Dr. Ammara Farooq Malik, a female lawyer, has made history by becoming the first Pakistani to chair the Asia Pacific board of the Global Alliance of Impact Lawyers (GAIL).
GAIL is a global community of legal leaders working to have a positive influence on people and the planet by speeding the just transition. Regional boards for the community are established in the UK, North America, South America, Asia Pacific, and Europe.
Dr. Ammara has spent more than 20 years developing impact entrepreneurship. She is the founding principal attorney of the Pakistani law firm AFMalik Law. She became a social enterprise lawyer and Pakistan’s first impact lawyer in 2018, respectively. The first female-run law company in Pakistan to expand internationally is AFMalik Law.
Making history: Female lawyers finally breaking the glass ceiling
A notable accomplishment is Dr. Ammara’s recent election as chair of the Asia Pacific board of GAIL for the period of March 2023–March 2024. On the regional board, which also has representatives from Singapore, Australia, New Zealand, China, and Hong Kong, she is the only representative from Pakistan.
The lawyer wants to use her position to spread the word about GAIL’s international efforts and legal implications. Additionally, she wants to expand the prospects for partnerships between impact entrepreneurs and investors in the region by establishing regional links amongst lawyers in the Asia Pacific region.
Dr. Ammara recognized the significance of mainstreaming ESG, Business, and Human Rights in company operations in Pakistan in a piece that was published in the GAIL Asia Pacific Impact Lawyers Journal. She mentioned that AFMalik Law had already started training programmes for aspiring lawyers to educate them about impact law and the pressing need for its development in Pakistan. By advising the corporate sector to simplify its operations for the benefit of people and the environment, she continued, the creation of an impact law in Pakistan has the potential to assist the government in adapting to climate change.
