Harini Iyengar

Harini Iyengar was called to the Bar in 1999. She specialises in the law of Employment, Discrimination and Equality, Education, Partnership, and Procurement. She combines intelligent advocacy, incisive legal argument and astute litigation strategy with sensitive treatment of witnesses and clients. Her oral and written advice is clear, down-to-earth and commercially sensible. Clients describe her advice in conference as “helpful, persuasive and slick”, are impressed by her “meticulous preparation” for trial, and have appreciated that she “cross examined like a venus flytrap” and recommend her for “her supreme intellect and accessibility”. Harini recently represented the consultant cardiologist, Dr Kevin Beatt, in his successful NHS whistleblowing claim, and Ms Latifa Bouabdillah in her successful victimisation claim against Commerzbank. She is an external trustee of Oxford University Student Union, sits on the steering committee of the Temple Women’s Forum, and is a trained interviewer for Inner Temple oral history project. Harini is regularly asked to provide expert legal comment to the media including, most recently, Sky News, LBC radio, and for the Independent newspaper, read here. She also maintains a popular Twitter profile.

Why First 100 Years is important

I am delighted to be a Professional Champion. As a discrimination specialist, I sometimes find it demoralising continually to see the evidence of how far we still are from achieving equality for women in the legal profession and judiciary, so the First 100 Years project is a refreshing change, an opportunity happily to celebrate the impressive – but often underrated and unrecorded – achievements of the women who came before us. On a personal level, I relate to and am inspired by Carrie Morrison (the first woman to qualify as a solicitor) and Edith Hesling (the first woman called to the Bar at Gray’s Inn) who both attended my school in Manchester and were strong women who had to create their own opportunities for themselves.
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