People

Jennifer Akinola

Clinic Coordinator
jennifer.akinola@ucl.ac.uk

Jennifer is the Centre’s Clinic Coordinator. She assists with the day-to-day running of the UCL Integrated Legal Advice Clinic in Stratford. Jennifer leads the extra-curricular volunteering programme at the clinic.

Jennifer holds a LLB from the University of Warwick and is a Fellow of the Higher Education Academy (FHEA). 

Art Badivuku

iLAC Paralegal
a.badivuku@ucl.ac.uk

Art is a paralegal in the Centre's legal advice clinic. Art assists with casework and administration. Prior to joining UCL iLAC, Art has worked in civil actions against public authorities, public law and community care. He has also previously worked in a law centre specialising in immigration and asylum law. Art completed a degree in Politics & International Relations at the University of Manchester in 2015. He completed the Post-Graduate Diploma in Law (GDL) and Legal Practice Course (LPC) at City Law School, graduating in 2020 and 2021 respectively.

Alexander Mak

Trainee Solicitor
alexander.mak@ucl.ac.uk

Alex is a final seat Trainee Solicitor on secondment from the law firm Clyde & Co LLP. He will be joining and assisting the UCL Integrated Legal Advice Clinic from the beginning of March 2024 for six months.

Alex completed his LLB Law Degree at Durham University and the LPC (Legal Practice Course) MSc at the University of Law. He joined Clyde & Co LLP as a Trainee Solicitor in August 2022. Throughout his training contract, he has been involved with both personal and corporate insolvency and restructuring matters, property disputes and commercial real estate transactions. He has joined the legal clinic for his final seat because of his interest in access to justice issues and to gain experience with pro bono and legal aid work.

Professor Dame Hazel Genn 

Academic Adviser

Dame Hazel Genn is the Centre's Director and a Professor of Socio-Legal Studies in the Faculty of Laws at UCL.  She is internationally recognised as a leading authority on access to administrative and civil justice. Her prize winning scholarship focuses on the experiences of ordinary people caught up in legal problems and the responsiveness of the justice system to the needs of citizens.  She has conducted numerous empirical studies on public access to the justice system and has published widely in her specialist fields.  She is author of Paths to Justice: What People Do and Think About Going to Law (1999) a seminal study of public access to justice which has since been replicated in 27 jurisdictions around the globe.

She was the Dean of the UCL Faculty of Laws from 2000-2017. She previously held a Chair and was Head of the Department of Law at Queen Mary, University of London. Before joining London University, she held full-time research posts at Oxford University Centre for Socio-Legal Studies (1974-1985) and the Cambridge Institute of Criminology (1972-74). In January 2006, she was appointed an Inaugural Commissioner of the new Judicial Appointments Commission established under the Constitutional Reform Act 2005 and was a member of the Committee on Standards in Public Life 2003-7. In April 2009 she was appointed to the Secretary of State's Advisory Panel on Judicial Diversity. She has been a Fellow of the British Academy since 2000, a member of its Council 2001-2004 and was Chair of Communications and Publications Committee (2008-2011). In 2005, she was awarded the US Law and Society International Prize for distinguished scholarship and she holds Honorary Doctorates from the Universities of  Aberdeen, Edinburgh, Hull, Leicester, Keele, Kingston and York . She worked with the Judicial Studies Board for 12 years, serving as a member of the Main Board and the Tribunals Committee, and contributing to the design and delivery of training for the judiciary at all levels. She served for eight years as Deputy Chair and then Chair of the Economic and Social Research Council's Research Grants Board. In recognition of her work on civil justice, she was awarded a CBE in the Queen's Birthday Honours List in 2000 and appointed DBE in the Queen's Birthday Honours List in 2006. In 2006 she was also appointed Queen's Counsel Honoris Causa. In 2008 she was elected Honorary Master of the Bench of Gray's Inn.  

Sarah Joy

Welfare Benefits Advisor
sarah.joy@ucl.ac.uk 

Sarah is a Welfare Benefits Adviser in the Centre’s legal advice clinic supporting people with disability benefit claims, reviews and appeals.

She has many years of experience working in welfare rights advice and social research roles in the UK Voluntary Sector including working with refugees and asylum seekers at the British Red Cross. Sarah also works for a local Citizens Advice, in their health outreach service, where she has worked in different GP surgeries and is currently based in a hospital working with Macmillan Cancer patients. She is a firm believer and advocate for the integration of legal advice in local health settings.

Sonia Kalsi

Deputy Director (Teaching & Learning) 
s.kalsi@ucl.ac.uk 

Sonia Kalsi was called to the Bar in 1997 and, having practised for a number of years in criminal law, is now a door tenant at Chambers.

Sonia joined UCL in 2018 and in 2020 was appointed as a full-time Lecturer (Teacher) in the Law faculty. In addition to her role with CAJ, she supports the Director of UG Programmes in Laws in a Deputy Director role.

Sonia convenes the third-year LLB module Access to Justice & Community Engagement, the access to justice placement programme for HKU-UCL students on the dual degree, and co-convenes a case study on homelessness as part of the innovative student induction programme ‘Laws Connections’. She also teaches on the LLM module Access to Justice: Theory & Practice as well as criminal law tutorials on the LLB.

Sonia has extensive teaching experience having previously taught on both academic and vocational programmes at undergraduate and postgraduate level. She has a keen interest in clinical legal education and access to justice issues. She has run a programme on legal aid for students studying the Legal Practice Course (LPC) and was on the board of trustees for Legal Action Group, the access to justice charity, for a number of years.

Rachel Knowles

Director / Associate Professor (Teaching)
r.knowles@ucl.ac.uk

Rachel is the Centre’s Director and Associate Professor (Teaching). She is responsible for the UCL Integrated Legal Advice Clinic (UCL iLAC) and supervises all solicitors and staff working from UCL iLAC.  She also runs her own caseload of Education and Community care cases, and supervises students undertaking this casework. She teaches on both our LLB and LLM courses and provides clinical supervision to LLB students undertaking their placement at UCL iLAC.

Rachel has been a practising solicitor since 2009 and has specialised in representing children and vulnerable young children directly to access the support they need from statutory services. Through her work at the CAJ, Rachel has also become interested in access to justice issues, in particular for children and young people. She has also developed an interest in clinical legal education and strategic litigation.

She joined the UCL Centre for Access to Justice from Just for Kids Law where she was head of the Education and Community Care Law team and had supervised UCL students undertaking casework with her there.

Reported cases include R(Tigere) (Appellant) v Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills [2015] UKSC 57 (responsible for drafting the intervention with assistance from UCL students), R(SJ and LJ) v Surrey CC [2014] EWHC 449 (Admin), and  SA v London Borough of Camden Independent Appeal Panel and H School [2013] EWHC 3152 (Admin).

In 2015, Rachel was shortlisted as a Legal Aid Lawyer of the Year finalist in the category of Children’s Rights.

Thul Khan

Housing Solicitor
thul.khan@ucl.ac.uk

Thul is based in the Centre’s legal advice clinic, UCL iLAC, in Stratford, London.  As well as managing a busy client caseload Thul supervises students at the Clinic and supports the homelessness case study for Laws Connections.  

Thul graduated from the University of Essex and qualified as a practising solicitor.  Thul has worked for the Citizen’s Advice Bureaux, Shelter and in private practice.  

Thul’s roles included representing tenants at the solicitor duty desk scheme at the Clerkenwell & Shoreditch County Court and volunteering at a local law centre.  Thul’s previous experience includes taking instructions on all types of homelessness and possession cases, including those involving warrants for possession, to trial. Thul has also specialised in housing disrepair and unlawful eviction and he has been successful in obtaining significant damages for clients in such circumstances. Thul additionally has experience in obtaining and challenging community care assessments and in cases involving the provision of services for young people under the Children Act 1989.

Thul has appeared in Legal 500 and described as a “cool customer in a crisis.”

Outside of work Thul enjoys live comedy and theatre.  Thul is a season ticket holder at West Ham United.

Michael Marshall

Solicitor
michael.marshall@ucl.ac.uk

Michael works in the Centre’s legal advice clinic, working on welfare benefits, community care and housing cases. He is also responsible for delivering UCL's Rare Dementia Support Advice Project.

Michael completed his LLB at the UCL Faculty of Laws, graduating in 2019. Over the course of his law degree he studied, volunteered and worked at UCL iLAC. He has a number of years of experience advising on welfare benefits issues, working as an adviser for a Newham-based charity, and then as a volunteer with Citizens Advice. 

Shiva Riahi

Deputy Director (Projects) 
s.riahi@ucl.ac.uk

Shiva is one of the Centre's Deputy Director (Projects). She oversees the Faculty's pro bono programme, developing new projects, monitoring outcomes and providing pastoral support for students. Shiva is also responsible for the day to day management of the CAJ, overseeing the Centre's finances, communications, development, and other operational matters across the Centre's activities.  

As a graduate of the UCL Faculty of Laws, Shiva was part of the Access to Justice and Community Engagement course pilot year where she undertook casework with Just for Kids Law. She also holds a BA in Philosophy and International Relations from Tufts University as well as a Masters in Public Administration (MPA) from the UCL Department of Political Science. Shiva has also recently returned from undertaking a secondment at the Ministry of Justice as a policy advisor in the Legal Support and Fees Team. 

Ram Sabaratnam

Projects Coordinator
ram.sabaratnam.19@alumni.ucl.ac.uk 

Ram is the Centre's Projects Coordinator. He coordinates the Faculty's pro bono programme, is responsible for developing new projects and external partnerships, supervising student-led projects, and the recruitment of volunteers. Ram is also responsible for the day to day running of the CAJ, communications, and the monitoring & evaluation of the programme. 

Ram graduated with a BA in Political Science and Philosophy from McGill University, and has an MA in Political Science from the Univeristy of Chicago. He has previous experience in Higher Education.