- Conference & Dinner:
$230 – SOLD OUT - Nov 17 Dinner Reception:
$150 – SOLD OUT - Nov 18 Conference:
$100 – SOLD OUT
6:00PM - 7:45PM
Networking and Drinks
7:45PM - 8:00 PM
Welcome Remarks
8:00 PM - 8:15 PM
Honoree Speaker Address
8:15 PM - 8:35 PM
IABA Foundation Scholarship Award Announcement
8:35 PM - 9:00 PM
Keynote Address by Vali Nasr
9:00 PM - 9:30 PM
Masters of Ceremony: Remarks on the DC Chapter & Community
9:30 PM - 9:45 PM
Santoor Performance
9:45 PM - 10:00 PM
IABA Service Award Announcements
10:15 PM - 10:25 PM
Remarks by Judge Sam Hamadani
10:25 PM - 10:35 PM
Remarks by Kia Hamadanchy
10:35 PM -
Closing Remarks
8:30AM - 9:00AM
Registration, Breakfast, and Welcome Session
9:00AM - 10:00AM
Speaker name: Judge Sam Hamedani, Navid Haghighi, Yasmin Mehrain, Farinaz Tehrani.
Description: This panel dives into the qualities and characteristics that help attorneys become effective leaders. Oftentimes attorneys focus most of their time becoming experts in their field and overlook the significance of learning leadership skills. Given the current challenges and opportunities in these disrupting times, it is important for us to understand the value of being a good leader in any position and work setting. The Iranian-American attorneys counsel clients in corporations, in government and in large and small law firms as well as well as soles practitioners. More and more of are taking judgeship positions. Having come from diverse backgrounds, our panelists will share their personal experiences in becoming leaders in view of the challenges and the opportunities facing them as members of the Iranian American legal community. They will discuss the “dos” and “don’ts” that guided them through their careers.
10:00AM - 11:00AM
Speaker name: Kia Hamedanchy, Ali Nouri, Boris Ryvkin.
Description: As a minority group, the Iranian American community has not been able to be successfully engaged in a long term policy planning to protect its interest and to curb the policies of the Federal, State, and local to represent its needs. This panel will focus on what we can do as a growing community to change this narrative.
11:00AM - 11:30AM
Description: Mindfulness is key to managing the stresses that we face every day balancing between the multitude of our daily activities. This yoga session will help us maintain mindfulness throughout the actives of the day as we engage our colleagues in vibrant discussions.
11:30AM - 12:00PM
Speaker name: Roxana Niktab.
Description: This panel will discuss how companies are implementing policies to protect and promote women as well as discuss the challenges and perks of working for a large corporation like Amazon. The panel will cover how females and minorities are breaking the glass ceiling now more than ever.
12:00PM - 1:00PM
Speaker name: Maya Berry, Francy Youngberg, Babak Yousefzadeh.
Description: The Iranian American Bar Association has an important role in representing the voices of the Iranian-American community. As an organization we have the opportunity to learn from others who have been able to establish their position as a minority organization in the US. This panel will provide an open forum to discuss the hurdles that we may face as an organization and potential systematic means for moving forward as a strong and united front.
1:00PM - 2:15PM
Speaker name: Layli Miller-Muro – Founder of Tahirih Justice Center.
Description: In January 2017, over 300 lawyers came out to Dulles Airport against Executive Order 13769, The number of lawyer activists increased to 1200 over a two week span. Our keynote speaker Ms. Layli Miller-Muro a lawyer-activist is the and founder and CEO of the Tahirih Justice Center an organization dedicate to protection of women through legal service, public policy advocacy and outreach. We are excited learning about her work as a lawyer and an activist in the time that lawyer-activists are increasing in numbers and influence.
2:15PM - 3:15PM
Speaker name: Farhad Alavi, Sahand Borbour, Erich Ferrari.
Description: Given the number of policy changes by the US government toward the Iranian government, OFAC has announced changes to the Sanctions Laws as it relates to the Iranian government as well as to Iranian nationals and dual-nationals. There is much confusion on the status of the OFAC sanctions laws as it relates to Iranian nationals and dual nationals. This panel will provide a discussion on the history of the sanctions, the various changes over the past years and the current status of the sanctions.
3:15PM - 4:30PM
Speaker name: Leila Austin, Nazy Fahimi, John Freedman, Cyrus Mehri, Shayan Modarres.
Description: A panel of a coalition of Iranian American organizations, and their pro bono counsel, discuss the history of the Travel Ban executive orders (within a historical context), efforts to challenge the Travel Bans in court (including the Iranian American challenge to it), the legal issues in question, impact of the Travel bans on our community, expectations for the future of such litigation, lessons learned, and our community’s possible future needs.
4:30PM -
Closing Remarks
A Middle East scholar, foreign policy adviser and commentator on international relations whose most recent book, The Dispensable Nation, deals with the implications of the Obama administration’s foreign policy on American strategic interests. His earlier books, Forces of Fortune and The Shia Revival, examined the postwar sectarian violence in Iraq and the uprisings known as the Arab Spring and contributed to US policy formulated in response to those events; prior to being named Johns Hopkins SAIS dean, was a professor of international politics at Tufts University’s Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy; from 2009 to 2011, was special adviser to the president’s special representative for Afghanistan and Pakistan; served on the faculties of the Naval Postgraduate School, Stanford University, the University of California, San Diego and the University of San Diego; was a Carnegie Scholar and a senior fellow at Harvard University’s Kennedy School of Government, an adjunct senior fellow for Middle Eastern studies at the Council on Foreign Relations and a senior fellow in foreign policy at the Brookings Institution; currently a member of the US Department of State’s Foreign Affairs Policy Board, and is a life member of the Council on Foreign Relations; PhD, political science, Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
Cyrus Mehri is a founding partner of Mehri & Skalet, PLLC. He litigates cases involving discrimination, civil and consumer rights, and corporate fraud. Fast Company says, “He is something of a one-man army in the battle against business as usual… His impact – both in terms of penalties and remedies – is undeniable,” while the New York Times says, “Mr. Mehri’s vision for corporate America involves sweeping change, not the piecemeal kind.”
Mr. Mehri’s reputation is well-earned. He has led and co-led some of the largest and most significant race and gender cases in U.S. history, including Roberts v. Texaco Inc., which resulted in a $176 million award for discrimination, and Ingram v. The Coca-Cola Company, which resulted in a $192 million settlement. Both the Texaco and Coca-Cola settlements included a Court appointed Task Force overseeing sweeping improvements in promotion, compensation, evaluation and other HR systems. Mr. Mehri also spearheaded the Robinson v. Ford Motor Company case, which resulted in the creation of 279 apprenticeship positions for African-American employees and a $10 million payment, as well as creation of new state-of-the-art testing protocols for apprenticeship positions. Mr. Mehri achieved similar settlements involving selection procedures with other companies such as Alcoa and Visteon. Mr. Mehri also played a lead role in the $24 million settlement against John Hancock Life Insurance Company, resolving claims of decades-old discriminatory practices in the sale and marketing of life insurance policies to African-Americans, including a $15 million cy pres component to be distributed to organizations that benefit African-American communities.
The “Women on Wall Street” project, which Mr. Mehri launched with the National Council of Women’s Organizations to end discrimination against women in financial institutions, has achieved settlements with Morgan Stanley & Co. ($47 million), Smith Barney ($33 million) and Wells Fargo/Wachovia ($32 million), exceeding $114 million in total, along with transforming the opportunities available to women on Wall Street.
As co-founder of the Fritz Pollard Alliance, an affinity group for NFL minority coaches, front office and scouting personnel that advocates for the hiring and promotion of minority candidates within the NFL ranks, Mr. Mehri has worked to dramatically change the face of NFL management—and level the playing field.After he wrote, with Johnnie L. Cochran, Jr., Black Coaches in the National Football League: Superior Performance, Inferior Opportunities, the NFL adopted the “Rooney Rule,” a comprehensive diversity program under which the NFL has reached historical numbers of black management personnel, including head coaches. For seven straight years after the 2006 season, one or both clubs in the Super Bowl featured an African-American General Manager or Head Coach.
The NFL also looked to Mr. Mehri to implement a new Player Assessment Test (PAT), an innovative tool to capture the non-physical attributes of a successful NFL player and to reduce socioeconomic bias in the drafting process. The PAT was unveiled at the 2013 Scouting Combine in Indianapolis and has been used by most of the NFL Clubs.
For his advocacy, in 2014, Mr. Mehri was given the Cornell Law School Public Service Award. Hartwick College chose Mr. Mehri as its 2009 Commencement Speaker and inaugural alumni hall of fame. The Detroit City Council passed a testimonial resolution honoring Mr. Mehri and wishing him “continued success in changing the fabric of America, and the Pigskin Club of Washington, D.C. awarded Mr. Mehri its Award of Excellence and the City of Miami gave him the Distinguished Visitor Award.
He was named by Regardie’s Power magazine as one of “Washington’s Ten Most Feared Lawyers” and by Workforce magazine as “Corporate America’s Scariest Opponent.”
As PAAIA’s Executive Director, Dr. Leila Golestaneh Austin provides operational direction for the organization, ensuring that PAAIA’s three pillars of influence-building, leadership-building, and bridge-building are met.
A Professorial Lecturer in Global Theory and History and Middle East Studies at Johns Hopkins University’s School of Advanced International Studies (“SAIS”), Dr. Austin served as deputy director of Cultural Conversations at the Foreign Policy Institute at SAIS. She also manages a multi-year grant that launched the Global Politics and Religion Initiative at SAIS. In addition, Dr. Austin teaches in the Global Security Studies department of Johns Hopkins University’s Zanvyl Krieger School of Arts and Sciences and the American University’s School of International Service. She has previously taught at Georgetown University’s Center for Arab Studies and Columbia University’s School of International and Public Affairs.
Dr. Austin received her Ph.D. in Political Science from Columbia University and her M.A. in International Affairs from the Paul H. Nitze School of Advanced International Studies.
Shayan Modarres is civil rights activist and trial lawyer. Over the course of his career as a civil rights attorney in Florida and the Washington Metropolitan area, Mr. Modarres has represented clients in a number of high-profile cases and has successfully held bad actors in law enforcement accountable for civil rights violations and misconduct. Most notably, Mr. Modarres served as legal counsel to the family of Trayvon Martin.
Inspired by his work as a civil rights attorney, Mr. Modarres decided to run for Congress for Florida’s Tenth Congressional District in 2014. Stories of disparity and inequality across the nation fuel his commitment to civil rights and social justice reform.
Mr. Modarres holds a B.A. in Law and Society from American University and a J.D. from Florida A&M University College of Law, where he graduated cum laude and served on the Editorial Board of the Law Review Journal
Navid Haghighi is executive vice president, general counsel and secretary for XO. In this role, he leads the XO legal and regulatory department, and serves on the executive management team. Haghighi manages all aspects of legal and telecommunications regulatory functions at XO, including complex transactions, litigation, employment, corporate, real estate, procurement, intellectual property, state and federal regulatory compliance and legislative affairs. Haghighi has more than 20 years of wide-ranging experience in telecommunications and web services, including technical and management positions at AT&T where he began his career in the technical ranks. His law firm and in-house positions have allowed him to practice at the intersection of law and technology. Prior to joining XO in 2004, Haghighi held legal and business positions at MCI and AOL, and worked as an associate in a Washington, D.C. law firm.
Haghighi holds an undergraduate degree in computer science from Louisiana State University, a master’s degree in computer science from the University of Virginia, and is a graduate of the University of Maryland School Of Law. Haghighi serves on the board of directors for the Washington Metropolitan Area Chapter of the Association of Corporate Counsel.
John Freedman’s practice focuses on complex commercial litigation, government investigations, white-collar criminal matters, and parallel proceedings involving simultaneous civil litigation and government investigations. Mr. Freedman’s commercial litigation experience includes representing corporations, accounting firms and accountants, broker-dealers, investment advisers, corporate boards and committees, and individual corporate officers and directors in securities fraud litigation and investigations; representing clients in shareholder derivative and other fiduciary duty litigation; defending corporations in antitrust class actions and merger litigation; and other commercial litigation.
Mr. Freedman also regularly represents clients in investigations and enforcement matters by the United States Department of Justice, US Securities and Exchange Commission, Financial Industry Regulatory Authority, and other government agencies. He has also litigated real estate, contract disputes, intellectual property, false advertising, civil rights, employment, and other commercial matters in federal and state courts, as well as in arbitrations. Mr. Freedman has specific experience in disputes involving issues of corporate finance, valuation, statistics, and the application of generally accepted accounting principles.
Layli Miller-Muro is the Founder and Executive Director of the the Tahirih Justice Center. She established Tahirih in 1997 following her involvement in a high-profile case that set national precedent and revolutionized asylum law in the United States. Fauziya Kassindja, a 17-year-old girl who had fled Togo in fear of a forced polygamous marriage and female genital mutilation, was granted asylum in 1996 by the U.S. Board of Immigration Appeals. This decision opened the door to gender-based persecution as grounds for asylum. Using her portion of the proceeds from a book she and Ms. Kassindja co-authored about the case, “Do They Hear You When You Cry?,” Layli established Tahirih.
Since 2001, Layli has led Tahirih in its service to more than 22,000 women and children, growing the non-profit from a staff of six to over 70, and expanding its offices from Greater DC to Houston, Baltimore, and the San Francisco Bay Area. In recognition of its sound management and innovative programs, under Layli’s leadership, Tahirih won the Washington Post Award for Management Excellence and gained recognition for its innovative use of pro bono services in the Stanford Social Innovation Review.
Prior to joining Tahirih as Executive Director, Layli was an attorney at the law firm of Arnold & Porter, where she practiced international litigation and maintained a substantial pro bono practice. Prior to joining Arnold & Porter, Layli was an attorney-advisor at the U.S. Department of Justice, Board of Immigration Appeals.
Layli is a frequent lecturer and has appeared in numerous news outlets including CNN, Fox News, The New York Times, NPR, The Wall Street Journal, and The Washington Post. She lives in the Washington, DC area with her husband and three children.
Kia has devoted his career to fighting for families across this country and to making sure that each and every American – no matter where they are from, who they love, or what religion they practice – is treated with the respect and dignity that they deserve. Kia made the decision to run for Congress the night President Donald Trump unveiled his first discriminatory travel ban, which would have denied his own parents entry to the United States. He believes every American deserves fair treatment and equal opportunity. Kia will fight for our future by pushing to make college more affordable, to fix – not replace – the Affordable Care Act, for paid sick and family leave, and to ensure the creation of good jobs that pay a living wage.
In Congress, Kia will use his experience and public service skills to work for all residents of the 45th Congressional District.
Farhad Alavi is Managing Partner of Akrivis Law Group, PLLC. His practice focuses on international and domestic corporate matters and complex trade issues (including U.S. sanctions, export controls, anti-corruption regulations, and compliance), as well as multinational investment, banking & finance. Mr. Alavi’s clients include major multinational companies around the world, small and medium businesses, and high net worth individuals. He is also an Adjunct Professor of Law at Georgetown University Law Center.
Mr. Alavi previously practiced in several top-tier global law firms in Washington, most notably Baker & McKenzie LLP and Holland & Knight LLP, where he also had a dual, concurrent appointment in the firm’s Abu Dhabi office. At Baker & McKenzie, he practiced mainly in the fields of U.S. trade as well as oil & gas and project finance matters.
Mr. Alavi has vast experience in international sanctions, export controls, customs, and the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA). His U.S. sanctions experience includes those against Iran, Cuba, Russia, Myanmar (Burma), Sudan, Syria, and North Korea, with emphasis on those regulations administered by the U.S. Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC). Mr. Alavi is often quoted by and/or cited in top international and trade publications and news agencies around the world such as The New York Times, CNN Money, AFP, Bloomberg, Financial Times, The Wall Street Journal, Washington Post, and Georgetown Journal of International Law, and has appeared on the BBC, Al Jazeera English & Arabic, CCTV America, BBC Persian, Voice of America (VOA) Persian, and Al-Hurra, among others. He also regularly lectures on trade compliance matters in the United States and abroad.
In addition to trade compliance, Mr. Alavi also advises clients on enforcement/defense matters related to U.S. sanctions and export controls. These include criminal defense litigation matters related to violations of the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA). He has also provided expert opinion for litigation on issues relating to the application of U.S. sanctions laws.
Mr. Alavi’s corporate law experience spans a range of such areas such as international joint venture, distribution, and financing agreements. He has particular experience in the oil & gas, defense, finance, health care, food, and hospitality industries, and is especially well-versed in issues related to projects and dealings involving key emerging and frontier markets, including China, Latin America, and the MENA region, with emphasis on the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) states, as well as on Sharia-compliant financing.
Mr. Alavi received his LL.M. in Banking & Financial Law from Boston University School of Law, where he served on the Annual Review of Banking and Financial Law journal. He received his J.D. from George Mason University School of Law. During law school, he studied at University College London (UCL) and the Johns Hopkins University School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS), and interned at the Organization of Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD). Mr. Alavi received his B.A. in Economics and International Relations from Tufts University.
Born and raised in Virginia, Mr. Alavi maintains native fluency in Persian (Farsi), is fluent in Spanish, and has knowledge of German and Arabic. He also maintains the U.S. Sanctions weblog. Mr. Alavi has served multiple terms on the national Board of Directors of the Iranian-American Bar Association (IABA). He is also a member of the International Bar Association (IBA).
Mr. Yousefzadeh represents employers in a full range of employment law matters, with a focus on litigation and class actions. Mr. Yousefzadeh also specializes in litigation avoidance counseling. His experience includes advising and litigation on matters involving all forms of discrimination, harassment, retaliation issues; breach of contract disputes; wrongful termination claims; wage and hour issues; independent contractor status; workplace investigations; discipline; grievance; workplace violence; Labor Code violations; and other statutory and contractual obligations. He is experienced with single plaintiff, multi-plaintiff, and class action proceedings, and practices in both state and federal bodies, in all applicable forums.
Mr. Yousefzadeh is also experienced with defending employers at administrative hearings before the Department of Labor Standards Enforcement, and has defended repeated claims against employers successfully, obtaining complete defense rulings. He also has successfully defended employee terminations at arbitration on behalf of unionized employers.
Mr. Yousefzadeh frequently advises clients regarding various labor and employment issues, and assists companies with implementing proactive compliance strategies, gives harassment and discrimination prevention trainings, and drafts employment documents such as employment agreements, employee handbooks, and separation agreements and releases.
Mr. Ferrari represents U.S. and foreign corporations, financial institutions, exporters, insurers, and private individuals in trade compliance, regulatory licensing matters, and federal investigations and prosecutions. He frequently represents clients before the United States Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC), and in federal courts around the country. With over 12 years of experience in national security law, export controls, and U.S. economic sanctions, he counsels across industry sectors representing parties in a wide range of matters involving U.S. economic sanctions administered by OFAC.
Mr. Ferrari’s representations before OFAC frequently involve investigations concerning violations of a variety of sanctions programs including the Iranian Transactions and Sanctions Regulations. As part of these representations, he has worked to respond to OFAC administrative subpoenas, procure OFAC specific licenses to engage in transactions prohibited by OFAC, draft OFAC voluntary self-disclosures, develop and implement OFAC compliance programs for international import-export companies, and provide general counseling on OFAC related matters.
Mr. Ferrari actively writes for publication on OFAC administered trade sanctions. In addition, he is often called upon by media outlets, such as CNN, The New York Times, The Washington, Post, Forbes Magazine, and the Wall Street Journal, to comment on U.S. economic sanctions issues. He is also the founder and Executive Editor of the U.S. economic sanctions blog and research site: www.sanctionlaw.com
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Proactively scale optimal strategic theme areas before installed base web services. Collaborative disintermediate perfect intellectual technologies.
Proactively scale optimal strategic theme areas before installed base web services. Collaborative disintermediate perfect intellectual technologies.
Proactively scale optimal strategic theme areas before installed base web services. Collaborative disintermediate perfect intellectual technologies.
Dramatically leverage other’s performance based convergence rather than functional e-business. outsourcing forward ideas whereas imperatives.
Dramatically leverage other’s performance based convergence rather than functional e-business. outsourcing forward ideas whereas imperatives.
Dramatically leverage other’s performance based convergence rather than functional e-business. outsourcing forward ideas whereas imperatives.
Assertively myocardinate cross functional data via backward-compatible schemas. Appropriately morph quality whereas cooperative systems.
Assertively myocardinate cross functional data via backward-compatible schemas. Appropriately morph quality whereas cooperative systems.
Assertively myocardinate cross functional data via backward-compatible schemas. Appropriately morph quality whereas cooperative systems.
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