Barrister Rashna Imam, advocate of the Supreme Court of Bangladesh and Managing Partner of Akhtar Imam & Associate, has been chosen as Asia 21 Young Leader of 2018, from Bangladesh. This comes as recognition of Ms. Imam’s public interest work over the years and her excellence in the field of law. In recent years she has challenged outdated and discriminatory laws, has helped establish a legal framework for emergency-medical-services and has also championed citizenship rights, amongst others.
Ms. Imam, an Oxford scholar, gained significant expertise in company and commercial law as a corporate associate at Baker and McKenzie’s London office, where she had the opportunity to represent global giants like Arcelor Mittal and Schneider Electric. In Bangladesh, she advised leading local and global corporations. Ms. Imam has been ranked as a leading lawyer in Chambers and Partners, Asia-Pacific 2018.
Asia 21 Young Leaders Initiative has more than 900 powerful alumni from 40 countries and stands as the Asia-Pacific’s foremost young leaders’ network. It is an initiative of Asia Society, which was founded in 1956 by John D. Rockefeller III, as a nonpartisan, nonprofit institution to promote mutual understanding and strengthen partnerships among peoples, leaders, and institutions of Asia and the including trailblazing activists United States in a global context. This year, Asia Society has selected 31 leaders, visionaries, policymakers, and lifesavers, like Bulgantuya Khurelbaatar, deputy finance minister of Mongolia; Roopam Sharma, an Indian innovator best known for his work on the world’s first intelligent personal assistant for the visually-impaired; and Timothy Watts, one of Australia’s youngest members of parliament.
