Bristol lawyer Aziz Deen, an associate in Foot Anstey’s Islamic finance team, has been named as a finalist in the British Muslim Awards 2023.
He will compete in the Rising Star in Law category at the awards ceremony next month, which is regarded as one of the most prestigious events in the Muslim community’s calendar. 
Aziz, pictured, was selected by the judging panel for the awards, which have been recognising the achievements of British Muslims for more than a decade, due to his outstanding work in progressing access and awareness of the Islamic finance sector.
Aziz is an active committee member of The Association of Muslim Lawyers, where he founded the Legal Guides mentoring programme.
To date, the programme has matched more than 300 mentees and mentors within the legal sector, with many of the mentees securing training contracts as a result.
A real estate specialist with a particular focus on Islamic finance transactions, Aziz acts for financial institutions in connection with senior, stretch senior and mezzanine debt structures, secured against commercial or high-value residential property.
His career highlights include advising a West End investment bank on a multi-tranche, multi-million pound portfolio refinance of seven high-value investment assets located in central London.
A passionate social activist, Aziz has been awarded for his social action work by the Faith and Belief Forum at the Houses of Parliament. He has also appeared on the BBC’s Question Time talking about racial and class issues, and founded a charity aimed at alleviating the suffering of the homeless in Bristol.
He said: “I am humbled to be recognised in the Rising Star category at this year’s British Muslim Awards.
“Not only have I made it my mission to make Islamic finance more accessible to others, I am also passionate about addressing the lack of financial literacy in ethnically diverse communities, which I believe has helped me in being recognised by the BMA and its judging panel.
“Throughout my career I have involved myself in numerous Islamic finance organisations and charities with the same values as myself and the Islamic Finance team at Foot Anstey.”
The British Muslim Awards are held on 28 April at The Marquee in Manchester.
The work of Foot Anstey’s Bristol-based Islamic finance team helped it win the Fintech Law Firm of the Year title at last year’s Islamic Finance News (IFN) Law Awards.
Islamic finance is one of Foot Anstey’s six key sectors along with development, energy & infrastructure, private equity, private wealth and retail & consumer.
The firm also has offices in Exeter, London, Plymouth, Southampton, Taunton and Truro.
