The Pakistan Supreme Court got its second woman judge since independence after Justice Mussarat Hilali was administered the oath by Chief Justice Umar Ata Bandial in a ceremony in Islamabad on Friday.
Before Hilali, Justice Ayesha Malik scripted history last year as she became the first woman to occupy a chair in the apex court.
However, Hilali's rise among the top echelons of Pakistan's judiciary was expected given that she was the first woman ever to serve as the Chief Justice (CJ) of a provincial court.
She achieved the feat of being elevated to the position of the chief justice of Peshawar High Court in May 2023.
What are Justice Hilali's Credentials?
Born in Peshawar, the capital city of Pakistan's volatile Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, in 1961, Justice Hilali is an alumna of Khyber Law College of Peshawar University.
In 1983, she registered to be an advocate in Peshawar's District Courts. Five years later, Hilali enrolled to be a High Court advocate before starting her practice as a lawyer in the country's Supreme Court in 2006.
She has a long list of firsts to her name -- she was the first female to be chosen as the secretary of the Bar Association for a tenure of 12 months from 1988-1989.
Hilali is the first woman to become an executive member of the Pakistani Supreme Court's Bar Association on two occasions. She held the post for consecutive terms from 2007-2008 and 2008-2009.
She also served as the Additional Advocate General of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa from 2001 to 2004, becoming the first female to do so.
Subsequently, Justice Hilali was named as the Chairperson of the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Environmental Protection Tribunal, once again being the first woman to serve in the position.
In Pakistan's conservative society, she has also been an "ombudsman for protection against the harassment of women in the workplace". She was the first female to serve in that capacity.
Before her elevation to the Supreme Court, Justice Hilali was named as an additional judge in the Peshawar High Court in 2013 before being appointed as a permanent judge there the following year.