Network with and learn from the different journeys of these successful lawyers in Atlanta who are having a major impact in our world today. If you are a law student, lawyer or in a related field, join us if you would like to: hear the different stories of these lawyers and how they got to where they are today learn about the latest opportunities in their field and the top skills they look for when recruiting talent (some of them are hiring) understand the unspoken differences between big law firm life vs. small law firm life top pieces of advice they wish they knew when they were graduating understand the impact you can have with a career in Social Justice and Criminal Defense Agenda: 6:30 – 7:00pm – Networking 7:00 -7:30pm – Drew Findling, Founder, Findling Law Firm & President, NACDL: Opening Keynote on Social Justice in America and a Career in Criminal Defense Break 7:45 – 8:45pm – Panel on Exploring Opportunities in the Legal Field Moderator: Umarah Ali, Associate, Jones Day Panelists: M. Khurram Baig, Founder, The Baig Firm Azba Habib, Assistant General Counsel, Kabbage Edward Mitchell, Executive Director, CAIR 8:45 – 9:00pm: Wrap Up Opening Speaker: Drew Findling, Founder, Findling Law Firm and NACDL President Drew Findling of the Findling Law Firm in Atlanta was recently honored for his work as he was sworn in as president of the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers at the group’s annual meeting this year. “Drew Findling’s entire life has been about service and the defense of people against whom the deck is clearly stacked, people who quite literally are oppressed by our criminal justice system,” said NACDL Immediate Past President Rick Jones, who presented Findling with NACDL’s Heeney Award. “Drew’s dedication to each and every one of his clients is evident to all who have worked with him. He is as committed to the unique, Constitutionally-ordained role of the criminal defense lawyer as anyone I have ever known. Drew truly embodies the very best of what our profession aspires to be.” After receiving the Heeney Award, Findling was sworn in as President of the Association by Vernon S. Pitts, Jr., Director of the Fulton County Public Defender Office, who hired Findling as a public defender 33 years ago at the start of his career. Upon being sworn in as NACDL President, Findling said: “I will not be able to sleep at night if during the next twelve months I do nothing to lessen the impact of collateral consequences for the men and women who have been arrested, prosecuted and/or convicted of a crime; especially those who have been sentenced to prison. I will only be able to sleep better at night after I know I have done something to ease their transition back to society, by helping to restore their right to vote, enhance their opportunity to get jobs that pay living wages and overall reestablish themselves as citizens whose past misdeeds have truly been forgiven and forgotten.” Findling was recently profiled in a New York Times piece, “Atlanta’s #BillionDollarLawyer Is Looking Out for Your Favorite Rappers.” And he was a guest speaker at the 2018 Aspen Ideas Festival on “Hip-Hop Collision: Music Race and the Law.” Findling is also the subject of a forthcoming documentary by this fall on CNN’s “Great Big Story.” Findling's practice, The Findling Law Firm, P.C., focuses exclusively on federal and state criminal defense and he tries cases ranging from matters involving complex white collar crimes to serious violent felonies. Findling spent the first three years of his career as a Fulton County, GA public defender. Over the past 30 years, he has represented clients in state and federal courts across the country, as well as in international matters. As a public defender, he was a leader in developing the battered woman syndrome defense. Nationally, Drew was the first attorney to successfully employ that defense based exclusively on verbal abuse. For his efforts, the Georgia Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers (GACDL) awarded him their Indigent Defense Award. In recent years, he has successfully represented a string of well-known clients including: Dennis Rodman, Shaquille O'Neal, Grammy Award Nominee Faith Evans, actor/comedian Mike Epps, actor/comedian Katt Williams, Hip Hop superstars Gucci Mane, Waka Flocka Flame, and Offset and Quavo from the Grammy-nominated group Migos. Findling has also represented Morris Brown College President Dolores Cross, Fulton County Sheriff Jackie Barrett, and, in the highly publicized public corruption jury trial of Clayton County, GA Sheriff Victor Hill, Findling won an acquittal of all charges in the 37-count indictment. For his effort on behalf of Sheriff Hill, Findling received the NAACP's Civil and Human Rights Award and a commendation by the Legislative Black Caucus of Georgia. He also secured a non-prosecution agreement for the long-serving District Attorney of Douglas County, GA, David McDade. In his more than 30 years of practice, Findling has published numerous articles and spoken on such topics as defending battered woman syndrome cases, jury selection in high profile cases, forensic preparation for a criminal trial, effective opening statements and closing arguments, professionalism, and cross-examination. He has lectured at Emory Law School, Georgia State University College of Law, and the University of Georgia Law School. He has been on the faculty of the National Criminal Defense College since 1989 and also teaches at NACDL's White Collar Criminal Defense College at Stetson and Tulane University Law School's Pre Trial Criminal Litigation Boot Camp. Findling is also regularly invited to serve as a legal analyst on various respected national television news networks. Findling is a member of the American Board of Criminal Lawyers, GACDL, and the American Bar Association. Findling also serves on the Board of Advisors for the prestigious National Clearing House on Science and Technology of Law. He has been named as one of Georgia's Legal Elite in Georgia Trend Magazine, Atlanta Journal-Constitution's Top Lawyers in Georgia, and as a Georgia "Super Lawyer" by Atlanta Magazine. Most recently, he was selected for inclusion in the 24th edition of Best Lawyers in America© for 2018 in the area of criminal defense-general practice. Moderator: Umarah Ali, Associate, Jones Day Umarah is an attorney at Jones Day in Atlanta, Georgia, where she practices in the Mergers & Acquisitions group and serves as a planning committee member of the firm’s Women’s Affinity Group. She earned her J.D. from Georgia State University in 2017, graduating with the highest honors in pro bono distinction for her legal work in the Atlanta community. Umarah earned a dual Bachelors of Arts in Arabic and Journalism from the University of Georgia, and served as a Press Advance Associate for President Obama immediately after graduating. Umarah serves as chair of the OPEN Atlanta Clarkston Mentorship Initiative, focused on equipping students from refugee families with skills in professional development. She is also an advisor to Atlanta’s Muslim Women’s Professional Network, an organization focused on engaging, empowering and connecting Muslim women in the Atlanta area through professional development and community service. Panelists: M. Khurram Baig, Founder, The Baig Firm M. Khurram Baig was born in the city of Hyderabad in the Indian State of Andrah Pradesh. His family immigrated to the United States in 1979 and Khurram has called Georgia home ever since. Khurram grew up in Stone Mountain and graduated from Redan High School in 1996, where he was an active student leader. Because of his strong ties to the area, Khurram decided to stay close to home for college and attended Emory University. At Emory, Khurram developed a keen interest in the law due to a strong desire to perform work that benefited others. Among the honors he received at Emory was his induction into the school’s Hall of Fame for student leadership and his selection as the Student Speaker at graduation. After graduating from Emory in 2000, Khurram turned down admissions to numerous law schools to attend the prestigious Howard University School of Law. Drawn to Howard for its rich tradition of social justice, Khurram focused his energies on fighting for his own traditionally under-served Muslim and South Asian communities. After graduating from Howard in 2003, Khurram spent eight years practicing law with some of Georgia’s best legal minds. During that time, he not only gained expertise in his current areas of practice, but more importantly, Khurram learned to view himself as a problem-solver. In 2011, Khurram decided it was time to answer a larger question for himself – why is he practicing law? The answer to that question lead him to form The Baig Firm in 2012. The mission of The Baig Firm since its first day was, and remains, two-fold: to care deeply about clients and be their problem solver. This means pursuing approaches that are holistic and in the client’s best interest. Khurram’s practice today focuses on several areas, but he has especially developed a reputation as the “go-to” attorney for small and mid-size businesses seeking External General Counsel services. Khurram currently services more than a dozen businesses in this capacity, which allows him to deliver fuller and more meaningful legal services on a consistent basis Azba Habib, Assistant General Counsel, Kabbage Azba Habib is Assistant General Counsel and Assistant Corporate Secretary at Kabbage, a financial technology company that has pioneered a way for small businesses to access working capital entirely online and in a matter of minutes through a fully automated lending platform. Ms. Habib manages a broad portfolio of product, compliance, regulatory, and policy matters. Prior to her position at Kabbage, Ms. Habib served as Regulatory Counsel for BitPay, a merchant payment processor for bitcoin, where she advised the company on a variety of legal and compliance issues related to virtual currency companies. She also managed all regulatory and legislative outreach efforts. Ms. Habib was a part of BitPay’s Compliance team where she played a significant role in building, improving, and operationalizing BitPay’s AML Program. Previously, Ms. Habib served as Deputy General Counsel at Payward, Inc., a foreign exchange and trading platform for cryptocurrencies where she served as the primary legal advisor to the Executive team and Acting Chief Compliance Officer. Prior to joining Payward, Ms. Habib was Associate Counsel at the Federal Reserve where she provided counsel on the Fed’s domestic and international payment service offerings to financial institutions and served as primary in-house counsel for the Federal Reserve’s Retail Payments Office. Ms. Habib started her career at the law firm of Paul Hastings as an Associate in the firm’s Payments and Banking Practice advising start-ups and fortune 500 companies on banking, payment systems, and compliance. In her spare time, Ms. Habib enjoys swim lessons with her daughter, traveling, learning, working out, and binging on Netflix. Edward Ahmed Mitchell, Executive Director, CAIR Edward Ahmed Mitchell is a Muslim-American attorney and former journalist who serves as Executive Director of CAIR Georgia. Mitchell, a graduate of Morehouse College and Georgetown University Law Center, previously served as a criminal prosecutor for the City of Atlanta. Mitchell is also an editor of AtlantaMuslim.com, a member of the Georgia Association of Muslim Lawyers, and a member of the Board of Trustees of the Islamic Community Center of Atlanta. Mitchell embraced Islam during his studies at Morehouse College, where he served as captain of the school's American Mock Trial Association team, president of the Honors Program Club, and editor-in-chief of the campus newspaper, The Maroon Tiger. During law school, Mitchell won first place in Georgetown Law's annual Trial Advocacy Competition, served as editor-in-chief of The Georgetown Law Weekly, and was elected president of Georgetown's Muslim Law Students Association. He also taught law to high school students on behalf of the Street Law legal clinic, and represented tenants facing eviction for the DC Law Students in Court legal clinic. After law school, Mitchell returned to Georgia and served as an Assistant Solicitor for the City of Atlanta. He prosecuted crime for three years before resigning in 2016 to serve as Executive Director of CAIR Georgia. Since then, CAIR Georgia has exposed numerous incidents of anti-Muslim discrimination, opened its first office, and hired four additional staffers, including a staff attorney, paralegal, outreach director, and communications director. CAIR Georgia received CAIR's 2016 Chapter of the Year award.
starting on 2018-11-13 18:30:00
Address:
Linnear Lane – Pending
Atlanta
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