Vice president of Birmingham Law Society and a partner in the employment team at Ward Hadaway
Following a year as deputy vice president of Birmingham Law Society, Ward Hadaway partner Sabina Kauser has just begun her vice presidency. She will become president in 2027. ‘I’ve been involved with the society for several years in terms of attending events. Over time, I decided I wanted to do more.’
Sabina established the society’s immigration committee and worked to bring practitioners together. ‘In 2023, a vacancy became available on council; I put myself forward and was elected. With a lot of encouragement from colleagues and mentors, I put myself forward as deputy vice president.’
Representation has always been important. ‘It was really important for me to see other people break down barriers and take up roles that have more involvement. I wanted to do the same.’
Sabina says Birmingham Law Society provides a ‘really good opportunity for people to engage with the profession beyond their day-to-day role. You develop relationships, raise your profile, and contribute to different discussions and consultations about what the future of the profession would look like’. On a personal level, the society helps build stronger professional relationships. ‘I developed most of those through my involvement with the society.’
What inspired Sabina to become a lawyer? ‘It originally started, like most people, through TV shows such as Ally McBeal and Law & Order. I was particularly interested in crime and psychology and the mindset behind it.’ She was the first in her family to become a lawyer and they were supportive.
She studied law with legal practice management at Aston University. Sabina then did the LPC and legal practice management at Birmingham College of Law: ‘I do think about marketing and the ledgers, what the billing looks like. My degree has allowed me to do that and really shaped how I have progressed.’
Sabina did her training contract at a high street firm in Shirley. ‘I did different seats and ended up going with immigration. There’s a whole contentious and non-contentious side. I really liked doing advocacy. There’s just a variety of work and no two days are the same.’
When Sabina first started, she did reunion applications. Over a career spanning two decades, she has done legal aid and private work, and helped large multinationals with their business and recruitment needs. Advocacy, she says, enabled her to see a client from the start, take instructions and see the case through to the end, and do tribunal work.
Sabina joined Ward Hadaway last year, at around the same time she put herself forward as DVP of the Society. The firm was new to the city and ‘really supportive’ of her decision.
As vice president, Sabina will support the president, Guy Barnett, one of her first bosses after she qualified and a mentor for more than 20 years.
Her key priorities? ‘Listening to members and making sure we understand what their expectations are.’ She will set up a thinktank comprising a representative group of members, ‘so we can bring forward any ideas or knowledge of what’s going on’.
Sabina has lived in Birmingham all her life. What does she love about the city? ‘It’s a really fantastic place to work.’ As well as having a strong business community with ‘lots of thriving businesses in the professional services sector’, Birmingham is ‘one of the most accessible cities in the country’.
She mentions several career highlights. As well as representing people and supporting them with complex needs, Sabina ran her own firm for nearly a decade. She feels she has found her ‘forever firm’ in Ward Hadaway, which has ‘come at a really nice time’ alongside her local law society work.
‘I have always looked up to people in the law society and the legal profession who are at my level now. It’s nice to be able to pay that back and come full circle, and be in a position where I can influence or support juniors making their way through or starting in the profession.’
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