After earning a law degree at the University of Muhammadiyah Jakarta, he pursued the lawyer's profession for some time before finally starting to plunge into politics, and joined the National Mandate Party (PAN), which later led him to become a member of the People's Representative Council(DPR) for two periods 1999-2004 and 2004-2009 from the electoral district of West Sumatra.

During the administration of President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono he was elected Minister of Law and Human Rights of the Second United Indonesia Cabinet .

[6] In June 2015, Akbar rejected a judicial review requested by children's rights groups to raise Indonesia's minimum age for marriage for women from 16 to 18.

[7] Akbar's tenure on the Constitutional Court was cut short despite the presidential appeals that had led to his initial appointment.

The court found he had accepted bribes from a beef importer in connection with a judicial review of the 2014 Animal Husbandry and Livestock Health Law.