The First Counsel

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White-Collar & Investigations

Everything the firm has published on white-collar & investigations — newest first.

BriefingTax fraud vs. tax dispute: the line that decides whether you need us or an accountantA disputed assessment is a civil matter with an appeal route. Alleged fraud is a criminal case with arrest powers. What moves a file from one to the other.3 July 2026 · 5 min read
The First ReadingThe First Reading — No. 3The Finance Act 2026 is law, the new fiscal year resets the compliance calendar, and the half-year enforcement record shows where 2026-27 risk sits.1 July 2026 · 4 min read
BriefingMutual legal assistance: when foreign evidence enters Pakistani proceedingsThe MLA Act 2020 built a statutory pipeline for evidence to cross borders in criminal cases. How material moves through it — and how it is tested when it arrives.30 June 2026 · 5 min read
PerspectiveThe first call: what clients get right, and wrong, in the first ten minutesThe ten minutes after a raid, a notice, or an account freeze decide more than most hearings. Here is what the good calls have in common.24 June 2026 · 5 min read
BriefingThe Benami trap: how benami transaction proceedings begin, and how they endProperty held in another's name can be attached, adjudicated and confiscated under the Benami Transactions (Prohibition) Act 2017 — the stages of a benami case, the statutory exceptions that save ordinary family arrangements, and the exits at each stage.19 June 2026 · 6 min read
BriefingBail in white-collar matters: the law after the recent superior-court trilogyThree strands of superior-court authority now govern bail in financial cases: bail as the rule outside the prohibitory clause, documentary cases as cases of further inquiry, and detention that cannot be used as punishment.28 May 2026 · 5 min read
BriefingThe white-collar board briefing: what every director should know before the letter arrivesA call-up notice, a freezing order, a name on the Exit Control List: the decisions that determine a director's exposure are usually taken before any letter arrives.12 May 2026 · 5 min read
The First ReadingThe First Reading — No. 1Ten developments in one sitting: where constitutional challenges now go, NAB references after the restored amendments, PECA's new machinery, and the FBR's arrest powers.5 May 2026 · 4 min read
PerspectiveIn defense of the difficult clientThe unpopular brief protects everyone else's trial. The evasive client endangers his own. A working lawyer must handle both.24 March 2026 · 5 min read
BriefingThe dawn raid protocol: the first six hours decide the next six yearsWhen NAB, the FIA, the CCP or the FBR arrive unannounced, what your reception desk does in the first hour will shape the investigation more than anything your lawyers file later.18 March 2026 · 5 min read
Client AlertCCP enforcement: recent cartel penalty decisionsThe Competition Commission imposes turnover-based penalties for cartel conduct, and the most common route in is an ordinary trade-association meeting; here is where enforcement stands.12 March 2026 · 3 min read
PerspectiveWhy we pair corporate and criminal practiceA board minute and a charge sheet often describe the same afternoon. That is why our deal lawyers and defense lawyers share one corridor.5 March 2026 · 4 min read
PerspectiveThe presumption of innocence is a practice, not a phraseAn accused can lose his passport, his accounts, and his name before a single witness is sworn. Keeping the presumption alive is daily work.17 February 2026 · 4 min read
PerspectiveThe ethics of the white-collar defense: answering the dinner-party questionHow we answer the question every defense lawyer is asked at dinner: how can you act for people accused of that?12 February 2026 · 4 min read
Client AlertThe NAB amendments and pending references: where matters standThe Supreme Court has restored the 2022 amendments, so the Rs 500 million threshold again decides which references stay in the accountability courts — and which move.15 January 2026 · 3 min read
BriefingAnatomy of a NAB reference: from call-up notice to accountability courtWhat happens at each stage of a NAB case, who decides it, and where the outcome is usually settled long before trial.12 January 2026 · 5 min read

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