Company

Law Offices of Moushumi Khan
Jisir Consulting

Founded

Law Offices: February 2001
Jisir:Summer 2005

Name, Title

Moushumi M. Khan
Attorney

Age

35

Hometown

Ann Arbor, Michigan

Current residence

New York City, New York

Education

University of Michigan Law School, JD, 1996;
Mount Holyoke College, BA, Critical Social Thought, 1993;
London School of Economics, Government, General Course Certificate, 1992 (Junior Year Abroad).

Work Experience

Law Offices of Moushumi M. Khan, Attorney, 2001 - present

Ethnicity

Bangladeshi-American

About the company

I started my solo legal practice one month after I got married in January 2001. I had always wanted to 'help my community' but I really did not know what that meant; but living in New York where there was a large immigrant population, I realized that having a general law practice in Queens would help me towards my goal.

My first clients were Bangladeshi cab drivers and restaurant workers, many of whom were buying and selling real estate at the time. So I learned how to do real estate closings and landlord tenant law because most of them bought multi-family homes to live in and rent out. If anyone had told me ten years ago that I would be practicing real estate law, I would have thought that they were crazy!

As a general practitioner I pretty much did everything that my clients needed and as one of a handful of Bangladeshi-American lawyers, I was fortunate to gain their trust and confidence. Thus when the tragic attacks of September 11, 2001 took place and then the subsequent backlash against Muslims and immigrants, many of my clients were the first ones to tell me how the Patriot Act or other post 9/11 policies such as racial profiling were affecting them. Thus I moved from being a general practitioner to a community civil rights advocate.

As I began to speak out more and more about discrimination in the Muslim and immigrant community as well as about the general erosion of the civil rights of all Americans, I started becoming somewhat of an 'expert' in these areas. I was asked to speak at churches, synagogues, law schools, conferences, etc. about being a female Muslim lawyer in America.

I started Jisir Consulting when I realized that there were very few bridges between Muslims and non-Muslims. Jisir is the Arabic word for 'bridge' and as I often found myself as a bridge between the community that I represented and the mainstream community that I lived in, I felt it best exemplified my professional aspirations. Jisir Consulting provides companies preventive, management and crisis mediation strategies between it and its Muslim employees, community and clients.

What are your day-to-day responsibilities?

Listening to my clients, advising them, advocating for them.

Educating myself on the issues of the day.

Maintaining my sanity and integrity.

Most notable milestones

Helping a Bangladeshi man who had received inaccurate interpretation in his deportation hearing win a stay of deportation.

Letting the Bangladesh government know the night before it was announced in the Federal Register that Bangladesh was to be included in the next group of countries requiring National Entry/Exit Registration (Special Registration) and then helping them organize with other Bangladeshi lawyers legal aid clinics to help hundreds of Bangladeshi men go through the Special Registration process.

Bringing a different perspective to discussions of foreign and domestic policy at the Council on Foreign Relations where I am a Term Member.

Sustaining my own law practice for six years.

Helping to co-found the Muslim Bar Association of New York of which I am the first elected president.

What's the niche?

As a female Muslim American I provide a unique perspective on many of the challenges facing Muslims and America. I not only advocate for the rights of Muslims and immigrants, I advise companies and organizations how to outreach to these communities as well as work on finding effective public policies that protect both national security and civil liberty.

Since Islam is the fastest growing religion in America and in light of our strong equal employment laws, American employers can no longer afford to remain ignorant about the religious accomodation requirements of their changing workforce. Almost all diversity consulting firms focus on race, gender, physical and other differences, and none focus on workplace issues related to Islam and Muslims. Jisir Consulting fills this gap.

I love my religion and I love my country. I am passionate about public diplomacy between America and the Muslim world. What makes me unique is that when I am a critic of something, I am among the first to try to fix it. I want to be an honest, authentic bridge between the America and Muslims.

What's the biggest challenge?

Making a living doing work that I love and that I am good at. I always heard growing up, 'do work that you love and then you will do it well and then the money will come.' For me the first two parts have worked out, but I am still working on the third.

The struggle to be true to the various parts of my identity, protecting the integrity of my whole being. Convincing others that there can be a balance between being a practicing Muslim and a patriotic American. Convincing myself of this when I feel that the policies resulting from the "War on Terror" result in a "War on Muslims."

What's in store for the future?

God knows? A productive role in bringing sanity to this world!

Who would you like to be contacted by?

George Soros, I am generally not into hero worship, but I am in awe of Mr. Soros's principled stances on many of the most pressing issues of our time. I admire his unabashed honesty in telling it like it is and his ability to execute his beliefs. I wish that I could help him or that he could help me bridge the gap between Muslims and non-Muslims, between America and the rest of the world.

The United Nations, by law firms, international organizations, multi-national companies, policymakers and others who have an interest in representing or at least understanding the interests of Muslims.

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