Aamer Anwar returns to BBC Scotland with more legal cases

The Firm is back on the Beeb…

Lawyer and campaigner, Aamer Anwar, who heads up one of the UK’s leading human rights law firms, is returning to BBC Scotland and BBC iPlayer to pull back the curtain on how he and his team are taking on some of the biggest social issues facing the country today in a brand-new series of The Firm.

Aamer Anwar:

“This series will show you the families we are honoured to work with, who inspire us, who symbolise what justice should be about, not a gentleman’s club, not the vanity of wigs and gowns, but ordinary people who demand justice as a right and not a privilege. No lawyer should ever be afraid to raise their voice for the truth and I hope The Firm shows that is exactly what we fight to do.”

In this limited docuseries, which launches on Tuesday 17 June, cameras join Aamer and his team as The Firm focuses on representing victims whose cases speak directly to major societal issues. While fighting victims’ corners continues to be The Firm’s main priority, the relentless push for the bigger picture, systemic change has become a key focus.

Across three episodes – each focused on different cases and issues – The Firm uncovers what it looks like to challenge the law, scrutinise institutions and change the game, with remarkable behind-the-scenes access to Scotland’s legal industry, as well as in-depth interviews with Aamer, his fearless team of lawyers, legal experts, the families of victims, and an array of insiders.

The first episode in the series sees Aamer work with Margaret Caldwell, the mother of murdered Glasgow woman, Emma Caldwell, to try to secure a public inquiry into police handling of her daughter’s murder. In 2024, Iain Packer was jailed for life with a minimum of 36 years for the murder of Emma Caldwell in 2005, and it emerged during his trial that Packer had been accused of rape and violent attacks on dozens of women as far back as 1990, but police had failed to act.

Episode two sees Aamer set his sights on abolishing crown immunity laws which prevent institutions like the Scottish Prison Service being held criminally responsible for deaths in custody. We meet the bereaved families of Katie Allan and William Lindsay, who both took their own lives at a young offenders’ institution, as Aamer works with them to pursue a major change in the law that could bring a degree of justice and possibly help to save lives in the future.

The final episode in the series focuses on several asylum cases being handled by The Firm’s immigration team including that of a Namibian woman who came to Scotland to claim asylum based on her sexuality and the domestic violence she faced in Namibia.

The Firm provides viewers with a unique and unfiltered insight into all the tactical manoeuvres, setbacks, controversies and battles involved in lengthy legal proceedings, as well as highlighting Aamer and his team’s personal motivations for taking on such challenging and unrelenting work.

The new series, narrated by Gail Porter and produced by STV Studios Factual, is a follow-up to The Firm, which aired on BBC Scotland in 2023 and is available to stream on BBC iPlayer.

The Firm launches on BBC Scotland at 9pm on Tuesday 17 June, with all episodes landing on BBC iPlayer the same day.