The University of West London is proud to introduce the 2022 winner of the Lifetime Achievement Award, Sunil Sheth. Sunil is a lawyer and one of the founders of the Society of Asian Lawyers, Chair of Sense International, Chair of Anti-Slavery International, and dedicated friend of UWL.
Sunil was born at Lake Victoria in Kenya, the son of a lawyer who came to the profession late in life, beginning as a journalist at The Daily Chronicle, an anti-colonial paper in Kenya. Following Kenya’s independence, his father allied himself with the socialist opposition party and found himself deported overnight.
Coming to the UK to join his father, Sunil faced discrimination and bias throughout his time at school. Aiming for the local public school, his headmaster refused to write him a reference because he didn’t feel young Sunil deserved it, but the boy persevered in the face of adversity.
If you didn’t keep up, then you fell behind and you got left behind. There was no concern or pastoral care. A lot of the teachers were biased. In Kenya, I had been a star student, and here I wasn’t. Then I wanted to do law, because my father was a lawyer, and I always felt a sense of injustice because of what happened to my family.
In his teenage years, Sunil dedicated himself to a number of social causes, including anti-Apartheid and anti-Vietnam War protests. After struggling through his A-Levels, he found himself at Ealing Technical College, what is now the University of West London.
Ealing College came up, I went for an interview, and I got a place, for which I was eternally grateful. What I recognised, particularly for minorities, is that everyone needs an opportunity. Once you’re given one, then the ball is in your court.
Sunil enjoyed his time at UWL, though he freely admits he wasn’t working too hard. Instead, he was out making friends from all around the world, played for the hockey team, headed the South Asian Society, and just about showed up for his lectures and tutorials each week.
There were two kinds of students: the ones who were in the library from day one, who were determined and focused and wanted to qualify with the best possible grades; and the rest, like me who got involved in lots of other college activities and for whom college was the first taste of freedom from the rigid discipline of the school.
Given that Sunil had not given much thought to his future career, he wasn’t expecting to find himself a training contract at a city law firm. Just four years after qualifying, he moved with his mentor to a new firm and joined as a partner.
As a partner in a small law firm, he kept working for clients of other partners and developing at the same time his own practice. At the time, Sunil was targeting friends and family in both UK and Kenya, which led to a lot of travelling.
In 2003, Sunil joined Fladgates, where he remains to this day as Senior Partner and also overseeing their Indian operations.
Asked what it is about being a lawyer that Sunil appreciates so much, he said:
With any service industry, if you don’t like people, you shouldn’t be in the industry. For me, I am fascinated by people, and I’ve met a whole range of people. That’s what keeps me going. Everyone has different styles, everyone has different approaches, and I find that intriguing.
Alongside his work as a lawyer, Sunil has dedicated himself to fighting injustice and providing opportunities for anyone marginalised or discriminated against. Early on in his career, Sunil was one of the co-founders of the Society of Asian Lawyers in 1990.
There was a lot of discrimination in the profession and things were stacked against the minorities. There had been a few attempts at organisations before, but they had failed. With two other people, I set up the SAL.
Several attempts at similar concepts had happened before, but their poor performance meant everyone expected the society to crumble. With Sunil as the chair, however, it went from strength to strength and remains active to this day, helping Asian people enter and grow in the legal profession.
Sunil is also chair of Sense International, a charity aimed at deafblind children and young adults through early intervention, education, ultimately vocational training. The charity has projects in eight countries. Sunil also chairs Anti-Slavery International, which aims to tackle all forms of modern slavery and their roots. The work sums up Sunil’s ethos and approach to almost everything in his life.
I just hope I’ve made a difference to people’s lives. I strongly believe that everyone should be given an opportunity to grow, to thrive, and ultimately to shine.
Here at UWL, Sunil funds an annual law scholarship at UWL and engages with UWL to provide work experience placements with his firm, often delivering lectures and speeches at the School of Law.
Asked for his advice to anyone hoping to follow in his footsteps, Sunil had this to say:
You need to be resilient. People often give up too easily, but in order to succeed, you need resilience, commitment, and determination, and lots of support from family and friends. Don’t lose focus of who you are, or become so single tracked that you don’t see anything or anyone else around you.