Board

Panteha Abdollahi                                        Chapter President
Sherin Larajani                                             Community Outreach/Pro Bono Coordinator 
Hengameh Safaei                                        Fundraising Coordinator
Mona Amini                                                  Member Outreach Coordinator
Mani Dabiri & Payam Michael Purqurian     MCLE Coordinators
Nima Kamali                                                Student Director
Dawn Sepideh Mortazavi                            Chapter Representative to National Board

Panteha Abdollahi, Esq.
Chapter President

Panteha Abdollahi is a senior associate in the litigation group of the Orange County office of Paul Hastings LLP.  Her practice focuses on complex business and commercial disputes, and she also has significant experience in health care litigation, antitrust litigation, and class actions.  Prior to joining Paul Hastings, Ms. Abdollahi served for two years as a judicial law clerk to the Honorable Cormac J. Carney of the United States District Court, Central District of California.  Ms. Abdollahi received her Bachelor of Arts in psychology and history, summa cum laude, from the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) in 2000. She graduated with both College Honors and Psychology Departmental Highest Honors, and was elected to the Phi Beta Kappa honor society. Ms. Abdollahi received her J.D. from UCLA School of Law in 2003, where she was a recipient of the UCLA School of Law David Simon Scholarship. In addition to her involvement in IABA, Ms. Abdollahi sits on the Board of Directors for the Federal Bar Association of Orange County and is a member of the Orange County Bar Association as well as the Association of Business Trial Lawyers.

Sherin Larijani, Esq.
Community Outreach/Pro Bono Coordinator

Sherin Larijani is a Founder and In-house Counsel for World-Wide Opportunities on Organic Farms- USA. Ms. Larijani received her B.S. in Conservation Resource Studies from U.C. Berkeley and her Juris Doctorate from Whittier Law School. While in law school Sherin was a Dean’s Merit Scholar and a Senior Member Journal of Child & Family Advocacy. Ms. Larijani has also received the California Bar Foundation Public Interest Scholarship, Whittier Public Interest Law Foundation Grant, and the Beverly Rubens Gordon Scholarship. She was a member of Whittier Law School’s Public Interest Law Foundation and participated in Criminal & Civil Trial Advocacy. She brings with her experience in the areas of nonprofit and tax exempt organizations, public interest law, human resources, environmental science, and public health. In 2008-2009 Ms. Larijani was a Judicial Extern for The Honorable Nho Trong Nguyen.  She was a summer clerk at the Law Offices of Federico Castalan Sayre, Legal Aid Society of Orange County, and Orange County’s Office of the District Attorney. Ms. Larijani is a member of Orange County Employment Lawyers, the Orange County Women’s Lawyers Association, Future Leaders of Our Community, OneOC, Public Law Center, Legal Aid Society of Orange County, and the Orange County Bar Association.

Hengameh Safaei, Esq.
Fundraising Coordinator

Ms. Safaei is an associate at Rutan and Tucker’s Trial Section. She has experience in a variety of commercial litigation matters including complex litigation, debtor disputes, arbitration, contract disputes, business torts, and unfair competition. She practices in both state and federal courts.  Ms. Safaei graduated from the University of Southern California in 2002 with a B.A. in Political Science. She received her J.D. from the University of California, Hastings College of the Law in 2006. That same year, she served as a judicial extern to the Hon. James Lambden of the California Court of Appeal, First Appellate District. During law school, Ms. Safaei was also executive production editor of the Hastings Law Journal.

Mona Amini
Membership Coordinator

Mona Amini launched establishment of the Orange County Chapter and has served on the local board as Student Director for the past two years.  Ms. Amini received her B.S. in Business Administration from the University of California, Riverside  Recently, Ms. Amini received her J.D. from Whittier Law School in 2011 with a Concentration in Business Law. 

Mani Dabiri, Esq. & Payam Michael Purqurian, Esq.
MCLE Coordinators

Mani Dabiri

Prior to forming the Law Offices of Mani Dabiri, Mr. Dabiri was an Assistant United States Attorney in Los Angeles and Orange County, where he conducted investigations into and prosecutions of a wide range of federal crimes. These included white-collar offenses such as mail, bank, and wire fraud; access-device fraud; identity theft; and money laundering as well as bank robberies; narcotics offenses; firearms charges; and immigration matters. Before serving as a federal prosecutor, he clerked for the Honorable Manuel L. Real of the United States District Court in Los Angeles and litigated complex civil cases as an associate at O’Melveny & Myers LLP.

Payam Michael Purqurian

Payam Michael Purqurian is a bona fide trial attorney committed to fighting for the little guy.  Prior to joining Mehr Law Group, P.C., he single-handedly prevailed in a tough liability David vs Goliath trial against a multimillion dollar corporation represented by one of the nation’s largest defense firms: impeached the President and CEO of defendant lumber supplier, exposed hidden bias of stealth defense expert, impeached, by omission, claims manager, earned post-trial praise from judge on cross-examination skills.  Mr. Purqurian graduated law school from the University of San Diego in 2007 and previously worked at Novak & Ben-Cohen LLP and Horn & Associates, APLC.

Nima Kamali
Student Director

Nima Kamali is a second-year student at the University of California, Irvine (UCI) School of Law, and he is the first full-blooded Iranian to attend the school. He is a member of the International Law Society and an active participant in the Iraqi Refugee Assistance Project. He is also a member of the UCI Law Review and a Community Fellow, responsible for helping first-year students adjust to law school. In 2009, Mr. Kamali earned a BA in Global and International Studies and a minor in Music from the University of California, Santa Barbara, where he graduated magna cum laude and served as the co-president of the Persian Student Group during his senior year. Mr. Kamali functions as Student Director on the local board.

Dawn Sepideh Mortazavi, Esq.
National Board Representative

Dawn Sepideh Mortazavi is a criminal appellate defense attorney in the Orange County area working primarily as appointed counsel for Indigent Defense Panel for the California Court of Appeal, Second and Fourth Appellate Districts.  She previously was a Deputy Attorney General with the California Department of Justice, prosecuting felony criminal appeals both in state and federal courts.  Prior to joining the California Department of Justice, Ms. Mortazavi was an associate litigation attorney at Bonne, Bridges, Mueller, O’Keefe and Nichols focusing on medical malpractice and elder abuse defense.  Ms. Mortazavi received her B.A. in political science, cum laude, from the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) in 1999 and received her J.D. from UCLA School of Law in 2002.  While in law school, Ms. Mortazavi served on the editorial boards of the Journal of International Law and Foreign Affairs and Journal of Islamic and Near Eastern Law.

Prior IABA OC Board Representatives

 2010-2011

Abbas Kazerounian                        President
Dawn Sepideh Mortazavi               Fundraising Coordinator
Rana Ziaee                                     MCLE Coordinator
Morvarid Nasri                                Membership/Community Outreach Coordinator 
Mona Amini                                    Student Director    
Panteha Abdollahi                          National Representative 

2009-2010 (Inaugural Board)

Abbas Kazerounian                       President
Morvarid Nasri                               Community Outreach Coordinator
Dawn Sepideh Mortazavi               Fundraising Coordinator
Rana Ziaee                                    MCLE Coordinator
Roxanne Moin                               Membership Coordinator
Mona Amini & Bahareh Habibi      Student Directors    
Panteha Abdollahi                         National Representative