Britain’s best-known Asian solicitor, Imran Khan, 43, is chiefly linked with his work for more than a decade for the family of the murdered teenager Stephen Lawrence and their tireless pursuit for justice. He is committed, too, to giving ethnic minorities a legal voice, particularly when up against institutions such as the police and prison services. His crusade is rooted in his own background: he moved from Pakistan to East London at the age of four and suffered racial taunts and attacks throughout his youth. He resisted family calls to become a doctor, turning to law. Khan cut his legal teeth at Birnbergs, the radical firm. Just 18 months qualified, the Lawrence file landed on his desk. In the face of police failure to bring criminal charges, Khan and the Lawrence family brought Britain’s first private prosecution for murder. When the trial collapsed, they pressed further for a government inquiry. The ensuing Macpherson Report cited “institutionalised racism in the force”. He also acted for the family of Zahid Mubarek, beaten to death in March 1999 by a racist fellow prisoner put in his cell, and the parents of Victoria Climbie, the nine-year-old child who died in 2000 after horrendous abuse by her aunt and aunt’s lover. The Lawrence case still reverberates: now with his own practice, Khan takes “impact cases” that highlight inequality and disadvantage. He keeps “one foot on the ground” giving free legal advice at a West London centre.

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