Brikena is an experienced London-based barrister specialising in public law and international crime.  She is experienced in civil litigation and criminal cases and worked for a number of years in-house for the UK Government Legal Department.  She is currently instructed as a junior counsel to a major UK Public Inquiry and is part of the legal team representing a defendant in criminal proceedings before the Kosovo Specialist Chambers in the Hague.

Brikena is originally from Kosovo and is the first Albanian to qualify as a barrister in the UK.  She is Founder and Head of the British-Albanian Lawyers Association (BALA), a non-profit organisation focused on promoting co-operation between lawyers in the United Kingdom, Kosovo and Albania, advancing the knowledge in the field of law, supporting future generations of lawyers and promoting the rule of law and access to justice. BALA organises regular talks and has had a number of high-profile guest speakers, including Sir Geoffrey Nice KC, Kosovo’s Supreme Court President and Kosovo’s first female president. 

Brikena is actively involved in promoting the rights of the Albanian Diaspora. In 2018 Brikena addressed the Kosovo Parliament on diaspora engagement and presented before Kosovo’s Parliamentary Commission for Legislation the results of her diaspora rights work with a Kosovo-based NGO.  

Brikena is the first recipient of the 'Ambassador of the Nation' Award from the Albanian Government, which she received in recognition of her diaspora community work.  Brikena was appointed by the Albanian Government in 2019 on Albania’s Diaspora Coordination Council, an institution that was created in 2019 by the Albanian Government for the first time in the history of Albania. The mission of the Council is to represent the interests of the Albanian Diaspora (around 10 million people worldwide) and to act as a bridge between the Albanian Diaspora and the Albanian Government. The Council consists of 15 Albanian Diaspora members from different countries and works with the key figures of the Albanian Government, including Albania’s President and Prime Minister, on diaspora strategies and policies.  Brikena is a representative from the UK Albanian diaspora.

In 2016 Brikena was invited to meet King Charles III (then HRH Prince Charles) during his royal visit to Kosovo as part of events celebrating relations between Kosovo and the UK.

Brikena has spoken about her journey to the law in the British and Albanian media. She came to the UK at the age of 16 from Kosovo, 3 years before the Kosovo war, speaking little English and qualified as a barrister 9 years later.  Brikena has given inspirational talks for different organisations and is regularly invited to speak on TV and radio to discuss her work and issues affecting the Albanian Diaspora.