Biglaw, Religion

Biglaw Trainee Posts Islamist Rant On YouTube In The Wake Of Charlie Hebdo Attack

What is this fellow’s name, and which law firm does he work for?

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Earlier this week, following the violent attack on the French satirical weekly paper Charlie Hebdo, a trainee at a Magic Circle firm decided to take to YouTube to post a 21-minute extremist rant where he denounced Western ideologies and called on his “brothers and sisters” to stand against the concept of freedom of speech that “the kuffar” (i.e., infidels) support.

What is this fellow’s name, and which law firm does he work for?

In an exclusive report first published by Legal Cheek, and later picked up by Roll On Friday, we found out that the would-be solicitor who preached to his YouTube audience that Islam was “superior” to Western culture goes by the name of Aysh Chaudhry, and he began working at Clifford Chance about six months ago.

(Why do our most inflammatory posts come from Clifford Chance? See here, here, and here. Perhaps the firm is due for some hardcore introspection.)

According to Chaudhry’s LinkedIn page, which has since been taken down, he has a law degree from London University’s School of Oriental and African Studies, which he received with first-class honors. Prior to working at Clifford Chance, he interned at Slaughter & May, White & Case, Freshfields, and BLP. Legal Cheek managed to snag, redact, and blur this photo before Chaudhry removed his profile on the site.

Aysh Chaudhry’s YouTube rant, which he quickly made private after its discovery, was broadcast predominantly in English, but sprinkled here and there with Arabic words. This is a brief snippet of the message Chaudhry delivered in his video:

Brothers and sisters, we would not be here had it not been for the fact that the kuffar had gone to our lands and killed our people and raped and pillaged our resources.

This, brothers and sisters, is what we need to understand. We need to move away from this apologetic tone and to have confidence in Islam because we are enslaved otherwise.

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What does Clifford Chance have to say about its trainee’s video? We imagine that the partners can’t be too pleased, especially since Chaudhry’s rant has reportedly “caused concern among lawyers at the firm.” Here’s a statement from a firm spokeswoman:

The views expressed in this video are personal and not those of Clifford Chance. The firm is committed to establishing an inclusive culture where people with diverse backgrounds and views work effectively together and feel confident to develop their potential.

We ask our people to at all times consider how their personal conduct and actions may affect those around them, their professional reputation and that of the firm.

Clifford Chance didn’t comment on whether Aysh Chaudhry would retain his employment with the firm, but if he’s allowed to keep his job, he’ll likely owe it to the Western concept of freedom of speech that he despised enough to decry in his video.

(Flip to the next page for a taste of Aysh Chaudhry’s 21-minute Islamist YouTube rant.)

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