazar Govt. High School in 1985. He passed H.S.C from Chittagong Govt. College in 1987. He obtained LL.B. (Hons.) and LL.M. (Master of Laws) degrees in 1991 and 1992 respectively from the University of Dhaka. He also obtained a Post Graduate Diploma on Human Rights and Legal Aid in 1994. He obtained another LL.B. (Hons.) degree from the University of Wolverhampton, U.K. in 2002. He obtained Post Graduate Diploma on Bar Vocational Course from the University of Northumbria at Newcastle, UK in 2003. He was called to the Bar of England and Wales as a Barrister-at-law of Lincoln's Inn, in Trinity term of July 2003.

Currently Mr. Sayeed is conducting cases on regular basis in the Supreme Court of Bangladesh & other Courts of Bangladesh. He is also conducting arbitration in various Arbitral Tribunals.