A former City solicitor who helped set up a charity to tackle systemic racism is to lead a public law body that has brought several high-profile challenges against the government.
Shameem Ahmad will join Public Law Project as chief executive in January, taking over from solicitor Jo Hickman, who is stepping down after 13 years with PLP.
Ahmad trained at City firm Herbert Smith Freehills, where she became a senior associate and solicitor-advocate in the public law team before leaving to work at Black Equity Organisation, a charity she helped set up to tackle systemic racism. As director of advocacy, she leads Black Equity Organisation’s research, strategic litigation and policy arm.
Ahmad was ‘honoured’ to be joining PLP. She said: ‘The choices the state makes can have a profound impact on human dignity. It is with that understanding that PLP strives for a world where the state acts fairly and lawfully.
‘In an era of escalating attacks on basic democratic standards, PLP’s vision feels more ambitious and vital than ever before. In the coming months, we will face a legislative assault on our rights and our ability to hold the state to account. Recent immigration reforms are putting lives at risk and make the system more hazardous to navigate. Across swathes of the country, access to justice is non-existent. Fundamental state decision-making processes are being blithely handed over to opaque algorithms. Against the backdrop of the cost-of-living crisis, benefit sanctions are at record highs, which will leave individuals and families across the UK facing a winter of unimaginable decisions.'
Public Law Project’s challenges against the government include a High Court case that provided legal aid clarification for low-income homeowners with ‘trapped capital’.
