Saadiya's parents immigrated to England from Pakistan in the 1960s where her father worked for London Underground and her mother was a seamstress working from home. Growing up in South West London, Saadiya grew up in a community not so different from East London - one that was and still is culturally diverse, with pockets of deprivation and poverty.  

She says:

Communities such as East London are both underrepresented and also have difficulties accessing justice. This is why the LAC is a vital free service in the East London area. 

In addition to this, the LAC is a vital learning space for our students who may otherwise not have the opportunities to gain the practical legal experience that we are able to provide and one of the reasons why I was so keen for the LAC to obtain training provider status. 

This now enables us to provide opportunities of training contracts to our alumni students. I am proud to announce we have offered our first trainee solicitor position to Nurun Choudhary, alumni student, volunteer of the LAC and assistant to the LAC.”

Professor Mohammad Ali, Dean of the Royal Docks Business and Law School said: 

"I am delighted that under Saadiya's leadership, the Legal Advice Centre has been awarded 'training provider status' by the Solicitors Regulation Authority. Her vision and foresight in making this happen means that the LAC can now supervise training contracts, further advancing UEL law students' future legal careers." 

As part of the new relaunch of the USS, the Royal Docks School of Business and Law, has a new state of the art, unique Court Room which is available to students for mooting and debating and will host a programme of events with high profile speakers from across the Law. Additionally, USS will house a new Trading Floor, Career Zone and Strategy and Marketing Analytics Lab in Partnership with Amazon Web Services. 

Find out more about the Legal Advice Centre  and the Royal Docks School of Business and Law.