TANJIB ALAM & ASSOCIATES

TANJIB ALAM & ASSOCIATES has a strong team that specialises in advising on energy
and telecoms-related work. In addition the group is adept at handling cross-border banking
and finance matters as well as corporate and M&A deals. Other strengths lie in litigation,
arbitration and mediation. Tanjib-ul Alam is well-known in the market for his substantial
experience in diverse areas such as advising clients on gas-based and coal-based projects as
well as acting as lead counsel in many syndicated transactions involving rental power
projects.

TANJIB ALAM & ASSOCIATES > Firm Profile

The firm: Tanjib Alam and Associates was founded by Tanjib-ul Alam, advocate (Supreme
Court of Bangladesh) in 2009, who is also the Head of the Chamber. Mr Alam has been
practising before the Supreme Court of Bangladesh since 1999. In his 19 years of practice,
Mr Alam has gained an excellent reputation and has recieved praise from judges, lawyers and
clients. Mr Alam was involved in drafting the Bangladesh Telecommunication Act, the
Bangladesh Energy Regulatory Commission Act and the Information and Communication
Technology Act for Bangladesh. He has recently completed his consultancy for drafting the
new Companies Act for Bangladesh. It is anticipated that the proposed legislation will bring
much needed reform in the corporate law of Bangladesh creating opportunities to attract
foreign direct investment. He has worked as consultant to the World Bank and UNDP on
various law reform issues involving the separation of judiciary.

From the creation of the firm, Mr Alam has trained and supervised a set of competent lawyers
who now work as associates of the firm. As of today, the firm advises and represents
hundreds of clients from Bangladesh and abroad, including the world’s top law firms on the
laws of Bangladesh. Since its inception in 2009, the firm has grown rapidly in terms of both
lawyers and clientele. At present, the firm serves a rich clientele in almost all sectors of
business and commerce with a predominant focus on energy, telecommunication, cross
border financing, direct foreign investment and corporate matters.

Tanjib Alam and Associates is a leading law firm in Bangladesh for commercial arbitration,
merger and acquisition, energy project, telecommunication, private equity, loan syndication,
foreign direct investment, admiralty and international trade. The firm has recently advised a
leading steel conglomerate in Bangladesh and prepared the legal documents to obtain
financing facilities worth US$90m, and advised and prepared all relevant legal documents for
the transfer of a US$122.43m syndication facility to a leading power generation company –
only to mention some of its work in the financial sector. As a leader in M&A, the firm acted
as legal advisor and counsel to Robi Axiata Limited on its acquisition of Airtel Bangladesh
Limited under a merger scheme. While acting as the legal advisor, the firm carried out legal
due diligence and prepared the documentation concerning the merger and acquisition. As the
counsel for the merging companies the firm also obtained approval of the scheme from the
High Court Division. The merger between Robi and Airtel was the largest merger in the
history of Bangladesh. Tanjib Alam and Associates have also advised on several other high-
value mergers including the merger of three leading steel manufacturers in Bangladesh, and
the merger between three of the leading power generation companies in Bangladesh.
With regards to dispute resolution, the firm has advised and represented a leading rice
importer at the London GAFTA Arbitration for a high-value repudiation claim, and
represented several leading conglomerates in the energy sector at BERC Arbitration in recent
years. Under the leadership of Mr Alam, the firm has successfully defended a foreign
arbitration claim worth US$10m brought by International Cotton Association against a cotton
importer, and has advised one of the biggest telecom operators in the world regarding a
dispute with one of its vendors under a contract worth US$78m.

The firm has also advised many local and multinational corporations in the telecoms, power
and infrastructure sectors and assisted in preparing security documents, investment
agreements, power purchase and implementation agreements as well as in turnkey and EPC
contracts. The firm has recently been confirmed as the official legal partner for the China-
Bangladesh Investment Forum 2017 held in Beijing, China.

The head of the chamber, Mr Tanjib-ul Alam, is regarded as one of the leading corporate and
constitutional law practitioners in Bangladesh with expertise in corporate finance, energy,
telecommunication and infrastructure projects. He has been involved in a number of ground-
breaking project finance and IPOs in Bangladesh including securitisation of the first ever
micro-credit transaction in the world and the largest IPO of GrameenPhone.

Areas of practice: Tanjib Alam and Associates is a leading law firm in Bangladesh for
commercial arbitration, merger and acquisition, energy project, telecommunication, private
equity, loan syndication, foreign direct investment, admiralty and international trade. The
firm has recently advised a leading steel conglomerate in Bangladesh and prepared the legal
documents to obtain financing facilities worth US$90m, and advised and prepared all
relevant legal documents for the transfer of a US$122.43m syndication facility to a leading
power generation company – only to mention some of its work in the financial sector. As a
leader in M&A, the firm acted as legal advisor and counsel to Robi Axiata Limited on its
acquisition of Airtel Bangladesh Limited under a merger scheme. While acting as the legal
advisor, the firm carried out legal due diligence and prepared the documentation concerning
the merger and acquisition. As the counsel for the merging companies the firm also obtained
approval of the scheme from the High Court Division. The merger between Robi and Airtel
was the largest merger in the history of Bangladesh. Tanjib Alam and Associates have also
advised on several other high-value mergers including the merger of three leading steel
manufacturers in Bangladesh, and the merger between three of the leading power generation
companies in Bangladesh.

With regards to dispute resolution, the firm has advised and represented a leading rice
importer at the London GAFTA Arbitration for a high-value repudiation claim, and
represented several leading conglomerates in the energy sector at BERC Arbitration in recent
years. Under the leadership of Mr Alam, the firm has successfully defended a foreign
arbitration claim worth US$10m brought by International Cotton Association against a cotton
importer, and has advised one of the biggest telecom operators in the world regarding a
dispute with one of its vendors under a contract worth US$78m.

The firm has also advised many local and multinational corporations in the telecoms, power
and infrastructure sectors and assisted in preparing security documents, investment
agreements, power purchase and implementation agreements as well as in turnkey and EPC
contracts. The firm has recently been confirmed as the official legal partner for the China-
Bangladesh Investment Forum 2017 held in Beijing, China.
The head of the chamber, Mr Tanjib-ul Alam, is regarded as one of the leading corporate and
constitutional law practitioners in Bangladesh with expertise in corporate finance, energy,
telecommunication and infrastructure projects. He has been involved in a number of ground-
breaking project finance and IPOs in Bangladesh including securitisation of the first ever
micro-credit transaction in the world and the largest IPO of GrameenPhone.

Staff Figures
Number of lawyers : 12

Client Testimonials
CLIENT: Khalid Rahim, Senior Advisor & Head of Corporate Finance
COMPANY/FIRM: KPMG
TESTIMONIAL: I have found Barrister Tanjib Alam to be a thoroughly professional and
results orientated lawyer, the best in his field. A fine legal brain, who uses legal expertise and
commercial common sense to obtain the best outcome for clients.

CLIENT: Jone Kumer Gupta

Financial Controller
COMPANY/FIRM: Radisson Blu Dhaka Water Garden
TESTIMONIAL: Tanjib Alam and Associates (TAA) is our primary legal counsel for
litigation matters and disputes. They are skilled trial lawyers and a trusted advisor to the
company on a variety of legal matters. In addition to their legal acumen, TAA understands
our business industry well in which we compete. It is their combination of trial skills and
business savvy that separates TAA from other firms. They appreciate the importance of
putting our company in the best position to resolve disputes and reduce the disruption to our
business and employees.I highly recommend Tanjib-ul Alam and his team.

CLIENT: Shamim Ul Huq

Managing Director & Group Representative
COMPANY/FIRM: Maersk Bangladesh Ltd.
TESTIMONIAL:  Tanjib Alam and Associates has been our legal counsel for several years.
Throughout this long    period of our cooperation, I have found them to be professional in
their approach, ethical in standards and highly reliable in delivering on their commitments.
They most certainly rank the highest amongst legal firms in Bangladesh with in depth
understanding of maritime laws. Barrister Tanjib ul Alam sets himself quite apart not only as
a highly skilled lawyer, but also a brilliant mind. His grasp of commercial complexities,
contemporary knowledge of global trade and deep understanding of the corporate world
makes him a valuable partner.

CLIENT: Ummay Habiba Sharmin

SAVP  & Head of Legal Affairs
COMPANY/FIRM: LankaBangla Finance Limited
TESTIMONIAL: As a financial service provider, we require legal support of various
magnitude. Barrister Tanjib Alam and Associates provides us with a consistently high quality
responsive service across all its disciplines, with Barrister Tanjibul Alam and his colleagues
showing great commercial awareness and understanding of our needs. Barrister Tanjib is a
truly brilliant lawyer who has provided exceptional strategic and practical suggestions to our
various complex issues. The firm is highly credible and has already gained a very respectable
position in the legal arena of Bangladesh.

CLIENT: Major (Retd) Khairul Basher, psc

General Manager-Group Administration
COMPANY/FIRM: Abdul Monem Group
TESTIMONIAL:  I, on behalf of Abdul Monem Group, take this privilege to state that M/S
Tanjib Alam and Associates, a leading Legal Firm of Bangladesh, is a counselor to us since
long time. The Associates endow us with legal advices consistently for the last several years.
Not only that they also support us beyond customary advices on legal aspect but also widen
their support in other administrative needs. Undoubtedly, Tanjib Alam and Associates helped
us emerging to a leading business house of the country. We wish Tanjib Alam and Associates
a great success in days ahead.

CLIENT: Khalid Islam.

Managing Director
COMPANY/FIRM: DigiCon Telecommunication
TESTIMONIAL:  When working with lawyers, two things are most important to
us—forthrightness in their opinions and ideas, and that they are proactive rather than reactive.
We have great confidence in Tanjib Alam and a associates, so much so, that we have retained
them for all the subsidiaries of our parent company – over 10 subsidiaries under Confidence
Group, our parent company have retained Tanjib Alam and associates.  Barrister Tanjib’s
knowledge of the law and his depth of experience, coupled with the responsive and personal
service his firm provides, all contribute to a strong and valued relationship with our
organization.

Diversity/Community
Ever since our incorporation in 2009, Diversity and Equality has been a core value at Tanjib
Alam and Associates. We believe that such an important value expresses a mutual
commitment to continue our work to break the shackles of unequal opportunity, to appreciate
the differences among people in our chambers while acknowledging our similarities, and to
create a welcoming atmosphere where everyone can develop his/her potential fully. We
believe only the high performing teams, which expand the range of different opinions,
perspectives and cultural references, will succeed in the marketplace. Our goal is to create an
environment which allows diverse lawyers to grow and advance professionally, hone their
skills and benefit from working with talented colleagues. We have experienced that diversity
allows us to look at the issues from different perspective and helps in approaching problems
with more clarity of thoughts.

When recruiting, we encourage applications from all sections of the community and adhere to
the selection processes which is inclusive and free from any prejudice, racial, gender or
otherwise. We advertise all vacancies internally as well as externally and we always see a
balanced and varied shortlist. With regard to our aims, associates and staff are required to be
familiar with our equality and diversity values and any behaviour which falls short of these
expectations is taken seriously. We continuously work to attract, develop, nurture, and retain
the most talented diverse lawyers. These lawyers lay the foundation for innovative practices
and shape the firm’s strategic direction. They contribute tremendous value to our firm, our
clientele, and our profession.

We acknowledge and respect these individual differences, and not just in relation to gender,
ethnicity, disability, age, sexual orientation and faith but also in terms of background,
education, working style and family or care responsibilities.

As a leading law firm, we are committed to utilising these differences to achieve better results
and to serve our clients and community better. We believe that creating an inclusive
environment where all our people feel valued and can bring their differences to work every
day, creates a more stimulating and rewarding environment to work in.

We aim to ensure that all our people are employed, trained, compensated and/or promoted
solely on the strength of their ability, qualifications, experience and merit. We have a low
staff churning and are proud of the fact that many of the people remain with us for such a
long time.

We monitor diversity statistics to ensure that our practices are fair and non-discriminatory.
What this means for our clients is that we are better positioned to provide top notch service to
an increasingly diverse audience.

Our firm is well known for its pro-bono public interest litigation and have been involved in
number of landmark cases ranging from environment protection, corruption in public affairs,
right to information and human rights. Our firm was the lead counsel in a recent public
interest litigation involving foreign investment in oil and gas sector for the recovery of
compensation worth more than a billion dollar.

Interviews
Tanjib Alam, Head of Chambers
What do you see as the main points that differentiate tanjib alam and
associates from your competitors?

The foundation of Tanjib Alam and Associates is based on dexterity and experience. By
combining these two elements, we take a tailor made approach that suits the specific elements
of our clients’ cases.
Unlike our competitors, we do not employ over-used tactics to resolve disputes. The
important point being, in an arena like law which is always in flux, a fool-proof method is
nothing but a myth. However, we do not try to reinvent the wheel as well.

Keeping this in mind over the years we have kept our attitude towards each case completely
different from the other. The benefit of such a process has been twofold: we have learned
from our experience and our clients have always been satisfied.

Moreover, unlike most chambers we do not resort to litigation at the first sight of a dispute.
Our first instinct is to analyse whether the problem in hand can be solved outside the shackled
realm of the court house.

The reason being the court system of our country is still quite tedious and at times the
purpose is defeated due to technical procedures. Therefore, to drag every single dispute to
court is a damaging prospect that we have learned to avoid. Our in-house expert arbitrators
and mediators have flourished in their craft with adroitness and finesse.

With their sound advice, and our clients’ particular needs in mind, we try to find a prompt
solution to the dispute in hand. In addition, nowadays even courts encourage parties to have
their disputes sorted by means of mediation or arbitration.

We do discuss with clients the possible options of securing their ultimate goal bearing in
mind that our clients are not apt with all legal jargons and privileges that the existing law in
the country could offer them.

Therefore, we seek their instruction, we learn from them the background facts and then we
secure their objectives with our expertise and skill within the legal framework. This makes
our firm very distinctive than most other firms in the country as we have developed a client-
oriented approach.

Because of our vast experience in the corporate and commercial world, in both in-house and
litigation, we do understand how the needs of our clients can best be met, what the trend of
the courts are and what the courts could possibly order if the advice or its derivatives are
subsequently challenged in this jurisdiction.

In essence, at Tanjib Alam and Associates, we always try to strike a balance between the
procedural nuances and our clients’ preference for privacy and promptness to arrive at a
suitable solution.

What’s the main change you’ve made in the firm that will benefit clients?

At Tanjib Alam and Associates we have incorporated the latest technological advancement in
order to facilitate smooth operation. We are subscribed to the latest legal newsletters and law
reports and we have a huge collection of monographs and practitioners’ texts by leading
authors and lawyers from all over the world.

Needless to mention that in order to build a strong foundation of a case, ample amount of
legal research on different aspects is necessary. Therefore, in our chambers, there is an
opulently resourceful library crammed with books of every area of practice by well-known
authors and developed jurisdictions to serve our clients with useful legal references.
These books are regularly being used by our dedicated legal researchers as well as other
members of the firm. In this age of information superhighway, online subscription to major
legal reporting network is sine qua non for a law firm to survive.

The infrastructure of our chambers is based on transparency and approachability, and the
architectural value dictates as such. We have an open door policy which allows the associates
to approach me and other senior associates whenever they are in need of direction or further
guidance regarding any issue.

This translucent environment helps the clients by ensuring timely replies and instructions
which is often not possible if a certain protocol is needed to be maintained in the chambers.

In addition, I have also established a result-oriented practice so that our clients are served
with the appropriate remedy within the frameworks of law without incurring unreasonable
delay and unnecessary costs. This is done by allocating expert team members and resources
in accordance with the issue in hand.

Is technology changing the way you interact with your clients, and the services
you can provide them?

For a firm like ours which has its clients all over the world, technology is a staple. In the last
few years, in our chambers, the impression that technology is a facility has been superseded
and now it is more of a necessity.

Our chambers has a state-of-the-art communication facility with clients and we do accept
almost all sorts of communication for our clients’ convenience. Our day-to-day conducts are
entirely dependent on e-mail correspondence and we do have to update our own database
from time to time.

We have almost all the latest equipment present at our chambers which help us interact with
our local and international clients in real time via audio or video conference. We also
encourage our associates to use technology to its fullest potential to keep the clients always
updated about the progress of their case or to answer any queries they might have regarding
the case.

Can you give us a practical example of how you have helped a client to add
value to their business?

Being involved in the drafting of certain crucial Statues has given me an exhaustive
knowledge about the intricate workings of the provisions enshrined in them.

For example, my involvement in the drafting phase of Bangladesh Telecommunication Act

provided me with a clear understanding of the spirit of the statute itself and also the interest
of the government and regulatory bodies, owing to which I was able to provide my clients at
the telecommunication sector with symmetrical advice which helped them to avoid legal
backlash.

The same could be said about my clients in the energy/power sector who have benefitted
from my grasp in Bangladesh Energy Regulatory Commission Act that resulted from being
involved in the construction phase of the statue.

I have been the lead consultant of IFC in drafting the new Companies Act for Bangladesh and
was involved in drafting the upcoming Broadcasting Act, and as such I do understand the
intent and spirit of the legislature very well to advise my clients in these matters.

To be precise, my close liaison with the regulatory body has helped my clients giving them a
clearer picture of the broad spectrum of possibilities and know-how of the legal aspect of
their business within the framework of law.

As I have said, we do have a client-oriented approach, and by saying so, I mean we do

explore the various ways in which the ultimate goal of our clients could be achieved in a cost-
effective yet speedy manner.

Key clients

bKash Limited
Save the Children
Juki Machinery BD Limited
Summit Group
Juki Singapore Ltd
KDS Group
NDB Capital Limited
Cosco Shipping Limited
Lidl Hong Kong
The City of London Investment Management Company Limited
Brummer and Partners Asset Management (Bangladesh) Ltd.
Marico Bangladesh
Tesco International Ltd.
Delta Life Insurance Company Ltd
Mashreq Bank
Orion Group
LafargeHolcim Bangladesh
Bayer Crop Science Limited
GlaxoSmithKline Bangladesh Ltd
Frontier PE (Cayman) LP
Masco Industries Ltd
Dell Technologies Limited
The Walt Disney Co (India) pvt Ltd
Civil Aviation Authority of Bangladesh
Shimizu Corporation
A.K. Khan & Co.
Maersk Bangladesh
Dhaka Stock Exchange Limited
Grameenphone Limited
Citi Bank NA
Robi Axiata Limited
Confidence Group
Abul Khair Group Limited
DHL (Asia Pacific Regional Office)
Bangladesh Medical and Dental Council
Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujib Medical Univerisity
Jamuna Oil Company Limited
Padma Oil Company Limited
Bangladesh Bank, Central Bank of Bangladesh
Consumer Knitex Limited
Eastern Bank Limited
United Group of Industries
Proctor and Gambles Bangladesh Limited
Maddhapara Granite Mining Company Limited
International Beverages Private Limited
National Board of Revenue