Dr Rehana Parveen

• LLB (Law)
• LLM (Islamic Law) SOAS
• Phd (University of Birmingham) ‘Do Shariah Councils Meet the Needs of Muslim Women?’
• Fellow of the Higher Education Academy

Rehana  qualified as a solicitor in 1995 and has worked in both Birmingham and London. As a solicitor Rehana specialised in family law, criminal law and general litigation. In 1999 Rehana  became a partner in her own firm which she set up with another solicitor, in Tooting, London. Rehana continued to work as a partner until 2002, when she joined The University of Law teaching on a range of courses including the GDL, LPC and BPTC and also teaching a range of skills such as advocacy, client interviewing and drafting of court documents. Rehana joined the University of Birmingham Law School in 2012 and is currently employed as a Lecturer. Rehana teaches and leads on a range of modules including Legal Skills & Methods, Family Law, Equity & Trusts, Decolonising Legal Concepts & Islamic Family Law.

• Equity and Trusts (LLB)
• Family Law 1: Adult Relationships
• Legal Skills & Methods
• Decolonising Legal Concepts
• Islamic Family Law

Rehana's research interests lie in exploring plurality of laws with particular emphasis on the development between English Family Law and Islamic Family Law. Rehana's doctoral thesis explored Muslim women's experiences of using shari'a councils when it came to matrimonial and family disputes and compared it to their experiences of civil courts in order to assess whether sharia'a councils meet the needs of Muslim women. Rehana uses her research to inform her teaching especially when thinking about the ways in which marginalised communities interact with state law and how state law and religious frameworks interact and shape one another. Rehana's research has been at the heart of her research-lead teaching and informs her approaches to understanding how law can be both transformative and exclusionary.