MWP Spotlight: Sireen Sawaf, Deputy City Attorney — Office of Los Angeles City Attorney + Co-President of the Muslim Bar Association of Southern California
By: Muslim Women Professionals
Tags: Women, Professional Development, Law, Career Development, Muslim

MWP Spotlight: Sireen Sawaf, Deputy City Attorney — Office of Los Angeles City Attorney + Co-President of the Muslim Bar Association of Southern California Muslim Women Professionals Jun 26, 2019·8 min read

Image Credit — MPAC Website

Tell us about your journey in becoming a lawyer? What are some obstacles you faced?

I didn’t plan on becoming a lawyer, but I believe the different steps I took in my life path resulted in my development into one. Growing up, my parents were traditional. I was basically prohibited from participating in certain activities like the school swim team or friends’ sleepovers. When I was in undergrad, the rules continued. I lived at home and had a curfew, preventing me from joining a sorority. This led me to pursue alternative activities and clubs, and I found myself joining the board of the multicultural council and student government. While I began as a Behavioral Science major, a History class I took based on Howard Zinn’s “A People’s History of the United States” prompted me to change my major to Political Science. Shortly thereafter, I participated in the National Model United Nations program for two years in a row, where we studied the inner workings of our assigned country alongside the international climate, and at the culmination of the course, participated in a highly competitive international conference in the United Nations building in New York.

I became a political science major as I wanted to understand the political landscape so I could find a way to participate in it. During undergrad, I crossed paths with a colleague who introduced me to the Muslim Public Affairs Council (MPAC), where I volunteered one summer and found myself hooked. After undergrad, I worked at MPAC for 4 years in a post 9/11 world, assisting people by providing guidance on the no fly and watch lists, the USA PATRIOT Act, immigration issues, hate crimes, discrimination, bullying on campus — the whole gamut of problems our community faced and continues to face.

In 2003, my uncle was murdered in what I believe was a hate crime. He was a taxicab driver and was found slumped over his steering wheel with a shot to his back and a single shot to his forehead. The theory relayed to us by the police was attempted robbery — they suspected he was shot from the back and then the shooter came to the front of the vehicle to take my uncle’s suitcase, saw him breathing, shot him in the head, panicked and ran away. However, this theory never sat well with me, as his suitcase was left behind and so was the easily accessible wad of cash in his front shirt pocket. Moreover, my uncle was confident in his identity and if someone would have asked him his ethnicity or about his background, he would have proudly replied that he was Arab and Muslim. Finally, either of the two suspects could have committed a hate crime, based on the profiles provided to my family and I by the police. Yet they were not persuaded to view it as a potential hate crime, possibly because my uncle’s physique, particularly his fair skin and balding red hair, didn’t fit the typical characteristics of an Arab or Muslim. After this experience, and hitting barriers in advocating on behalf of other’s cases in my professional capacity at MPAC, I was persuaded to study law to develop professionally and have the ability to fully advocate for him and others.

It was not a linear path but my different experiences resulted in me pursuing a law degree and ultimately a legal career.

You are also Co-President at the Muslim Bar Association of Southern California — tell us about the work you do.

The Muslim Bar Association of Southern California (MBASC) was formed in 2007 to foster a community among Muslim legal professionals. One of our primary goals is to cultivate a network including non-profits, government employees, judges on the bench and private sector employees working in the legal space.

We organize a series of events throughout the year, some social, some professional, some designed to address pressing legal issues facing the Muslim community. We just held our annual iftar at the historic Tom Bradley Tower of the Los Angeles City Hall, featuring Los Angeles City Attorney Mike Feuer, an ally to the Muslim community, and Honorable Judge Greg Pulskamp, the first Muslim judge in Kern County as our keynote speaker. We also participated in Humanitarian Day to give back this Ramadan.

Justice Halim Dhanidina was recently elevated to California’s Courts of Appeal — so we worked with two other bar associations and the Office of the Los Angeles City Attorney to host an event to celebrate this important milestone in the community.

When the U.S. Supreme Court upheld the administration’s travel ban, we organized an overview and analysis of the travel ban and the Supreme Court’s decision with UCLA law professor Asli Bali and senior counsel at the ACLU of Southern California, Ahilan Arulanantham at the law firm, Latham & Watkins. We teamed up with these legal scholars to help digest what had just happened and to explore avenues for future legal advocacy. We also partnered with the Iranian American Bar Association of Orange County and the Hispanic Bar Association of Orange County to draw parallels on travel bans and caravans just a couple months ago at Chapman University.

MBASC is committed to cultivating a legal community and helping address social issues that are impacting the Muslim community — from legal issues like the travel ban to highlighting the achievements of Muslims in the legal field.

Was your career choice accepted by the Muslim community? And do you find the men in the community supportive?

To be honest I don’t know and I don’t really care if my career choice has been accepted by the entire Muslim community, because as you and I both know, it is not a monolithic community. I am coming from a place where I have surrounded myself with those from the community that understand the importance of having female Muslim lawyers and are supportive of professional women who have families. I am not sure how the entire community feels — everyone has their own opinions and philosophies and I say to each his or her own.

I believe in pursuing higher education, which my parents laid the groundwork for, and choosing the career path that inspired and excited me to serve Allah (swt) in light of the strengths He gave me. I met my husband during my undergrad years and really got to know him through our political activism work. At the time, when I lost my Uncle I decided to put on the hijab — I didn’t ask my now husband’s opinion about the hijab in advance of doing this because it made sense to me at the time. I called him up that night and told him I had worn the hijab that day and he said okay. I probed him and asked him what he thought about it — his answer essentially convinced me that he was “the one.” He told me “if you wear the hijab, I’ll be your number one supporter, and if you choose not to wear it, I will still be your number one supporter.”

I strongly believe that actions driven by the right intentions, what you do in this life and how you use your privileges to give back to the less fortunate, how you choose to empower the powerless — that is how we truly serve and develop a relationship with Allah (swt).

What is some advice you have for young lawyers, especially those looking for mentors from the community?

My first tip would be to contact the Muslim Bar Association of Southern California (MBASC) through our website, Facebook or Instagram — we are looking to build a diverse community of those in the legal profession and we want to connect with law students and even pre-law students. When I was pursuing my law degree, I had only one mentor and that was a friend of mine who was a couple of years ahead of me. I did not have the connections or the possibility of a connection with someone who had been practicing law for a significant amount of time. Budding, young lawyers today have the opportunity to connect with people in the field through MBASC. So don’t be shy, reach out.

For those unsure about whether a law degree is for them, I would encourage them to volunteer in a law office or government office or take up a paid internship — get your feet wet, ask questions especially to determine if this is really for you.

How do you balance the demands of your professional life with that of your personal life?

It is an ongoing balance, particularly as a working mommy. Motherhood is challenging and beautiful and it’s important for us to be forgiving of ourselves, to understand that perfection is unachievable, and we often learn as we go and grow together with our children.

Our parents did their best in raising us. My amazing mom didn’t work outside the home for most of my childhood. She was a full-time mom. She made sure I had a core community of Muslim friends from families that she knew and trusted. She would spend hours after school driving my siblings and I around so she could ultimately create a solid community for us to grow in, alongside the other communities we were a part of. My parents also sent us to Arabic and Islamic school on weekends and in the summer so we could understand and learn the Qur’an.

I have 2 beautiful young boys but I also work full time. My husband and I decided we were going to put them in Muslim schools so their lives can be enriched with Islamic principles and they grow up surrounded by and consciously becoming a part of the American Muslim community. We moved closer to the New Horizon School in Pasadena to give them this opportunity.

As parents, we have also realized it’s the quality of the time we spend with them and not the quantity. When we pick them up after school, we engage with them and we try to be completely present in the time we spend with them, although again, this is a work in progress.

I also made a conscious career decision to not go into the big firm life. I knew I wanted kids and wanted to be able to spend time with them, so took a different path and Alhamdulillah found myself in a government position, which offers flexibility and usually allows me to work an 8 hour day and have time for my kids. I strive for excellence at my job. I do not believe that I am THE representative of the Muslim community but I see myself as a representative of the community and understand that with privilege comes responsibility.

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