Shamsul Bari worked as a lawyer in Bangladesh.[3] He also taught at the Universities of Chicago.[3] Shamsul Bari served at the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees for 20 years.[4] In 1985, he was the Chief of the General Legal Section of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees.[5] In 1989, Shamsul Bari was the deputy director of the Division of Refugee Law & Doctrine of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees.[6]
He founded Research Initiatives, Bangladesh in 2002.[7] from 2002 to 2009, he served in the Netherlands Development Assistance Research Council ( RAWOO) of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (Netherlands).[7] He is a director of Legal Action Worldwide.[7]
In 2008, he was appointed the Independent Expert on the situation of human rights in Somalia.[4] In January 2010, he issued a warning for Puntland and Somalia.[8][9] He co-chaired the Transparency Advisory Group which was established in 2011.[7]