Coventry University hosts key race and justice lecture

Imran Khan, solicitor for Stephen Lawrence’s family will be one of the speakers at a key lecture taking place in Coventry during May, which will discuss the challenging issues of race and justice in modern Britain.

The ‘Legacy of Stephen Lawrence’ lecture – which will take place on Tuesday 29th May 2012 at the Alan Berry Building on University Square (opposite the cathedral steps) from 6-8pm – will explore the enduring legacy of the legal and public campaign and its consequences for racism and racial justice in the UK.

This special lecture has been organised following the sentencing of two of Stephen Lawrence’s killers in January this year, nineteen years after Stephen was murdered.

Organised by Coventry University, The Monitoring Group, Imran Khan and Partners and PressLaw, the event will chart the legal challenges initiated by the family and analyse the main Macpherson recommendations from the inquiry. It will also explore how communities and individuals can enforce their rights against hostile media and key lessons learnt when challenging violent or institutional racism in Britain today.

Chaired by Basil Hylton, previously Head of the West Midlands Probation Service, who submitted evidence to the Lawrence Inquiry and was a founder member of the National Black Police Association, the three speakers on the night will be:

• Imran Khan – solicitor for the Lawrence family  and partner in his own firm Imran Khan and Partners based London;
• Suresh Grover – director of The Monitoring Group, a leading civil rights organisation that provides advocacy, campaigning, casework, trauma and strategy led services;
• Louis Charalambous – solicitor (Simons Muirhead and Burton), a leading media lawyer who heads up the PressLaw team and has advised Doreen Lawrence in relation to media law matters.

Dexter Du Boulay, senior lecturer in Social Welfare at Coventry University, said:

The death of Stephen Lawrence, and the subsequent inquiry and legal cases, have had a profound impact on race relations in the UK.  Hearing from Imran Khan, the person who has been with the Lawrence family from the beginning, will provide a unique opportunity to have a firsthand account of the legacy Stephen’s untimely death has brought about.

For more information, please visit: The Legacy of Stephen Lawrence – Race and Justice in modern Britain.

Please contact Sarah-Jane Dean, Communications Assistant, Coventry University, on +44 (0)24 7688 8245 or email sarah-jane.dean@coventry.ac.uk.