Practice Area
Dispute Resolution
We prosecute, defend, and settle commercial disputes for businesses — contract claims, injunctions, shareholder fights, recovery, and the enforcement of judgments and awards. Disputes work here supports the firm's business practices: it exists to protect the company, its cash, and its deals.
Dispute resolution at The First Counsel is a supporting practice, and we mean that as a discipline rather than a disclaimer. The firm exists to help businesses build — deals, contracts, compliance — and the disputes bench exists to protect that work: to collect the receivable, hold the injunction line, defend the company, and enforce the judgment. The measure of success is the client's commercial position afterwards, not the length of the cause list behind it.
Delay is the defining weapon of civil litigation in Pakistan, and every strategy must price it in. For a plaintiff, that means front-loading: a complete plaint, documents filed with it, and interim relief under the Code of Civil Procedure 1908 sought on day one, because the injunction hearing is often the only hearing that changes anyone's behavior for years. For a defendant, it means knowing which fights to have early — jurisdiction, limitation, the arbitration clause, summary dismissal points — and which to hold for trial. We litigate in the civil courts of Lahore, before the Lahore High Court and the other High Courts, and in the Supreme Court of Pakistan.
Recovery work gets particular attention, because for most businesses the dispute that actually arrives is an unpaid invoice. The toolkit runs from summary suits on negotiable instruments under Order XXXVII, through banking-court proceedings under the Financial Institutions (Recovery of Finances) Ordinance 2001, to execution under Order XXI — and, where a cheque has bounced, the parallel criminal track under section 489-F of the Pakistan Penal Code 1860. We choose the route by the debtor's assets and the client's economics, not by habit.
Some disputes stop being commercial. An FIA complaint arrives with the civil suit; an SECP inquiry shadows the shareholder fight; a recovery matter surfaces an accountability angle. Those matters are run together with the firm's [white-collar defense practice](/capabilities/white-collar), which defends companies, directors, and public figures in NAB, FIA, and regulatory-enforcement proceedings — one theory of the case across every forum, so that a concession made in the quiet forum does not detonate in the loud one.
Court structures, pecuniary jurisdiction, court fees, and the allocation of commercial work vary by province and change by amendment. The positions described on this page are stated as of mid-2026 and are confirmed before any filing.
When Businesses Need This
The moments this practice exists for.
- 01A customer owes you a serious receivable and has stopped taking your calls.
- 02You have been served with a suit or an injunction application and have days, not weeks, to respond.
- 03A counterparty is breaching a contract and you need it stopped now, not at a trial five years away.
- 04A shareholder or co-founder dispute is paralyzing the board and the bank account.
- 05You hold a decree or an arbitral award and need it converted into actual money.
- 06A cheque you relied on has bounced and you want to know every route to recovery.
- 07You are deciding whether a dispute is worth fighting at all, and want the honest math before the first filing.
How It Works
The process, stage by stage.
1
Assessment
Before anything is filed or answered, we assess the merits, the forum, the limitation position, and the money: what the claim is worth, what it will cost, and how long each route realistically takes. The output is a written recommendation — fight, settle, or hold — with the assumptions stated. Some of the best work in this practice is advising a client not to litigate.
2
Pre-action strategy
A demand notice is a litigation document, not a letter. We draft it to build the record: the contract identified, the breach particularized, the amount computed, the deadline fixed. In parallel we map the counterparty's assets and its other exposure, because leverage before filing is usually cheaper than leverage after.
3
Filing and interim relief
Most commercial cases are decided in substance at the interim stage. We front-load the case — a complete plaint with documents attached, and applications for temporary injunctions under Order XXXIX or attachment before judgment under Order XXXVIII rule 5 of the Code of Civil Procedure 1908 moved on day one. Defending, we work the same stage in reverse: jurisdiction, limitation, arbitration clauses, and the vacation of ex parte orders.
4
Trial and evidence
Commercial trials in Pakistan are won on documents proved properly the first time. We frame issues narrowly, prove the paper trail through the right witnesses, and keep the record clean for the bench above — because every order we invite is drafted to survive appeal.
5
Appeal and revision
We conduct first appeals and revisions in the High Courts and petitions for leave to appeal to the Supreme Court of Pakistan. Appellate work lives inside the closed record, which is why the record is built at trial with the appeal already in mind.
6
Execution and recovery
A decree is not money. We run execution under Order XXI of the Code of Civil Procedure 1908 — attachment and sale of movable and immovable property, prohibitory and garnishee orders on the judgment-debtor's receivables and bank accounts, and examination of the judgment-debtor — because the case is not over until the client is paid.
The Legal Framework
The law this work runs on.
- Code of Civil Procedure, 1908
- The procedural spine of civil litigation: temporary injunctions under Order XXXIX, attachment before judgment under Order XXXVIII rule 5, summary suits on negotiable instruments under Order XXXVII, and execution of decrees under Order XXI. Most tactical advantage in a Pakistani commercial case lives in this Code.
- Contract Act, 1872
- The substantive law of most commercial claims. Sections 73 and 74 govern compensation for breach and the treatment of liquidated damages and penalties — the difference between a damages clause that pays and one that merely decorates.
- Specific Relief Act, 1877
- The source of injunctions, specific performance, and declarations. Whether a court will restrain a breach or only compensate it afterwards is answered here, and it shapes how contracts should be drafted in the first place.
- Limitation Act, 1908
- Most contract claims must be brought within three years, with the start date turning on the facts; some periods are far shorter. Limitation is jurisdictional in effect — a strong claim filed late is a dead claim — so we compute it before anything else.
- Financial Institutions (Recovery of Finances) Ordinance, 2001
- Recovery suits by and against financial institutions run in the banking courts under this Ordinance, on a leave-to-defend model that decides most cases at the first application. We act for lenders pursuing recovery and for customers seeking leave to defend.
- Companies Act, 2017
- Shareholder and company disputes — oppression and mismanagement, winding-up, challenges to board action, rectification of the register — run before the Company Benches of the High Courts under this Act, on their own procedure and timelines.
- Arbitration Act, 1940
- Where the contract contains an arbitration clause, section 34 lets a defendant seek a stay of the suit — and a plaintiff who ignores its own clause invites one. The clause is checked before the forum is chosen, in every case.
- Pakistan Penal Code, 1860
- Section 489-F makes the dishonour of a cheque issued with dishonest intent an offence, and complaints under it often run alongside civil recovery. The criminal and civil tracks must tell one consistent story, which is why we coordinate them under one strategy.
Statutory references are stated as of the page’s as-of date and flagged where verification is pending; the law moves, and the current position should be confirmed before relying on it.
Common Mistakes
The errors we see most — and their price.
- Sitting on a claim while relationships are managed, until the Limitation Act 1908 quietly closes the courthouse door.
- Sending an angry demand letter that concedes facts the other side will read back in cross-examination.
- Filing suit in disregard of the contract's arbitration clause and spending the first year litigating the forum instead of the dispute.
- Treating the interim injunction hearing as a preliminary skirmish when it is usually the only hearing that changes behavior for years.
- Litigating for pride when the settlement math — time value, legal spend, enforcement risk — plainly favors a negotiated exit.
- Winning a decree with no execution plan and discovering the judgment-debtor's assets left in year two.
- Running parallel proceedings — civil, criminal, regulatory — through different lawyers with no single theory, so a statement in one forum detonates in another.
- Keeping records so poorly before the dispute that the claim is real but the proof is not.
Representative Scenarios
The shape of the work.
Illustrative scenarios, not case reports — composites drawn to show how matters of this kind run.
- —Illustrative: a distributor terminated for cause obtains an ex parte injunction against its principal; we appear within days, have the order vacated, and the case settles on the principal's terms within the quarter.Illustrative
- —Illustrative: a services company with a large unpaid receivable proceeds by summary suit on the dishonoured cheques under Order XXXVII, and the pressure of the leave-to-defend threshold produces a scheduled settlement.Illustrative
- —Illustrative: a deadlocked shareholding is resolved through a petition before the Company Bench, ending in a court-supervised buyout rather than a winding-up.Illustrative
- —Illustrative: a decree-holder recovers through execution — garnishee orders on the judgment-debtor's receivables proving faster than attachment and sale of its property.Illustrative
Questions, Answered
What clients ask about dispute resolution.
Honestly: a contested civil suit can run three to seven years to decree, with appeals adding more, though banking-court and summary procedures move faster. That is why strategy front-loads the case — interim relief, summary routes where available, and settlement pressure built early. We give timelines as ranges with assumptions, and we price delay into every recommendation.
It depends on three numbers: the amount, the counterparty's recoverable assets, and the cost-and-time of the route available. A claim backed by a dishonoured cheque or a clean written contract may support a summary suit under Order XXXVII, which shifts the economics sharply. We run this math with you before filing, and we will tell you plainly when the answer is no.
An ad-interim injunction under Order XXXIX of the Code of Civil Procedure 1908 can issue on the first hearing, sometimes ex parte, where the case shows a prima facie case, irreparable harm, and balance of convenience. Speed depends on preparation: a complete plaint, documents in order, and an affidavit that proves rather than asserts. The confirmation hearing that follows is prepared as the trial it usually turns out to be.
Courts can award costs, but as of mid-2026 costs awarded in Pakistani civil litigation are typically modest against actual spend. Real cost recovery is drafted, not litigated: liquidated damages, interest, and cost-shifting clauses in the contract do more than a costs prayer ever will. Treat legal spend as an investment to be sized against recovery, not an expense to be reimbursed.
For interim protection, often yes; for the merits, expect a stay. Under section 34 of the Arbitration Act 1940 a defendant who acts before filing its written statement can usually have the suit stayed in favor of arbitration, and for New York Convention agreements the stay under the 2011 Act is close to mandatory. The clause decides the forum, so read it before filing anything — our arbitration practice handles the reference itself.
Through execution under Order XXI of the Code of Civil Procedure 1908: attachment and sale of the judgment-debtor's property, prohibitory and garnishee orders on its bank accounts and receivables, and examination of the debtor on oath about its assets. Execution is its own campaign and is planned before the suit is filed — a defendant with no traceable assets changes whether the suit is worth bringing at all.
Sometimes both. A dishonoured cheque can ground a complaint under section 489-F of the Pakistan Penal Code 1860, and genuine fraud can support an FIA or police complaint alongside the civil claim. But the criminal track carries its own risks and must never contradict the civil pleadings. Where a dispute develops a criminal or regulatory edge — in either direction — the firm's white-collar practice runs that track under the same strategy.
When the expected value of continuing — claim value discounted by merits, time, cost, and enforcement risk — falls below what is on the table. That moment usually arrives after an interim ruling, when leverage is measurable. We prepare every case to be won and review it at each stage against the settlement math, in writing, so the decision is the client's and an informed one.
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Prepared by The First Counsel · As of 2026-07-12 · Pending professional review — statements flagged in the text are being verified
This publication is provided for general information only. It is not legal advice, and neither reading it nor corresponding with the firm about it creates a lawyer–client relationship. The position stated must be verified against current law before it is relied upon.