Staff

The bios of our staff members.

Farhana Khera - President & Executive Director

Farhana Khera is the first Executive Director of Muslim Advocates and the National Association of Muslim Lawyers (NAML). Prior to joining Muslim Advocates and NAML in 2005, Ms. Khera was Counsel to the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee, Subcommittee on the Constitution, Civil Rights, and Property Rights. In the Senate, she worked for six years directly for Senator Russell D. Feingold (D-WI), the Chairman of the Constitution Subcommittee. Ms. Khera focused substantially on the USA PATRIOT Act, racial and religious profiling, and other civil liberties issues raised by the government's anti-terrorism policies since September 11, 2001. She was the Senator's lead staff member in developing anti-racial profiling legislation and organizing subcommittee hearings on racial profiling.

Prior to her service with the Senate Judiciary Committee, Ms. Khera was an associate with Hogan & Hartson, specializing in commercial and administrative litigation. She also worked with Ross, Dixon & Masback, serving as the lead associate on several pro bono employment discrimination cases, which resulted in the firm being honored with the Outstanding Achievement Award by the Washington Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights and Urban Affairs.

Ms. Khera was recently honored by the Auburn Theological Seminary with its Lives of Commitment Award, along with Kathleen Kennedy Townsend and Barbara Friedman. She has also been recognized by Islamica Magazine as one of "10 Young Muslim Visionaries," for leadership, innovative approaches and "a level of success that bodes well for America." She has been quoted or profiled by The New York Times, Associated Press, Austin American-Statesman, and San Jose Mercury News, as well as various legal, ethnic and religious media.

Ms. Khera received her B.A. with honors in political science and economics from Wellesley College in 1991 and her J.D. from Cornell Law School in 1994. At Wellesley, she served as president of the student body and co-founded the first Muslim students organization, al-Muslimat ("The Muslim Women"). At Cornell, Ms. Khera was a finalist in the law school's annual Cuccia Cup Moot Court Competition and was an editor with the Cornell Journal of Law and Public Policy.

farhana (at) muslimadvocates.org
415-692-1484

Akil Vohra - Counsel, Muslim Charity Works Campaign

Akil Vohra is a full-time staff attorney leading our Muslim Charity Works Campaign. Mr. Vohra brings practical and personal experience working with nonprofit organizations in the Muslim and South Asian American communities. He also brings legal expertise with federal regulatory agencies, including federal regulations relating to nonprofit organizations. Prior to joining Muslim Advocates, Mr. Vohra was an associate with Hume & Associates in Washington, DC, where he specialized in international trade litigation and regulatory work and developed considerable skills and experience interfacing with federal agency officials. He has counseled clients on international trade matters, argued before the Court of International Trade, served as lead negotiator for multi-million dollar transactions, and supervised the litigation team.

Mr. Vohra earned his J.D. from The George Washington University Law School in 2002, where he received the Michael Dillon Cooley Award for service to the law school community, and his B.A. with honors from the University of California at Irvine in 1998. He has also completed a program in international human rights and immigration law at Oxford University (U.K.).

akil (at) muslimadvocates.org
415-692-1484

Shahid Buttar - Counsel, Program to Combat Racial & Religious Profiling

Shahid Buttar is a full-time staff attorney leading our Program to Combat Racial and Religious Profiling. He previously served on the senior national staff of the American Constitution Society as Associate Director for Communications and Outreach. Prior to joining ACS, Mr. Buttar was an Associate in the Washington, DC office of Heller Ehrman LLP, where his litigation practice included representing the campaign finance reform community in an ultimately successful appeal before the D.C. Circuit, as well as organizing the first post-Lawrence litigation seeking marriage equality for same-sex couples in the State of New York.

In 2003, Mr. Buttar earned his J.D. from Stanford Law School, where he served as Executive Editor of the Stanford Environmental Law Journal and was the sole Teaching Assistant for Constitutional Law. He worked in the investment banking industry from 1994 until 2000, when he graduated summa cum laude from Loyola University Chicago.

In addition to his legal work, Mr. Buttar is a recording and performing artist, as well as a grassroots community organizer. His commentary has appeared in various print and broadcast outlets, including The Washington Post; The New York Times; Bloomberg; Hannity & Colmes on FOX News; The Laura Flanders Show on Air America; TomPaine.com; Alternet; Common Dreams; and Democracy Now! on NPR, which named one of his public addresses among "The Best of 2004."

shahid (at) muslimadvocates.org
415-692-1484