Mohsin Zaidi

BA Jurisprudence 2003
Author
Barrister, 6KBW College Hill

Mohsin Zaidi is an award-winning author, speaker and barrister. His critically acclaimed memoir, A Dutiful Boy (Penguin, 2020) won the American Lambda Literary Award and the British Polari First Book Prize. It was also named a Guardian, GQ and New Statesman Book of the Year. The Guardian describes it as a profound meditation on the power of the human heart to transcend the contradictions of diverse cultures and create something new...utterly compelling...providing a lesson of acceptance for us all, and for the future of our multicultural society. The Times says it is a book that will save lives.

The first person from his school to go to Oxford University, Mohsin qualified as a lawyer at international firm Linklaters, and then became a criminal barrister at 6KBW College Hill—one of the top chambers in England. He also previously worked at a UN War Crimes tribunal in The Hague and as Judicial Assistant to Lord Sumption and Lord Wilson at the UK’s Supreme Court. He is an Executive at consulting firm Hakluyt.

An advocate for LGBT rights, BAME representation and social mobility, Mohsin sat on the board of Stonewall and Pride in London. He is listed by The Financial Times as a top future LGBT leader. A regular commentator on Sky News, he also writes for The New York Times, The Guardian, CNN Style, The i Newspaper, Bustle, Mr Porter and Newsweek. He was also listed in The Lawyer Magazine Hot 100 and Attitude magazine named him a trailblazer changing the world.

Mohsin considers his time at Keble transformative to his life. “It was an education not just in law but in life. It was a challenging time, during which I was forced to come to terms with the seemingly warring parts of my identity. I feel lucky to have had the support of so many people at Keble, not least Ed Peel and Ian Archer.”