South Asian-American lawyers to hold annual convention, lobby U.S. Congress

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The South Asian Bar Association of North America (SABA North America), will host its 14th Annual Convention July 13-15 in Washington, D.C.

The program includes the first “Lobby Day” on Capitol Hill including a welcome reception with members of Congress, as well as two days of  continuing legal education seminars, ending with a gala dinner.

The organization has 6,000 members, a press release from SABA North America said, represented in 26 chapters around the country.

Alongside the convention, SABA North America Foundation will also host its annual fundraiser on July 14, which will feature as keynote speaker, Khizr Khan, a Harvard Law School graduate, whose son Humanyun Khan was killed in the Iraq War, and who became famous for his speech at the Democratic Convention calling out then President-elect Donald Trump on whether he had read the American Constitution.

According to SABA. the “recent elections and the rise of the populist movement have shifted the legislative  and policy landscape in the U.S. and oversees,” and many of these changes impact the South Asian community. Among those invited to discuss these changes are Rep. Pramila Jayapal, the first Indian-American woman in the House of Representatives; former U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York Preet Bharara, recipient of the 2017 SABA Cornerstone Award; Judge Sri Srinivasan of the 9th Circuit; Judge Amol Thapar, recently appointed to the Sixth Circuit.

Interviews with Raj De, former General Counsel at the United States National Security Agency under President Barack Obama and now partner in Mayer Brown’s law firm in Washington DC; and former Principal Deputy Solicitor General at the Justice Department, Neal Katyal, who is currently leading the charge against President Trump’s temporary ban on immigrants from 6 Muslim-majority nations. Other leaders in the South Asian legal community will also be featured.