Zahra Viani first Pakistani woman lawyer to be elected member of Lincoln Inn Bar panel
Barrister Zahra Viani of Pakistan has been elected to the Committee of Representatives of Lincoln’s Inn Bar; she is the first Pakistani woman to be chosen to this committee, and she will serve on it for four years. She had attended the same university.
The Representation Committee of Lincoln’s Inn Bar plays an important representative role, with committee members mostly sitting on bench committees that express their opinions on issues such as the organization’s property management, finance and investment, as well as education, admissions, and scholarship.
Six times a year, the group meets to consider these topics.
Lincoln University is one of the most well-known and oldest educational institutions in the world. Among the numerous notable graduates of this legal school are Pakistan’s founder, Quaid-i-Azam Muhammad Ali Jinnah, Allama Iqbal, and former Prime Minister Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, as well as former British Prime Ministers Margaret Thatcher and Tony Blair.
According to Barrister Zahra Viani, there were 19 candidates from all over the world, including the United Kingdom and Pakistan, a total of 1,300 voters, but only 1,100 ballots were cast, and the elections were held via online voting.
‘It was challenging but not impossible’
According to Barrister Zahra Viani, Lincoln had to work very hard to collect votes in his election. “Many of the female lawyers aren’t even barristers, but they pitched in, running campaigns on social media, making internet relationships, and calling individuals. It was difficult to beat someone and win, but it wasn’t impossible.
She expresses gratitude to everyone who voted for her, supported her, and deemed her eligible for their vote.
“The purpose of contesting my election was to bring a soft image of Pakistan, and the other will also be our representative in this important institution because a lot of young people from Pakistan and South Asia go to bar at law, and where we want to promote scholarships so that those who are deserving students can be helped,” she explained.
“Due to the major problem of climate change nowadays, we are also affected,” she continues, “which is international law, it also applies to us, initiating a discourse on it, organising seminars, calling our judges and representatives there so that these topics can be discussed.”
Advocacy and business family relationships
Barrister Zahra Viani is from a business family in Karachi, where she acquired her early education at the Convent of Jazz and Mary and Bay View High School Karachi before studying law at the University of Manchester.
She has also advocated in the United Kingdom after three years as a barrister.
“My father died,” she explains, “and as a child, I had to move here to support my mother and two younger brothers, and I’ve been practising in Pakistan for the last 11 years.”
According to Zahra Viani, she founded her own firm, which was her ambition, and she claims she did everything on her own, without any recommendations, and earned this position through hard work.
“I handle property, labour, family, and criminal matters. At the same time, I offer free legal representation to qualified low-income women.”
Zahra Viani first Pakistani woman lawyer to be elected member of Lincoln Inn Bar panel
Zahra Viani says she avoids politics these days, whether it’s global politics or Britain’s Lincolns. Pakistani bars, she claims, are quite political.
She claims she is not a member of any political party, however, she is the president of the Women Lawyers Association.
