Fozia Sultana completed her LLB (Hons) Law with Criminology degree in 2023 and she now works as a paralegal for a local law firm. While she was studying, Fozia was named Inspirational Student of the Year for her work on Manifest Diversity, a project which aims to champion diversity within the legal sector.

“I’m passionate about making law accessible for everyone, both for students who are studying law and pursuing legal careers and for people who need access to legal services.

“Manifest Diversity is a staff and student collaborative which aims to increase inclusivity and diversity within the Department of Law and Criminology and raise awareness about the importance of inclusivity and diversity within the legal sector.

“I started from scratch working with a few students and staff members to see how we could make the law department more inclusive. I talked to both students and academics about how we could foster a more diverse culture and conducted surveys on the topic.

“An example of the work we’ve delivered is our diversity staff guide. It has 15 points which give practical techniques to help academics and lecturers include more diverse perspectives. For example, through decolonising the curriculum and making sure course reading lists contain a range of different voices.

“Many lecturers found the guidelines useful and implemented our suggestions into their modules and teaching methods. We started out with just a handful of members in our group but now we’re working with other departments across the University too.”

During her third year, Fozia seized the opportunity to combine her passions for social justice with her degree and so applied for a work placement at Fragomen Del Rey Bernsen Loewy, a global law firm which specialises in immigration law. Along the way, she gained Qualifying Work Experience (required to qualify as a solicitor via the Solicitors Qualifying Examination (SQE) route) and made a real difference to people’s lives.

“As an intern, I worked on real-life cases, learned to conduct client interviews, and got an insight into how law firms operate. I gained valuable work experience and developed my confidence in a range of work settings — plus, I was able to help people who were experiencing miscarriages of justice.”

Fozia won the Inspirational Student Awards in 2023 and 2024 for her impressive work around Manifest Diversity, for championing inclusivity and diversity, and for contributing to campaigns for social justice.

“When I won the award, I was extremely humbled. I realised that me winning this award wasn’t just me winning this award — it was diversity and inclusion winning this award. Hopefully, I can inspire other people to stand up for these causes which are so important.”