Dr. Syed Refaat Ahmed, the 25th Chief Justice of Bangladesh, has formally retired from the judiciary after reaching the constitutional retirement age of 67. He stepped down from the top judicial post on Saturday, marking the end of his judicial career. Dr. Ahmed had taken oath as Chief Justice on August 11, 2024, following the post-uprising period in Bangladesh. A former student of the University of Dhaka, Dr. Ahmed earned a first-class law degree from Wadham College, University of Oxford, and later obtained his master’s and PhD degrees from the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University in the United States. He also worked with the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) as an expert on immigration law. Beginning his legal career in 1984 at the Dhaka District Court and joining the High Court Division in 1986, Dr. Ahmed was appointed an additional judge in 2003 and became a permanent judge two years later. As Chief Justice, he introduced a roadmap for judicial reform, playing a key role in establishing a separate judicial secretariat and initiating laws for judge recruitment.