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On Saturday, February 9th, the University of Pennsylvania's Muslim Law Students Association and NMLSA co-hosted the second Muslim Law Student Career Conference and Networking dinner which attracted over 100 participants - students, employers and Muslim attorney mentors. The annual conference was open to Muslims all over the country with any interest in the legal profession.  The conference attracted students from Pennsylvania, Virginia, New York, Ohio, North Carolina, and employers such as Latham & Watkins, Morgan Lewis, Skadden, Saul Ewing, Simpson Thatcher, the ACLU, the District Attorney of Philadelphia, CAIR National and the Philadelphia Commission on Human Relations. Panel discussions covered clerking, getting into law school, lateraling, and working in the private, public interest, and government sectors. Muslim attorneys were on hand to answer questions and provide guidance to law students, creating an invaluable networking opportunity. See http://www.law.upenn.edu/groups/mlsa/careerfair/index.html for more information.

The NAML-NMLSA 2007 Annual Conference

Islamic Law in the West: Theory, Doctrine and Practice

(ARCHIVED WEBCASTS AVAILABLE!)

Friday, 2nd February - Saturday 3rd February, 2007

Co-Hosted by the Islamic Legal Forum at the American University Washington College of Law and NMLSA

To access an archived web-cast of the conference, please visit: http://www.wcl.american.edu/secle/video.cfm

For Direct links to the webcast for each session, please click on the titles below

Session 1: The Underpinnings of Islamic Law, its Impact and Relevance

(Featuring Prof. Mohammed Fadel, Jasmine Zine and Intisar Rabb)

Session 2: Keynote � Muslims in the Mainstream

(Dr. �Umar Farooq Abdullah)

Session 3: Islam, War and Politics

(Dr. Abdul Karim Bangura, Dr. M. Shahid Alam)

Session 4: Islam and Gender

(Dr. Anouar Majid, Dr. �Umar Farooq Abdullah, Dr. Shabana Mir and Anne Goldstein)

NMLSA Career Fair - East Zone 2006

NMLSA in conjunction with the MLSA of the University of Pennsylvania School of Law hosted its very first Muslim Law Career Fair. The event was held on Saturday 11th November, 2006 at the University of Pennsylvania School of Law. The format of the Fair included:

Panels which addressed issues including strategies for entering into law school (for prospective law students), law firm recruiting, applying for judicial internships/clerkships, working in public interest organizations and the government, as well as ethical issues facing Muslims entering the law. Each panel consisted of 2-3 speakers, who were experienced in various areas of law. The panelist gave general advice, relayed their personal experiences from a Muslim perspective, and outlined some of the challenges and benefits this characteristic brought.

Employer Fair which was held concurrently with the panel sessions. A number of employers were on hand to provide information on their firms and organizations, particularly those interesting in increasing the Muslim presence within their respective employment. This forum allowed students to network with employers as well as other law students.

Speakers included: Hisham Elkoustaf (U.S. Department of Commerce - Office of the General Counsel); Eric McKinley (UPenn Law Career Services); Scott Christensen (Hughes Hubbard); Fuad Rana (Covington & Burling); Aadil Ginwala (NJ Supreme Court); Asaad Siddiqui (Walder, Hayden & Brogan, P.A.); Anthony Henry (UPenn Law School - Admissions); Hany Mawla (Greenbaum Rowe Smith & Davis); Umbreen Bhatti (Latham & Watkins); Asim Rehman (Debevoise & Plimpton); Noera Ayaz (Baker Botts); Raheemah Abdulaleem (Associate, Ballard Spahr Andrews & Ingersoll LLP); Abed Awad (sole practitioner); Dalia Hashad (Amnesty International); Shaarik Zafar (U.S. Dept of Homeland Security); Manar Waheed (National Clearinghouse for the Defense of Battered Women) and more!

Employers included:

• ACLU (Philly)
• Alliance for Justice
• Akin Gump (Philly)
• Baker Botts (NYC)
• Ballard Spahr (Philly)
• Buchanan Ingersoll & Rooney (Philly)
• Debevoise & Plimpton (NYC)
• Hughes Hubbard (DC)
• Latham & Watkins (DC)
• Shearman & Sterling (NYC)
• Simpson & Thatcher (NYC)
• Jones Day (DC)
• U.S. Department of Homeland Security, Office for Civil Rights and Civil Liberties
• Wiley Rein & Fielding (DC)
• Women's Law Project

ISNA Convention 2006

At the ISNA convention this year in Chicago during Labor Day weekend, September 1-4, 2006, we joined the National Association of Muslim Lawyers (NAML) and the Muslim Bar Association of Chicago, with support from ISNA, to cosponsor:
*An Informational Booth in the Exhibit Hall
*A Reception for Lawyers & Law Students & Those Interested in the Law (Sunday, Sept 3 at noon)
*A Panel Session on "Does Free Speech Still Exist? Dealing Effectively With Law Enforcement" (Sunday, Sept 3, 9am-10:30am)

NAML-NMLSA 2006 Conference

Muslims in the Law: Ramadan Iftar and Reception

NMLSA, in conjunction with the Islamic Law Students Association (ILSA) of New York University, hosted an Iftar on Wednesday, October 26th, 2005. While giving Muslim law students from the New York and New Jersey areas an opportunity to meet one another and network, the reception also included a panel of Muslim legal professions. Our guest speakers were Sadiq Reza, a professor at New York Law School and an authority on criminal law and procedure; Engy Abdelkader, a human rights attorney with the Legal Services of New Jersey; and Omar Mohammedi, a New York City Commissioner on Human Rights and president and founder of the Association of Muslim American Professionals (AMAL). Each spoke of their experiences in the legal profession, including the difficulties they encountered and the means they used to overcome them.