After graduating from The University of Manchester and being called to the Bar in 1991, Zia returned to Liverpool where he joined chambers and established his practice in the area of criminal law. For the next 27 years he prosecuted and defended criminal cases at all levels of seriousness.
His experience as an advocate coupled with his interest in inter-faith work, led to a number of approaches being made to him as a British Muslim able to explain issues concerning Islam and Muslims, issues which often caused concern for the wider public. This led to speaking engagements at venues as varied as local schools and community groups, to the European Parliament in Brussels.
He subsequently gathered these thoughts into his book, “Just Your Average Muslim”, following which he was invited to speak at the Emirates Airlines Festival of Literature in Dubai as well as other national literature festivals.
For many years Zia has been appearing in local media leading to national recognition when he joined the panel of newspaper reviewers on BBC Breakfast in 2015. In the same year he was awarded an MBE for services to interfaith relations in Merseyside.
In 2017 Zia was made an Honorary Fellow of Liverpool John Moores University and, in 2018, he left the Bar and took on a new full-time role in leading the University’s civic engagement work. In 2020 Zia was part of Liverpool’s Race Equality Task Force which considered the extent of race inequalities in the city and in 2021 he was appointed a Non-Executive Director at the Liverpool Women’s NHS Trust.
In 2022 he founded Premier Advocacy – a consultancy which draws on his extensive experience in order to provide advocacy training as well as advise those seeking to improve their stakeholder engagement.
Zia Chaudhry was commissioned as a Deputy Lieutenant in April 2019.
