Inspirational Professionals Gather To Celebrate The Contribution Of The British Muslim Community In The UK

The Head of Irwin Mitchell’s London Employment Law team, Shah Qureshi, has won a prestigious legal prize at the 9^TH annual British Muslim Awards 2022.

Shah beat off stiff competition from the seven other leading lawyers on the shortlist to win the ‘Legal Achievements’ category.

Organised by Oceanic Consulting the event took place on 24 February at the British Muslim Heritage Centre in Manchester. The purpose of the awards is to celebrate and promote the contributions of the British Muslim community for a successful and prosperous United Kingdom.

Expert Opinion

“These awards are a really positive showcase of the brilliant accomplishments of the Muslim community across the UK and recognise the wide range of achievements across the country.

"A common thread running through the awards was the contribution of the generations that went before us; in my case a father who started his journey by working in a glass factory in Leeds and my mother who had to bring up five children on her own. It was a real privilege to attend the ceremony and a huge honour to win the award for Legal Achievement.” Shah Qureshi - Partner

Commenting on this year's awards, Irfan Younis, CEO of Oceanic Consulting said: “Every year I think we’ve seen the best the British Muslim community has to offer but every year I’m blown away by just how special the talent is and just how hard people work to service their communities. I have no doubt that the Muslim community will continue to thrive and act as leaders for future generations to come.” 

Shah specialises in all areas of employment law, discrimination law and professional discipline. The panel of judges recognised his expertise in these areas and also his role in helping to build one of the UK’s leading employment teams representing employees and workers

He was recognised for his ground breaking work in some of the UK’s leading employment and discrimination cases including Nicholson v Grainger PLC which established the legal test for beliefs that are protected by the Equality Act and confirmed a belief in climate change is worthy of protection under equality law. He also acted for six high court judges in a successful age discrimination case brought against the Ministry of Justice and is currently representing a Learning Support Teacher and mother of a girl with Downs Syndrome in a disability discrimination and whistleblowing claim against a local authority.

Shah is a recognised leader in representing executives and professionals in both contentious and non-contentious employment related legal work. He has also developed a very strong reputation in pursuing successful discrimination and whistleblowing cases against large corporations and public bodies.

He is a former Board Member of the Discrimination Law Association and the Muslim Council of Britain’s Legal Affairs Committee. He is also an active member of the Employment Lawyer’s Association.

Irwin Mitchell’s London Employment team has risen to join an elite group of leading teams listed by Chambers UK and Legal 500.

The most recent Legal 500 2022 described the team as: “Irwin Mitchell has a superior suite of individual lawyers, each of whom are excellent in the field of employment law.  They are innovative in employment and discrimination law and not afraid to challenge and take on thorny issues, including appealing novel areas of law.”

The leading independent legal directory also describes Shah as: “A top lawyer with a terrific reputation in the industry”.