Fahad Ansari scraps Riverway Law to form an anti-zionist legal group amid the SRA investigation
The solicitor behind the South London law firm representing Hamas has shut down his practice and rebranded it as a radical new legal arm of a broader political movement—Riverway to the Sea.
Fahad Ansari, founder of Riverway Law, announced the transformation days after his firm ceased trading on 29 June. The new organisation frames itself as a “movement-embedded legal organisation” committed to “confronting Zionism” through litigation, education, and international legal activism.
The name “Riverway to the Sea” echoes the chant “From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free”—a slogan condemned by many, including Robert Jenrick, as antisemitic for implying the eradication of Israel.
Riverway Law drew national attention in April when it helped file an application to Home Secretary James Cleverly calling for Hamas to be deproscribed under the Terrorism Act 2000. The submission was co-authored by Ansari along with barristers Frank Magennis of Garden Court Chambers and Daniel Grutters of One Pump Court.
Since then, Riverway and Ansari have come under growing scrutiny. Both the shadow justice secretary Robert Jenrick and the Campaign Against Antisemitism lodged complaints to the Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA) over Ansari’s conduct and social media activity. The SRA confirmed it is actively investigating.
Embed from Getty ImagesThe closure of Riverway Law does not halt any regulatory proceedings. However, its successor—dubbed the Riverway Law Centre—may or may not seek SRA authorisation. If the new entity intends to conduct litigation in the UK, it will be legally required to register and comply with regulatory standards.
Ansari says the new model abandons the traditional solicitor-barrister split, replacing it with a “unified legal formation” rooted in political struggle. “We are entering a new chapter where the law is not simply a profession, but a tool of empowerment, resistance, and transformation,” he declared.
Criticising the old model as “rigid, hierarchical, and detached,” he said Riverway to the Sea would instead be “embedded within a global movement” and would allow for cross-functional strategy directly aligned with activist communities.
Barrister Frank Magennis, also a director of the new centre, said the goal was to make law a “living weapon” in what he called “the struggle for liberation.” Magennis is openly hostile to Zionism but has previously protested against being publicly linked with Hamas, despite acting on its behalf.
“This isn’t a law firm committed to upholding the rule of law—they are naked activists who seek to weaponise it,” Jenrick told the Daily Telegraph. “The SRA must expedite its investigation so these disgusting individuals can be brought to heel.”
Riverway says it will deploy legal challenges across a wide range of contexts including:
- Employment tribunals
- Asylum claims involving Palestinian and anti-Zionist Jewish applicants
- Defamation cases
- Professional regulation (e.g. GMC, SRA, BSB, Charity Commission)
- Public and criminal law
Whether the newly structured organisation will meet the threshold for professional regulation remains to be seen. But as scrutiny intensifies and the legal-political boundaries blur, Riverway’s transformation from a law firm into a legal movement marks a seismic moment in the UK’s legal activism landscape.
