The Azra Kemal Legal Internship Programme

for women from Black, Asian and minoritised backgrounds

 

About the Programme

The legal profession is making strides to improve diversity, promote inclusion and tackle discrimination, although it certainly still has a long way to go before it eradicates inequality. As part of our anti-racism strategy which we launched in March 2021, we have created a paid part-time (3 day) internship for women from a Black, Asian and/ or minoritised background. Currently only 21% of solicitors and 14% of barristers come from a Black, Asian and/ or minoritised background. This is not good enough. We are committed to promoting and increasing diversity in the legal profession and creating an inclusive culture in which everyone regardless of their ethnic background can reach their full potential. We have therefore set up a unique paid internship for women from underrepresented groups to work with our lawyers who focus their work on holding the state to account for violence against women and girls. 

The CWJ internship for women from Black, Asian and/or Minority Ethnic backgrounds is a fantastic initiative. By ensuring that the internship is paid, CWJ have removed the financial barrier to completing this sort of work experience that many women from these groups face, while simultaneously giving them the opportunity to advance their careers in the legal profession by doing important work for and on behalf of other women.
Una Morris, barrister, Garden Court Chambers

“Undertaking this internship has been invaluable as I have had the opportunity to work with amazing lawyers and campaigners seeking justice for women’s rights, which is an area that I hope to specialise in. Throughout this internship I have undertaken many tasks that have allowed me to put the skills I had gained from my education into practice and to develop them in a professional sense. This will help me when applying for jobs in the future.” Sannam Kerley, CWJ Intern 2022

About Azra Kemal

Azra Kemal

Azra was a force of nature. Although she was thrown out school as a teenager, through grit and determination she graduated in law from the London School of Economics (LSE) in 2019 and was due to begin her LPC. She cared deeply about injustice, wanting to highlight the struggles of people from minoritised and disadvantaged socio-economic backgrounds which led her to working as a ‘fixer’ with Sky News home editor, Jason Farrell, on stories about county lines drug dealing. Jason’s tribute to his friend can be read here - Remembering '‘phenomenal’ Azra Kemal

Azra tragically died on 16th July 2020 at the age of just 24 in circumstances which are currently under review.

In 2021 Azra’s mother, Nevres, approached Centre for Women’s Justice after raising £10,000 in her daughter’s name. Her wish was to give disadvantaged women the opportunity to succeed in the legal profession - a cause she knew was close to Azra’s heart - and so the Azra Kemal Legal Internship Programme was born.

 

How to become an AKLIP intern…

We hope to be able to offer 1 placement every, 6 months subject to funding.

The internship is open to any woman who :

  1. is of Black, Asian and/or minoritised ethnicity, and

  2. has completed or is in the process of obtaining a law degree/or law conversion course, from

  3. a non-Russell Group University (a list of Russel Group Universities is available here)


We aren’t currently accepting applications, to receive updates on when applications open please join our mailing list.

 

How Can I Support the Azra Kemal Legal Internship Programme?

The internship programme will be funded mainly by donations. Please do support us as we strive to improve diversity in the legal profession. To donate please visit https://www.crowdjustice.com/case/azra-kemal

Potential corporate sponsor and major donors are invited to contact Nic Mainwood n.mainwood@centreforwomensjustice.org.uk to discuss funding.

We are grateful to the many friends and family of Azra who have enabled this programme to be established, and to The Oak Foundation for providing funding to cover start-up costs.

If you are a lawyer who would like to mentor a women entering the profession, please see details of our mentoring scheme for Black, Asian and minoritised women.

 

Frequently Asked Questions

  • We are keen to assist the most disadvantaged aspiring lawyers. The perception of Russell Group Universities being more prestigious than others, often puts graduates at an advantage when seeking experience in the legal sector.

  • The full list of Russell Group members is as follows:

    University of Birmingham

    University of Bristol

    University of Cambridge

    Cardiff University

    Durham University

    University of Edinburgh

    University of Exeter

    University of Glasgow

    Imperial College London

    King's College London

    University of Leeds

    University of Liverpool

    London School of Economics & Political Science

    University of Manchester

    Newcastle University

    University of Nottingham

    University of Oxford

    Queen Mary, University of London

    Queen's University Belfast

    University of Sheffield

    University of Southampton

    University College London

    University of Warwick

    University of York

  • Unfortunately we do not have the resources to offer any other internship schemes at this time.

  • Due to the majority of clients we deal with being victims of sexual violence, it is a genuine requirement that this is role is carried out by women only - Genuine Occupational Requirement (GOR), Schedule 9 (Work; Exceptions), Part 1 (Occupational Requirements), of the Equality Act (2010) applies.

  • This internship is a positive action initiative under the Equality Act 2010 and forms part of our commitment to addressing the under-representation of women from minoritised communities and socioeconomically disadvantaged backgrounds, in the legal profession.

  • Within this programme we refer to Black, Asian and minoritised women. We know that language matters, that labels are always problematic and that there are differences of opinion on the most appropriate wording, including within CWJ. In using this expression we refer to political Blackness, we also include Asian to provide recognition to our own staff, and “minoritised” to represent the fact that black and brown people are a majority globally but become a minority in the UK, and also in recognition of other groups who are very much part of the ‘by and for’ sector such as Latin American women, Roma and traveller women, Turkish, Eastern European and others.