Multi-positioning of actors

The process of professionalisation not only produces a division between professionals and lay people, but also effects multi-positioning of actors within the group of

professionals. By using the idea of multi-positioning (Dezalay and Madsen 2012, p. 444), I draw attention to the fact that Bourdieu’s theory of the field is relational, which means that an actor’s social position within certain fields relates to their position in other fields (Bourdieu 1986b). This is an important point in my argument that

professionalisation as a process in the British-Muslim legal field – while producing a distinguishable group of professionals – does not result in homogenising them as a singular group of legal professionals. Rather, it encourages actors to strategically position themselves within and across different yet related fields to increase their influence in British-Muslim family law and to handle the uncertainty involved in practicing in an emerging, fluid, and changing environment (Flood 1991).48 In their study of transnational lawyers, Flood and Lederer provide examples of how individual professionals draw on their knowledge and experience in multiple areas to carve out strategic niche positions for themselves in the legal market. Flood and Lederer used the career of one particular cosmopolitan lawyer as an example. They argue that his role can be understood ‘at the most mundane level [as] mixing together different legal cultures’. However, ‘at a more subtle level of complexity, [the lawyer in question] brought about a refocusing of the institutions in play from being atomized elements to

48 _{Flood argues that legal practitioners have to manage different kinds of uncertainty, one of them being}

in situations that involve handling not ‘law per se’ and where ‘book learning’ is not an option (Flood 1991, p. 44).

becoming powerful cohesive organizations with global reach. The discourse of differences had to be reconstituted into a conversation of commonality’ (Flood and Lederer 2012, p. 2537).

In my research, I observed how many influential figures in the British-Muslim legal field present themselves as holding qualifications in both areas of law, Islamic and English, to strengthen their authority. A number of solicitors I interviewed emphasised that they completed their post-graduate studies in Islamic law in addition to their law degree, or took on further study in a particular area of Islamic law. There appears to be a distinct advantage in being able to demonstrate expertise in both areas for gaining authority in the British-Muslim legal field. The dynamic of multi-positioning is not limited to Muslim and English law but also involves politics and private business for instance. Like in other specialisations such as immigration and nationality practice, key influential actors play a crucial role in the circulation of ideas and cross-

fertilisation between fields, the boundaries of which remain by definition always permeable. For example, one of the most prominent and public figures in the area of British-Muslim family law is Aina Khan who launched and currently heads the

Islamic & Asian division at Duncan Lewis Solicitors, which is a major firm in the UK offering a variety of legal services not limited to Islamic legal services.49 _{Aina Khan} advertises her expertise in that she ‘has developed her niche specialism in Islamic Family law over 20 years, providing pioneering solutions which work under English as well as Sharia law’ (Duncan Lewis Solicitors).Apart from her practice as a solicitor, she is also active in the political field where she is on the Ministry of Justice’s Working Group on Unregistered Marriages. She launched the ROM ‘Register Our Marriage’ campaign, which advocates mandatory registration of Muslim marriages to ensure their validity under English law. Her involvement in the field of politics is not limited to recent activity only. In 1997, she was a Parliamentary candidate (Liberal Democrats) for Ilford South. Aina Khan’s longstanding

involvement in multiple positions across legal and non-legal fields is an example of the accumulated symbolic capital gained through these networks.

Actors maintaining multiple positions in different fields contribute to the British- Muslim legal field emerging as hybrid through their practices, discourses and

49 _{According to Legal 500 the firm currently serves approximately 20,000 clients per year in 20 areas of}

law, with 36 offices throughout the UK and employs over 500 members of staff (Duncan Lewis Solicitors).

backgrounds. What helps the British-Muslim legal field to retain coherence despite the lack of a defined path to access is that many of the individuals working in it professionally recognise each other on a personal basis and form a network that reinforces mutual trust and dependence – something referred to as ‘local legal

cultures’ in other studies (see Mather, McEwen and Maiman 2001, pp. 10-11). This is not surprising given the field’s (still) rather small size compared to other areas of law. While practice in British-Muslim family law cannot be considered as an elite segment of the legal market in the UK in terms of high profit margins or service to mainly elite clients, professionalisation and specialisation of ‘experts’ matter for practitioners as well as clients whose needs demand high quality services at affordable prices (Prabhat and Hambly 2017, p. 1513). Yet, as a smaller area of specialisation ‘at the margins’ the group of professionals associated with this specialisation remains easily

identifiable. While the field is undoubtedly flourishing, with new practices opening between my first set of interviews in 2013 and the second set in 2015, legal

professionals create plenty of opportunities to communicate with each other, meet at events and follow each other’s professional development. This is not to say that it is a single personal-professional network that underlies the British-Muslim legal field. There are at the same time many firms or individuals that are not part of the circle of professionals who have a more public profile and seek to engage regularly with their peers. These areas of practice would then represent the outer margins of the field where professional, intellectual and procedural ties loosen and the influence and authority of the central figures weaken.

The structures enabling legal professionals to play an influential role in British- Muslim family law are related to existing pathways to power and their positions in multiple fields, which distinguishes professionals from lay people. Yet, the notion of ‘professionals’ must be approached critically not as a definite marker of un-

contestable authority but rather as referring to a process of professionalisation and struggle for power in law. When our focus is turned to questions of power, solicitors’ practices represent a particularly strong position inside the field that harvests different types of capital including symbolic and economic. A manifestation of different

concentrations of capital and exchanges between them can be found in the market of Islamic legal services. This market is intrinsically linked to the field’s other key building blocks.