Asimah Shah - Principal Legal Consultant

Asimah is the Founder and Principal Legal Consultant at Eastvilles, specialising in data privacy andcommercial law. She founded Eastvilles to provide a more Personal, Pragmatic and Precise service to her clients than traditional law firms. Asimah is a dynamic, diligent and proactive individual with several years of legal experience. Asimah started her legal career in 1995 working as a Legal Assistant and then later qualified as a Solicitor in 2004.

She has worked in many sectors including Nuclear, Logistics, Health, Local Government and Research and Development. Asimah ‘gets things across the line’ and her attention to detail and negotiation skills are second to none.

She is a commercial law expert who provides services that include General Commercial Law, Data Privacy, Advertising and Marketing, Information Technology, Inhouse Legal Services, Consumer Law, Logistics, as well as providing businesses with essential Training on aspects such as bribery.

She has also been involved in human rights work. Asimah has the ability to see things not just from the business perspective but also from the consumer perspective and so ‘covers all bases’ to ensure an efficient outcome that will deliver results.

Early Life

Asimah was born and raised in Bristol. Having completed her law degree from the University of the West of England, Asimah worked for a leading law firm in Bristol, Bobbetts Mackan for a few years – a firm recommended in the Legal 500 and committed to ensuring that the people of Bristol receive access to justice and just as good quality legal advice as corporations and state bodies, such as the Police. She then moved to different parts of the country including Bradford, Manchester, Birmingham and London where she developed her ever expanding range of legal experience and fuelled her passion to network and get to know dynamic, driven and business-minded people like herself and continued her studies (including her LPC and qualified in 2004 as a Solicitor of England and Wales).

Legal Career - Private Practice

Asimah has also worked for law firms where she covered an extensive range of areas in civil litigation, such as land disputes, harassment, debt recovery, insolvency, landlord and tenant disputes, contract disputes, possession proceedings, inheritance disputes and negligence claims. She would deal with cases at all stages from application, case management, directions to own advocacy at both the County Court and the High Court. She also provided a daily telephone advice line on a range of legal and commercial matters to members of the British Chambers of Commerce and the British Shops and Stores Association (BSSA), now known as British Independent Retailers Association (BIRA). During this time Asimah also provided her legal services pro bono to the Citizens Advice Bureaux.

Legal Career - Education Sector

Moreover, Asimah worked as a Commercial Lawyer in the education sector working for institutions such as the University of Leeds (Faculty of Medicine and Health) and Sheffield Hallam University. At both universities, Asimah worked for the Research and Innovation Departments where her role was to draft and negotiate agreements with leading pharmaceutical companies such as Pfizer and Ricketts Benckiser, collaboration agreements, funding agreements, studentships, intellectual property licensing agreements and human tissue transfer agreements.

Legal Career - Government Sector

Furthermore, Asimah provided her experience to local authorities such as the London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham and the City of York Council. Part of her work with local authorities included preparing for trials and advocacy in the Magistrates’ Court, County Court and High Court. Her key areas of work were data privacy, EU procurement, criminal prosecutions, commercial law, liquor licensing and gambling law. Some of her successes include representing the Council in open court at Liquor Licensing appeal trials in the Magistrates’ Court, against retail giants such as the Co-op which was also attended by Tesco’s external lawyer and internal representatives (to listen to the legal arguments), developing and delivering an annual training programme to elected members who sat on the Council’s Licensing and Gambling Committees – as a result of the quality of the training, the Law Society accredited Rochdale Council to award CPD points for their in-house legal training. Asimah also played an integral part in ensuring compliance with the Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act (covert surveillance) – she introduced a new policy and documentation for the Council. Following an inspection by a judicial commissioner of the Investigatory Powers’ Commissioner’s Office, Asimah was commended for her work on covert surveillance.

Personal

Asimah has many personal achievements such as working as part of a team with the Prince’s Trust for the MillionMakers competition, where she helped raise over £50,000 over a period of six months.
To show Prince’s Trust MillionMakers Competition
© Prince’s Trust
The team were awarded champions of the North at the Regional Awards in 2019 for raising the largest amount in Yorkshire. The team also won the creativity award at the National Finals in London held in March 2019. The charity received all of the proceeds, which were put towards worthwhile causes that champion young people to live, learn and earn – something that Asimah is passionate about.
© Prince’s Trust
Asimah is a knowledgeable and well-travelled person who enjoys connecting with people. Asimah has travelled across Europe, the Middle East, Africa and Asia. She enjoys reading and listening to podcasts as well as staying in tune with nature and going on long walks. Asimah thrives on the pace and development of the business world but uses her hobbies to help keep herself grounded and to continue to add her personal values and ethics to her work.