My path to the Bar
I was born and raised in Birmingham. My parents came to the UK from Bangladesh in the 1960s and 1970s. I am the youngest of five daughters, and in many Asian cultures boys are often preferred. Despite wider cultural expectations, my parents were pioneers. They believed deeply in education and opportunity, even though they did not have those opportunities themselves.
I knew I wanted to be a lawyer from the age of eleven. My motivation came from a sense of fairness, social justice and wanting to do what was right. Much of my journey into law was shaped by the demonisation of Muslims after 9/11. I felt that one way I could defend my community was through a career at the Bar.
I went to my local comprehensive school and then my local state college in Solihull. I did well academically and was encouraged to apply to Oxbridge, but I knew myself well enough to recognise that it was not an environment where I would thrive. I studied Law at the University of Warwick, had three of the best years of my life and graduated at the top of my year. Now that I am in the profession, I am committed to helping graduates from non‑Oxbridge universities believe that they belong at the Bar just as much as anyone else.
After a gap year of volunteering and interning, I completed a Master’s in public international law at the LSE and then the Bar course. I began pupillage in London in 2013. Thanks to my academic record and scholarships, I did not face the same barriers that many others encounter, although I have certainly faced challenges within the profession.
I started my career in criminal defence. It was exhilarating, demanding and an excellent training ground. In July 2017, I was appointed Junior Counsel to the Grenfell Tower Inquiry, which shifted my practice more towards public law.
My outreach work
I never saw qualifying as a barrister as an end goal. I wanted to build a credible platform to make change. I am passionate about social justice, outreach work with young people and supporting marginalised communities like my own.
While I was a law student, I founded YOU*th Inspire, an initiative for young people aged eleven to eighteen from socially disadvantaged backgrounds. The project's focus on social justice, social mobility and social skills development. The aim is simple: to provide opportunities to young people who would otherwise not have access to them.
More recently, I created REDEFINED: Learning for Lawyers as a lockdown project. I wanted to centralise my outreach work and resist everything that frustrates me about the legal profession, particularly elitism and exclusivity. Aspiring lawyers from similar backgrounds to mine often ask me for mentorship because their experience of the legal world is one of inaccessibility. REDEFINED offers online masterclasses and webinars delivered by legal professionals from representative and diverse backgrounds. We emphasise both professional and personal development. We are not just about CV building; we are about confidence building too.
Through these sessions, we also support charitable causes by inviting small donations. This nurtures a pro bono spirit and uses our platform and privilege to serve our communities.
Representation, systemic racism and aspiring lawyers
The Black Lives Matter movement has highlighted systemic racism across society, including within the legal profession. Introductory legal events often promote the narrative that “everyone can be a lawyer,” but this is not entirely realistic. You can be a deserving candidate and still not succeed. Structural and systemic issues mean that equality of access and meaningful diversity remain significant challenges.
My advice is to enter the profession with your eyes open. There is no level playing field. For those of us from underrepresented backgrounds, this is not a space designed for us. It can often feel like a space designed to exclude us.
Diversity and inclusion must be more than compliance. People of colour in legal organisations are often relied upon as in‑house diversity consultants, expected to educate others about racism and bias while also championing outreach projects. Representation alone is not enough.
The real questions for employers are: what work are you doing to address systemic racism? Have you created a culture of inclusion and equity that allows everyone to show up exactly as they are?
What legal employers must do
A recent experience illustrates how far the profession still has to go. I was invited to speak at a panel event alongside senior legal figures. When the promotional material was posted online, my name was omitted, and my biography was rewritten without my consent.
This kind of erasure of brown women in professional spaces is persistent. I withdrew from the event and received immediate apologies, but meaningful change requires more than apologies. It requires courage from individuals and structural reform from organisations.
Employers must shift from a compliance‑based approach to one rooted in equity and justice. Equality between people with vastly different lived experiences is not true equality. We cannot pretend that we exist in a meritocracy. Diversity, inclusion and wellbeing must be central to organisational priorities.
Practically, employers should confront racism directly rather than focusing solely on diversity. They should review policies, identify gaps and assess whether communities are underrepresented. Outreach must begin earlier, in schools and colleges. Funded work experience should be standard to remove financial barriers. Organisations must also ensure their culture is genuinely inclusive. For example, many networking events revolve around alcohol. I do not drink and prefer not to be in those environments, which has excluded me from opportunities to build my network.
My advice for aspiring lawyers from underrepresented backgrounds
My advice is:
Know who you are and work to be your best self. Confidence and conviction will help you navigate unwelcoming situations.
Seek out opportunities and create them when they do not exist.
Get comfortable with discomfort. Do not expect to automatically fit in.
Be kind to yourself. Rejections may not reflect your weaknesses. Structural inequality plays a significant role.
Be the thorn. Speak up and challenge what is not right or fair.
Lift others as you climb. We need a new generation of lawyers with the courage to reshape the legal system.
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