Saadiya Ahmad appointed Legal Advice Centre Director
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Published
15 November 2021
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- Criminal defence solicitor, Saadiya has over 20 years' experience in criminal law
- Legal Advice Centre awarded "Trainer provider status"
- First training contract awarded to UEL alumni law student
Saadiya Ahmad has been announced as the new Director of University of East London's Legal Advice Centre [LAC] based in the Royal Docks School of Business and Law at University Square Stratford [USS], East London.
UEL law students offer free legal advice to members of the public who are unable to pay for or obtain legal advice, the legal advice given is supervised by solicitors and offers advice or assistance in relation to all legal matters.
During Covid, the LAC provided all of this advice online including consultation on child arrangement orders and domestic violence. The LAC is now open again for face-to-face consultations.
A criminal defence solicitor, Saadiya has over 20 years' experience in criminal defence. Having begun her career with Christian Fisher Solicitors, she moved on to Michael Fisher Solicitors, where she set up and headed the criminal department there.
A senior lecturer at UEL, she teaches 'Mental Wealth: Introduction to Professional Legal Studies' and 'Civil and Criminal Litigation'. She also presently runs a busy caseload working as a Senior Solicitor Consultant for Dexter Henry Solicitors and represents clients across the country in relation to a wide range of criminal offences. She has sat on a number of different boards through the years as a Trustee and Governor including St George's Hospital Charity, South Thames College, Wandsworth Citizens Advice Bureau and currently Revolving Doors Agency.
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.
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