Sarah Khan-Bashir MBE
Solicitor · Founder of SKB Law · Family Law Strategist · Educator · International Practice
Sarah Khan-Bashir MBE is a family law solicitor, founder, author, and educator with over 25 years’ experience. She is one of England’s most recognised family law solicitors, twice named Lawyer of the Year, awarded an MBE for her services to the community through Mosaic, the Prince’s Trust charity, and the host of a Top 10 UK podcast on divorce and separation.
She did not begin her career in law. A chemistry graduate, Sarah developed the structured, evidence-based thinking that would define her legal career long before she entered the profession. After completing her legal training, she served as a solicitor at the Force Solicitor office at West Yorkshire Police, one of very few Asian women to hold that role, then built SKB Law into a national practice advising clients across England & Wales and internationally, with particular expertise in complex financial settlements, children’s matters, and cross-jurisdictional cases.
But her practice is only part of the story. Sarah has spent her career doing what she has always done, identifying where more is possible, and building towards it. She founded the SKB Law Academy because she believes that talent is everywhere, and opportunity should be too. She launched the Aura Network for South Asian women in law at the House of Lords, creating a professional community built on mentoring, visibility, and the kind of collective progress that happens when people are genuinely invested in each other’s success.
She speaks on the platforms and in the rooms where those conversations matter: on empathy as a leadership skill, on what success looks like when it is built with purpose, on generosity as a business strategy rather than an afterthought. She is a regular voice in the media on family law and access to justice, and a keynote speaker sought by organisations who understand that how you lead is inseparable from why you lead.
What connects all of it is a question she has been asking since she first read To Kill a Mockingbird at thirteen: who does the law actually serve, and what would it look like if the answer were everyone? That question has never left her. It is what she builds from, speaks from, and leads from.
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Lawyer of the Year
Yorkshire Legal Awards
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Lawyer of the Year
Modern Law Awards
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MBE
Services to the community
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Top 10 UK Podcast
Family Matters with Sarah
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Author
Understanding Your Rights — Nikah Nama
As featured in:
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The Law Society
“I couldn’t see career progression, so I made my own opportunities”
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LegalEx 2022
Keynote: The Future of Family Law
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Bradford Means Business
A Passion for Justice (profile)
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Legal Cheek
Network launched to empower South Asian women in law
Sarah Speaks and Trains On
Sarah is available for keynote speaking, panel contributions, broadcast commentary, and organisational training. She speaks from practice and lived experience, translating complex ideas about law, leadership, and access into conversations that land in any room.
“The most useful thing I can offer a room full of lawyers isn’t more law. It’s a different way of thinking about the people we’re here to serve.”
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Empathy as a Leadership Skill
Why the organisations that last are the ones that listen. A practical case for empathy not as a soft quality but as a strategic advantage, drawn from 25 years of advising people at their most vulnerable and most decisive.
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Redefining Success
What does success look like when you build with purpose rather than for profit alone? Sarah draws on her own experience of building a practice, an academy, and a network to explore what it means to measure what actually matters.
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Generous Leadership
Leadership that builds people as well as results. Practical frameworks for leading in a way that creates capability, confidence, and collective progress, and why generosity is not a cost to the business but a return on it.
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International Family Law in Practice
Jurisdiction, cross-border assets, and advising families whose lives span multiple legal systems, with cultural fluency built in. Relevant to legal professionals, international organisations, and policy audiences.
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Religious Marriages and English Law
Practical guidance on the legal status of religious marriages in England and Wales, the protections available and the gaps that remain.
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Building the Client-Centred Practice
Designing legal services and client journeys that work for both firm and client, practically, commercially, and ethically. For law firms, training providers, and anyone rethinking how professional services should work.
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Keynote Presentation
Sarah delivered a keynote presentation entitled ‘The Future of Family Law: Why Clients Want a More Inclusive and Integrated Service.’
Expert legal support
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For clients
Clear legal direction on divorce, finances, children, or international family situations — from a first Strategy Session through to full representation.
Book a Strategy Session -
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For law firms & legal professionals
Sarah works with firms looking to develop their family law offering, improve client care, build cultural competency, or restructure how their services are designed and delivered.
Training & advisory enquiries -
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For universities, leadership programmes & organisations
Sarah contributes to legal education and professional development as a guest lecturer, keynote speaker, curriculum contributor, and mentor, with particular depth on access to the law and developing professionals from underrepresented backgrounds. She works with universities, corporate leadership programmes, and public sector organisations.
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For media & events
Sarah is available for broadcast interviews, expert commentary, and panel contributions across television, radio, and digital formats. She is experienced in making complex legal issues accessible to general audiences. She also accepts invitations to keynote, deliver training, and speak on panels for conferences, leadership events, and professional development organisations.
Press & speaking enquiries
Family Matters with Sarah
Voted Top 10 in the UK. Real conversations about divorce and separation — raw, relatable, and grounded in real legal experience. Hosted by Sarah Khan-Bashir MBE.
Get clarity in one hour.
A Strategy Session with SKB Law is a focused, lawyer-led meeting. You’ll leave with a clear picture of where you stand, your options, and a written action plan.