Reflections from the Frontlines of Inclusion: Navigating Identity, Faith & Gender in the Legal Profession
A blog by Roksanna Keyvan, GHRH Intern
In an era increasingly defined by calls for authentic inclusion, the legal profession continues to grapple with the complex intersections of identity, culture, and representation. Our recent panel discussion, "Identity & Inclusion in the Workplace: Navigating Faith, Culture & Gender," brought together a powerful group of legal professionals who have not only faced these intersections firsthand but are actively shaping the path forward.
Chaired by Afreen Akhtar, Associate at Clyde & Co, the event drew together voices that cut across faiths, cultures, and continents. From hijab-wearing barristers to Jewish lawyers navigating Sabbath observance, each panelist offered grounded, deeply personal insights into how visibility and belonging manifest in the legal world.
Identity & Inclusion in the Workplace: Navigating Faith, Culture & Gender event
Clyde & Co
Panel 1: Manjit Singh KC — Rethinking Equality Through a Faith Lens
Manjit Singh KC opened the panel with a sobering reminder: there is no substantive right to equality in English common law—only a procedural one. Unlike Christianity, which has historically benefited from legal protection, other faiths have not received the same level of institutional support.
Tracing the historical arc of equality law, Singh noted that real progress only began post-1960s, led by U.S. civil rights movements. In the UK, significant change only emerged with the Human Rights Act in 2000, under the Labour government. Yet, he cautioned, even landmark legislation like Article 14 of the European Convention on Human Rights offers only limited and tangential protection. The broader equality guarantee in Protocol 12 has yet to be ratified by the UK.
His reflections on Europe’s “laïcité” model—especially in Francophone nations—highlighted the structural difficulty of navigating faith and ethnicity in a secular legal framework. Many cases, like the one he famously argued (Ranjit Singh v. France), have struggled to gain traction in courts shaped by Western conceptions of law and rights.
More profoundly, Singh challenged the very language of Western legal instruments, pointing out that many Eastern cultures don’t even have a word for “religion” as it’s understood in the West. Concepts like “oneness” are lost in translation, leading to frameworks that are ill-suited for inclusive justice. “We’ve tried to introduce these ideas in international forums,” he said. “But the real challenge is in rewriting the language of rights to reflect plural worldviews.”
Panel 2: Sultana Tafadar KC — Faith, Visibility & Power
As the UK’s first hijab-wearing King’s Counsel, Sultana Tafadar KC spoke about the profound impact of being seen. From headlines that accompanied her appointment to moments in court when her presence itself felt like a statement, Tafadar’s journey is one of quiet perseverance and undeniable visibility.
“When I took Silk in 2022, that’s when the work truly began,” she said. Those two letters—KC—gave her a platform to advocate on cases she would never have accessed as a junior barrister. Her focus now includes faith-based rights, such as the controversial case of a Muslim woman in France who was barred from speaking in court due to her hijab. Although the European Court of Human Rights found no violation, Tafadar continues to pursue justice through alternative UN mechanisms.
Across Europe, hijab-wearing women in law face disproportionate challenges—but Tafadar offered this reminder: “If you never quit, you won’t actually be defeated.”
Panel 3: Shahd Makhafah — From Symbol to Systemic Change
Joining us from Saudi Arabia, Shahd Makhafah, Partner at Clyde & Co and the firm’s first female partner in the Kingdom, brought a visionary voice to the panel. While symbolic breakthroughs are important, she argued, true leadership lies in making change repeatable and sustainable.
“There’s a difference between being a symbol and opening the door wide enough for others to walk through,” she said. Makhafah stressed the importance of building communities of inclusion, not just achieving individual success.
Saudi Arabia’s legal industry has seen an influx of female lawyers in recent years, and Makhafah’s message was clear: “True inclusion means ensuring that the next woman—and the next unheard voice—doesn’t just find a seat at the table, but knows she belongs there.”
Panel 4: Zaakira Allana — Internal Barriers, External Challenges
For Zaakira Allana, former Legal Director and now legal tech innovator, navigating a legal career as a hijab-wearing woman meant confronting not just external biases—but internal ones.
She recounted moments early in her career when she was advised to frame her hijab as a potential "client barrier" and consider how to “overcome it.” But the real breakthrough came when she stopped trying to separate who she was from where she came from.
In sharing the “five stages to overcoming internal oppression,” Allana emphasized the need to:
Confront others’ assumptions,
Quiet internal doubts,
Accept the full self without compromise,
Turn difference into strength,
Push for systemic change—faster and deeper.
Her message was one of radical ownership: “Stabilization comes when you succeed because of who you are, not despite it.”
Panel 5: Aron Dindol — Faith, Ethnicity & the Subtle Costs of Identity
As a Jewish lawyer with 25 years in practice and education, Aron Dindol provided a candid window into the quiet tensions of faith-based observance in professional spaces.
From navigating kosher dietary needs to observing Shabbat, Dindol spoke of the constant calibration required to balance religious obligations with workplace expectations. Despite strong Jewish representation in law, recent years have seen a 90% rise in antisemitism in professional settings, underscoring the need for vigilance and allyship.
He reminded the audience that Jewish identity is both ethnic and religious, and that inclusion efforts must accommodate this nuance. “The legal workplace has to understand the interplay between observance and identity,” he said. “Not just tolerate it—but respect and accommodate it.”
Audience Reflections: Language, Law & Lived Experience
During the Q&A, themes of language and control came sharply into focus. Singh noted: “Those who control the language control the narrative.” If we want to shape inclusive spaces, we must change not just policies but the vocabulary that defines inclusion.
From Sultana Tafadar’s adaptation of courtroom attire (a white headscarf inspired by Sikh barristers’ turbans) to questions around greenwashing and legislative reform, the session illuminated a central tension: does society lead the law, or must the law change first to enable societal transformation?
The consensus was clear: both must evolve together—language, law, and leadership must align.
Conclusion: A Call for Authorship
What made this panel so impactful was not just the prestige of the speakers—but their willingness to speak from lived truth, not rehearsed diversity rhetoric. From the courtroom to cultural translation, from Saudi boardrooms to UK barristers' chambers, the message echoed:
Inclusion is not an accessory—it is architecture.
Identity is not an obstacle—it is authorship.
This event offered not only stories of resilience, but blueprints for a legal future where difference is not just allowed, but foundational. Where people don’t have to check parts of themselves at the door to belong—but bring their full selves, in hijab or turban, at the table of justice.
And that table? It's being redefined.