Dr. Muhammad Majibar Rahman

In January 1982, I obtained L.L.B. (Honours) degree from the University of Dhaka, Bangladesh. In 1983, I joined the Bangladesh Judicial Service as an Assistant Judge. Until December 1988, I worked in the District Judges’ Courts both as Assistant Judge and Senior Assistant Judge. In January 1989, I started my legislative drafting career as an Assistant Secretary (Drafting) in the Ministry of Law and Justice of the Government of Bangladesh. In June 1990, I was promoted to Joint-District Judge and placed in the District Judges’ Court, Dhaka, Bangladesh. In this capacity I exercised unlimited civil jurisdiction. In April 1991, I was transferred to the Ministry of Law and Justice as a Senior Assistant Secretary (Drafting) and worked there until November 1995. During this tenure, I obtained L.L.M. in Legislative Drafting degree in 1994 from the University of the West Indies, Barbados under a fellowship from the Commonwealth Secretariat, London.

In November 1995, I was promoted to Additional District and Sessions Judge and placed in the District Judges’ Court in Chittagong, Bangladesh. In this capacity, I exercised both original sessions and criminal appeal jurisdiction. I exercised civil appellate jurisdiction as well. As an Additional Sessions Judge, I exercised the highest criminal jurisdiction including imprisonment for life and death penalty. In October 1996, I was transferred to the Ministry of Law and Justice as the Deputy Secretary (Drafting) and worked there until November 1998. Both as Senior Assistant Secretary (Drafting) and Deputy Secretary (Drafting), I drafted primary and subsidiary legislation for the Government of Bangladesh.

In November 1998, I took up an assignment in Gibraltar as a Legislative Draftsman under the auspices of the CFTC, Commonwealth Secretariat in London. In this capacity, I was tasked to consolidate and revise the laws of Gibraltar and to draft primary and subsidiary legislation for the Government of Gibraltar. I continued as such for 6 years in Gibraltar until November 2004. However in 2002, I resigned from the Bangladesh Judicial Service. In March 2003, I did Ph.D. in legislative Drafting by submitting a thesis entitled, “Legislative Drafting: A 21^st Century Approach” under the supervision of Professor Dr. Stephen Redner of the American University of London which was published in December 2013 as a book entitled “Modern Legislative Drafting” by the Scholar’s Press of Germany.

In November 2004, on completion of my CFTC assignment, I was appointed by the Government of Gibraltar as a Law Draftsman in the Civil Service of Gibraltar. In December 2006, I was made British citizen and confirmed as Permanent and Pensionable to the above position. In May 2009, I have been called to the Supreme Court Bar as an Advocate of the High Court Division of the Supreme Court of Bangladesh.

In February 2010 I was placed in the European Union and International Department of the Government of Gibraltar. In December 2010, I was promoted to Senior European Union Law Draftsman in order to draft legislation exclusively for transposition of European Union

Directives into the laws of Gibraltar. Since December 1, 2010, I have been teaching legislative drafting online in the Athabasca University of Canada to its students for the Post-Baccalaureate Diploma in Legislative Drafting course.

In February 2013, my official title has been changed to Senior Law Draftsman to include drafting of domestic legislation as well. From July 2015 my official title has once again changed to Crown Counsel (Senior Law Draftsman) in the Office of the Parliamentary Counsel, Gibraltar.

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Educational credentials

• L.L.B. (Honours) (Department of Law, University of Dhaka, Dhaka, Bangladesh)
• L.L.M. (Department of Law, University of Dhaka, Dhaka, Bangladesh)
• Certificate in Legislative Drafting (BPST, Lok Sabha Secretariat, New Delhi, India)
• L.L.M. in Legislative Drafting (Cave Hill Campus, University of the West Indies, Barbados)
• Ph.D. in Legislative Drafting (AUOL, UK)

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