In this episode Yasmin Ali interviews Brick Court’s Zahra Al-Rikabi. Their conversation focuses on Zahra’s advice for navigating the early years of practice and becoming a barrister alongside being a new mother.

Amongst other things, they discuss:

- The transition from pupillage to practice (‘Leaning in to discomfort’)

- The value of mentors and the available support structures

- Zahra’s experience as a Muslim woman thriving at the bar

Zahra Al-Rikabi came to England from Syria at age 9, and learned English as second language. She went on to study jurisprudence at Oxford and obtained an LLM from the LSE. After working at the Law Commission and as a judicial assistant in the Court of Appeal, Zahra became a member of Chambers in 2013. Zahra is described in Legal 500 as “fiercely intelligent” and “an excellent junior in the ascendancy”.

Yasmin Ali is a law and politics graduate from Queen Mary University of London where she was supported as an IntoUniversity Student Associate. She currently works on communications and advocacy at Salusbury World, a charity whose mission is to support and empower refugee and migrant children and families.