Nazifa Sarwar

Nazifa Sarwar is a Barrister and Advocate practising in Dhaka, with contentious and advisory experience in Bangladesh and England. She regularly appears before the District and Sessions Judge Courts of Dhaka and is developing a broad court-facing practice spanning commercial and corporate disputes, banking and Artha Rin matters, civil and property litigation, employment, family and custody proceedings, criminal and regulatory disputes, animal welfare matters, arbitration and contractual advisory work.

Her commercial and corporate practice includes disputes arising from contracts, business relationships, company affairs, insolvency and regulatory issues. She drafts pleadings, applications, written submissions, witness-related materials and legal opinions, reviews complex documentary and evidentiary records, and assists with case theory, hearing preparation and settlement strategy. Her UK experience also included a cross-border intellectual property and FinTech dispute involving a blockchain gaming company, crypto-assets, jurisdictional issues and tracing of international transactions.

Nazifa has experience in banking disputes involving loan facilities, recovery proceedings, repayment and rescheduling arrangements, settlement terms and contested CIB classification. Her Artha Rin work includes reviewing facility documents, sanction letters, repayment records, banking correspondence and settlement arrangements to identify substantive and procedural issues affecting recovery and defence strategies.

Her civil, property and land practice includes title and ownership disputes, possession claims, chains of title, title deeds, Heba deeds, succession documents, inheritance claims and competing interests in property. In England, she successfully represented parties in County Court civil and commercial hearings; in one possession matter, a Defence and Counterclaim she prepared identified a defective section 21 notice, after which the possession claim was dismissed.

Her employment practice includes contentious and advisory matters. In England, she appeared in an Employment Tribunal hearing at short notice and successfully argued an application to amend the claimant’s ET1 to introduce further allegations despite opposition, following which the respondent offered to settle through ACAS. She has also advised on settlement agreements and contractual employment issues.

Nazifa has conducted divorce proceedings and is familiar with complex child-custody disputes, including matters requiring careful handling of sensitive family evidence, competing parental positions and practical welfare considerations. Her prior family-law exposure in England included work and observation relating to family proceedings and financial-remedy issues.

Her criminal and regulatory practice is expanding to include contested animal welfare disputes. She is presently acting in an animal welfare matter involving the interaction of general penal provisions, animal-welfare legislation, police complaint/FIR procedure, evidentiary preservation and criminal complaint strategy, and is preparing to represent the client before the Chief Metropolitan Magistrate Court in Dhaka.

Nazifa has also worked on commercial arbitration and adjudication matters. Her experience includes research, drafting, contractual and evidentiary analysis under ICC, SIAC and UNCITRAL frameworks, as well as supporting counsel in three concurrent construction adjudications involving urgent referral notices, witness statements, conferences and hearing bundles.

Before returning to Bangladesh, Nazifa worked at DWF Law LLP, Witan Solicitors and Quartz Barristers in England. At DWF she worked on a substantial insurer-litigation caseload, analysed evidence across more than 150 files, drafted defences, witness statements and applications, negotiated settlements and advised insurer clients on prospects and risk. She completed the LLM Barristers Training Course at Nottingham Trent University and is an Accredited International Civil and Commercial Mediator with ADR ODR International.