Jallow was appointed as Solicitor General in 1982, and as Attorney General and Minister of Justice in July 1984. He was removed from this role following Yahya Jammeh's coup d'état in July 1994. He was also part of an expert group that helped draw up the African Charter on Human and Peoples' Rights (the Banjul Charter), which came in force in 1986. Between 1989 and 1994, he served as the chairman of Banjul-based African Centre for Democracy and Human Rights Studies (ACDHRS). In 1997, he was found guilty by the Public Assets and Properties Recovery Commission, and in 2001, he was banned from holding public office for five years.