Shereen Akhtar, Barrister

Ousman completed his undergraduate LLB/Law degree from the University of London and postgraduate MSc from the University of Oxfordbefore completing the Bar Vocational Course and being called to the bar at Lincoln’s Inn in July 2010.

Ousman is also Senior Teaching Fellow in the Faculty of Law at SOAS: University of London, where he provides Clinical Legal Education to university students studying law.

He completed pupillage at Garden Court Chambers in October 2011, one of the UK’s leading sets for human rights and civil liberties.  He has always had a strong passion for protecting the rights of individuals and worked at the Capital Post Conviction Project, Louisiana, USA defending those awaiting capital punishment on death-row and with Reprieve, an international human rights organisation, on challenging the death penalty in Pakistan. Ousman was Director and Founder of the Habeas Corpus Project and provided pro-bono legal representation to over 250 individuals across the UK, successfully challenging cases of unlawful detention. In 2016, he received an award from the Public Interest Lawyers Network at a ceremony in Rome, Italy for his contribution to pro-bono work in Europe.

Ousman is experienced in a wide range of legal areas and has represented clients in Tribunals, County Courts, Magistrates Courts, Crown Courts, the High Court and Court of Appeal in cases involving Family Law, Property Law, Civil Law and Driving Offences. Due to his extensive experience in different areas of law Ousman has gained a strong confidence in taking on complex cases and finding solutions where others would not. Ousman retains a humble approach to his work and treats every case with the respect it deserves. He endeavours to provide expert professional service to each of his clients at transparent and affordable rates.

The BBC, Guardian Newspaper, Independent Newspaper and RT UK have all conducted interviews with Ousman on issues concerning human rights, detention, refugees and migration.

Shereen regularly undertakes work in all areas of Law. She has a particular interest in matters involving human rights arguments, immigration disputes and housing, property and planning matters.

Shereen completed her undergraduate BA (Hons) degree in Law from the University of Cambridgeand postgraduate Master degree in Private and International Law from the University of Paris II (Panthéon-Assas). She also holds a Licence in French Law and has a working knowledge of French.

She completed the Bar Professional Training Course and was called to the Bar at the Honourable Society of the Inner Temple in March 2015.

She completed pupillage in September 2016 at leading public and commercial law set, 39 Essex Street Chambers, assisting the following supervisors: Kate Grange QC on high profile public law litigation; Karim Ghaly QC on high value, complex commercial matters ; Andrew Tabachnik QC on employment, property and planning matters; and Emily Formby on personal injury cases.

She began her tenancy at Arden Chambers, where she specialised in housing and anti-social behaviour disputes. She was seconded to Birmingham City Council as an in-house legal consultant within the Community Safety (anti-social behaviour) and Housing Disrepair teams. In that role, Shereen advised and represented the local authority in matters at first instance and on appeal before the County Court, Youth Court and Valuation Tribunal.

She is also a Senior Fellow with Humanity In Action, having completed a multidisciplinary training course on human rights and equality matters. Shereen has also spent time working with senior lawyers at the Center for Equal Justice in New Orleans, Louisiana, assisting with death penalty defence work, and at Lambda Legal in New York City, New York, assisting with seminal cases advancing the civil rights of LGBTQ+ persons and persons living with HIV. Her particular focus was on juvenile justice. Shereen was also a Criminal Justice Policy intern with JUSTICE.