SAHSOL Graduate Earns Stephen Blyth Scholarship For Oxford

Muhammad Mohad Zulfiqar from the BA-LL.B Class of 2024 at Shaikh Ahmad Hassan School of Law (SAHSOL), LUMS, has been awarded the prestigious Stephen Blyth Scholarship by the Oxford Pakistan Programme (OPP) to attend the Bachelor of Civil Laws (BCL) programme at the University of Oxford for the 2024-2025 academic year. This scholarship will fully cover his tuition fees.

At Oxford, Mohad plans to explore how international arbitration law can help address Pakistan’s challenges, including issues related to natural resource management, inter-state border disputes, and international commercial conflicts. He also hopes to contribute to discourse on the need for constitutional and legal reform in Pakistan.

During his time at LUMS, Mohad conducted cross-jurisdictional research on the qualifications and disqualifications of Members of Parliament, a topic of particular importance given the recent disqualifications of multiple Prime Ministers and democratic leaders in Pakistan. Through this work, he aims to continue exploring ways to strengthen Pakistan’s democratic framework.

Speaking about his achievement, Mohad says, “I didn’t expect it at all. To my knowledge, no other Pakistan-trained lawyer had been admitted to the BCL in almost two decades. Breaking that hiatus felt surreal. For all of this to work out and also be awarded a full scholarship feels nothing short of divine.”

However, this success came after a focused approach and a great deal of hard work. Mohad explains, “This scholarship is the culmination of years of hard work and, perhaps more importantly, sheer luck. If I were to break down the process, two factors played a crucial role in my admission and scholarship: maintaining a high academic profile and having a clear vision of what I wanted to study. By the time I graduated from LUMS, I had a CGPA of 3.99, High Distinction, full merit scholarship throughout, and the National Management Foundation Medal. Oxford’s BCL programme has very stringent academic requirements, and I was able to meet those.”

In addition to his academics, he demonstrated an interest in specific fields of law, particularly constitutional and arbitration law. He leveraged his extracurricular activities to showcase his contributions to these fields. “I worked as the General Secretary of the LUMS Law & Politics Society, served on the Editorial Committee of the LUMS Law Journal, and clerked for a Justice of the Supreme Court of Pakistan. I used these experiences to show how I offered more promise than other candidates,” explains Mohad.

For Mohad, law came naturally. His grandfather is one of the most respected lawyers of Pakistan. Mohad himself quickly discovered a natural talent in law: “Where others struggled, I glided by. It just made sense to go into what I was best at. The choice felt very easy for me.”

Mohad’s father, Zulfiqar Hameed, is also a LUMS graduate (MBA 2003) and a Deans’ Honour List awardee. He remains actively involved with the Suleman Dawood School of Business (SDSB) Alumni Association. Mohad credits LUMS for providing “the support system the University offers in the form of friends and mentors that makes all the difference.”

The OPP, founded just four years ago by Pakistani academics and Oxford alumni, aims to increase graduate access to Oxford University for British Pakistanis, who are severely underrepresented and financially dependent. This year, the OPP received around 100 applications from outstanding students who had received admission offers from Oxford but lacked the financial means to pursue their studies. Mohad is one of the fortunate few to be selected. LUMS wishes him the best of luck for his future!