The Securities and Exchange Commission of Pakistan has directed companies to appoint legal advisers under the Lawyers Welfare and Protection Act, 2023, and to submit details of their appointments on Form-9 in line with the law. The instruction applies to companies whose paid-up capital exceeds 200 million Pakistani rupees, for which Section 10 of the Act makes the appointment of a legal adviser mandatory. The directive puts a legal obligation in front of larger companies that may not have treated it as an active requirement, and it sets out the filing step they must complete to show they are following it.
The law is specific about who can fill the role and how. Legal advisers must be appointed as practising advocates, and they must be engaged on a retainer basis, which means the arrangement is a continuing one rather than a one time engagement for a single matter. The Act also sets a limit on how many companies one lawyer can serve in this capacity: an advocate cannot act as legal adviser to more than three such companies at a time. That cap prevents a small number of lawyers from holding the position at a large number of companies and spreads the work across the profession. For companies, it means that the lawyer they choose must have room under the limit, which is worth confirming before an appointment is made.
Companies that fall under the threshold should check their paid-up capital against the figure in the law and confirm whether the requirement applies to them. Those that do must identify a qualified advocate, put the retainer arrangement in place, and file Form-9 with the details of the appointment. Firms that already have a legal adviser on retainer will still need to confirm that the adviser meets the conditions of the Act, including the limit of three companies, and that the required details have been filed in the proper form. Corporate secretaries and compliance officers are likely to be the first to handle the paperwork, and they will want to complete it promptly given the warning attached to the directive.
The Securities and Exchange Commission of Pakistan said companies that fail to comply with the requirements will face action under the relevant legal provisions. The announcement did not state a deadline for filing, nor did it describe the penalties, so companies should consult the Act and the commission’s guidance for the specific consequences and timelines. For the legal profession, the directive creates a steady source of retainer work from larger companies, while for businesses it adds a compliance item to the annual calendar that is simple to meet but costly to neglect.
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