I am Irani-Iraqi and grew up in Tehran during the war with Iraq. Our city was bombed at night. My mother feared I would be sent off to fight, or that we would die, so she decided we had to leave our homeland.

She had no visa. We traveled to Pakistan with my stepfather, a man she did not love, who abused us. A year later her visa came, and we reached America with a hundred dollars and two suitcases.

At school my English was poor, and the children laughed at the way I talked. But in northern California, my teacher Ms. Gilbert assigned me friends before I even arrived. They are still my friends.

I wrote a poem, published locally:

Who am I?
I am a boy in a mirror.
The reflection of a praised soul
With beautiful brown eyes like the skin of a bear
The mirror thinks I am just a Pegasus but I don’t have wings
The mirrors says your body does not have wings, your soul does

I started working at thirteen. In ninth grade, my mother was diagnosed with lymphoma. She passed in 2001. I studied arts in New York, then law in California, served as a Federal Public Defender, and became a plaintiff lawyer. My mother taught me courage, resilience, and to stand up for those who cannot stand up for themselves.

That promise—to stand up for those who cannot stand up for themselves—is the work I do now. Since joining Stritmatter Law in 2024 and being elevated to partner, I have built a plaintiff-side civil rights and complex-tort practice, representing ordinary people against institutions far more powerful than they are.

It has meant trying cases to verdict and holding corporations accountable, forcing them to answer in the only language they respect—money.  The story is the same one my mother taught me: never run away when life presents challenges.  Get after it.  Never give up. 

That belief in showing people the human side of the law is also why I co-host The Velvet Hammer Podcast with my colleague Karen Koehler.  Each week we banter about trial practice, the cases shaping our community, and the realities of life as trial lawyers. 

Keeping the promise I made to my mother has, throughout my career, drawn the attention of local, regional, and national media, and I have been called on to speak as a legal expert on high-profile cases and matters of public concern.me courage, resilience, and empathy. She teaches me to never give up on myself, never run away when life presents challenges, and stand up for those who cannot stand up for themselves.