Asma Iqbal

Chadwick Lawrence

As a woman of colour specialising in corporate recovery and insolvency — a male-dominated practice — Chadwick Lawrence’s Asma Iqbal has always had to fight twice as hard to make her mark. But it was tackling institutional racism with Yorkshire cricket whistle-blower Azeem Rafiq that really tested her resilience.

Iqbal first heard Rafiq’s story during a Sky Sports interview given in September 2020, during which he recalled experiencing deep-rooted racial abuse thinly disguised as banter. The revelation, made amid the Black Lives Matter movement triggering renewed conversations around workplace discrimination, resonated with her. How could a professional cricketer report such abuse through all the proper channels and still not be taken seriously?

Over a year after Iqbal offered her legal expertise, Rafiq has since secured an apology plus a six-figure settlement with Yorkshire County Cricket Club, ending his employment tribunal claim. This notably excluded a nondisclosure agreement, a rare freedom that allowed the cricketer to give testimony to Parliament and ultimately encourage others to speak up without fear of retribution.

Fresh from the challenge, Iqbal now plans to work with institutions to audit internal practices and behaviours to achieve real change — stamping out institutional racism once and for all.