Muhammad Umar Ali is a Visiting Assistant Professor (full-time) at SAHSOL. His research interests lie at the intersection of labour law, working class and social movements, constitutional theory, and state formation in postcolonial countries. Umar completed his LL.M. (magna cum laude) in International Law and Justice from Fordham University School of Law, which he attended as a Fulbright and Graduate Student Scholar, and his LL.B. (Honours) from SOAS, University of London, where he was elected President of both the SOAS Debating Society and the SOAS Law Society and served as a Managing Editor on the SOAS Law Journal. Before joining LUMS, Umar taught at various law schools and worked as a lawyer in Lahore, where his practice encompassed domestic and international disputes and advisory work for a diverse range of clients. Umar has also served as a Judicial Law Clerk at the Supreme Court of Pakistan and a Judicial Extern at the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit.
Umar's latest research projects include a socio-legal study of the labour conditions of sanitation workers in Lahore, legalization and deradicalization of the movement against bonded labour, and a re-examination of the industrial relations law in Pakistan. His recent and current courses at SAHSOL include Advocacy, Civil procedure, Legal Practice, and Law, Social Change, and Resistance. In addition to his academic work, Umar continues to be involved with workers' and peasants' movements and cultural work in progressive Punjabi theatre and literature.