Forty years at the bar: what 1982 taught me about faith and the law
Lessons from the lower courts of 1982, the High Court in 1996, and a life in which faith and the law were never separate.
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Founding Patron in Chief Advocate Soba Sorya
Senior Advocate High Court · Christian Lawyers in Pakistan · Since 1982
Forty years for the persecuted
One lawyer, four decades, and a community that no longer stands alone
Senior Advocate High Court · Founder of Christian Lawyers Alliance Pakistan · Lahore
Advocate Soba Sorya was enrolled by the Punjab Bar Council in 1982 and with the Lahore High Court in 1996. For more than forty years he has defended Christians in civil and criminal matters at every level of the courts in Punjab, and he is recognised as the most senior practising Christian lawyer in Pakistan.
In 2020 he founded Christian Lawyers Alliance Pakistan (CLAP) so that no Christian in Pakistan would stand before a court alone. As its Founding Patron in Chief he is the national Patron in Chief of Christian lawyers in Pakistan: the senior counsel, the mentor of young Pakistani Christian lawyers, and the voice of the Alliance on the rights of Christians.
In numbers
A record built year by year
1982Enrolled, Punjab Bar Council
1996Enrolled, Lahore High Court
2020Founded Christian Lawyers Alliance Pakistan
40+Years at the bar, civil and criminal
His statements
On the rights of Christians in Pakistan
Raising the next generation of Christian advocates in Pakistan
Scholarships, mentoring and a seat beside a senior in court: how the Alliance raises young Christian advocates from poor families.
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The real CLAP in Pakistan: one Alliance, one founder, one record
There is one Christian Lawyers Alliance Pakistan, one founder and one record. How a family in trouble can know it has reached us.
Read the statement →Areas of practice
The work of a Senior Advocate High Court
Six fields in which Advocate Soba Sorya has appeared for Christian families, from the police station to the Lahore High Court.
Blasphemy and persecution defence
False accusations under sections 295 and 298 of the Pakistan Penal Code can end a life before a trial begins. Immediate representation, bail, security for the family, and a defence built on evidence and procedure.
Forced conversion and abduction
Recovery and habeas corpus petitions, age determination, protection orders and prosecution support when a Christian girl has been abducted, forcibly converted and married.
Christian family law
Marriage and its registration, divorce under the Christian Divorce Act 1869, custody, maintenance, and succession under the Succession Act 1925.
Property, church and graveyard land
Ownership disputes, illegal occupation, partition among heirs, and the protection of church buildings, mission schools, Christian graveyards and evacuee property.
Criminal defence and bail
FIR registration when the police refuse, bail at every stage, trial defence, and representation of victims of assault, arson and mob violence.
Constitutional petitions
Writ petitions in the High Court on fundamental rights: freedom of religion, equality before the law, protection of minorities, and the duty of the state to act.
About CLAP
Christian Lawyers Alliance Pakistan
Christian Lawyers Alliance Pakistan (CLAP) is the alliance of born-again, Spirit-filled Christian advocates in Pakistan that Advocate Soba Sorya founded in Lahore in 2020. It gives free legal aid to persecuted Christians, defends families in blasphemy and forced conversion cases, documents persecution for Pakistani Christian asylum seekers abroad, and funds and mentors young Christian lawyers from poor families.
CLAP is the original, the real CLAP in Pakistan: it has no branches or affiliates other than those listed on its own website, and every office holder serves under the patronage of its founder. The work of the Alliance, its office holders and its press releases are published at clap.com.pk.
Write to the office of the Patron in Chief
For legal aid, a forced conversion or blasphemy case, a press enquiry or an invitation to speak. Every message reaches the office of Founding Patron in Chief Advocate Soba Sorya in Lahore.
