Who? Chaman Salhan, 33-year-old partner at Birmingham firm Salhan & Co, who specialises in complex criminal and civil liberties cases.

Why is he in the news? He represented Mohammed Nasrul Islam and Mohammed Amin Kazi, two of the councillors involved in the Birmingham vote-rigging case. Following local elections in June last year, petitions were lodged against six Labour councillors alleging involvement in postal vote fraud. Last week, Election Commissioner Richard Mawrey QC ruled there had been massive, systematic and organised fraud in which not less than 1,500 votes had been cast fraudulently. All six councillors denied any wrongdoing.


Background: Banking and international finance degree at City University Business School, diploma in law at City University, followed by the LPC at the University of Central England. He trained at Salhan Nijjar in Birmingham, qualifying in 1997 and has remained with the firm, which de-merged in 2000 to become Salhan & Co.


Route to the case: 'A week before the case was due to be heard, the solicitors acting for all six councillors withdrew, so the councillors contacted local firms and I was recommended as I have done a lot of civil jury trials.'


Thoughts on the case: 'It was the first electoral court for over a century and the procedures were archaic. Due to the nature of the court, the men effectively had a criminal trial under civil procedures. The case has enormous repercussions for the democratic process. It has implications for the disenfranchisement of members of the public and highlighted problems in the postal voting system. The government's approach that these problems are limited to Birmingham is, in my view, myopic. These cases are expensive to bring, but with the increase in postal voting, I would expect to see more petitions lodged after the election, particularly in marginal seats.'


Dealing with the media: 'The media were slow to pick up on the importance of the story - at the start they just saw it as a piece about a bunch of allegedly dodgy councillors. With the impending general election, they realised the wider implications. Without the election, the case would not have hit the headlines in the way that it has done. While the case has received quite a lot of coverage, the media have understood that there is the potential for a criminal trial and have backed off a bit. Dealing with them has been fine - it is important not to get carried away with the idea that you are going to be in the papers and on telly, and to be careful who you choose to speak to.'