organization and board of directors

IABA has recruited distinguished members of the Iranian American Legal Community as members of its Board of Directors, who uphold the highest level of professional integrity and excellence.

The activities engaged in by the Board of Directors on behalf of IABA are conducted solely in their individual and private capacity, and on a volunteer basis. Any references to employers, organizations or other affiliations in the Directors’ biographical information are provided for informational purposes only and are not intended to represent any affiliation between those named employers and organizations and IABA.

The Board of Directors is currently made up of twelve (12) members: one for each existing Chapter, three representatives elected from the membership at large, and one Student Director. Each Chapter also has its own board or equivalent governing body.

The 2011-2012 IABA Board of Directors

Mehrdad Bokhour(At-large)
Mehrdad Bokhour is a third-year law student at Loyola Law School – Los Angeles. At Loyola, he serves as the Chief Justice for the Scott Moot Court Honors Board, President for the Iranian Law Student Association, and clerks for the Honorable Justice Fred Woods at the California Court of Appeal. In summer of 2010, he worked as a law clerk with the Los Angeles District Attorney’s office focusing on complex criminal trials. Prior to entering law school, Mehrdad worked for the Public Affairs Alliance of Iranian Americans (PAAIA) as a Research Analyst, working on projects concerning domestic issues and policies important to the Iranian American community. Prior to PAAIA, Mehrdad worked as a program assistant at Freedom House, where he planned and implemented various projects related to human rights and freedom expansion in the Middle East. He has also served as the Director of Development for Iranian Alliances Across Borders (IAAB), where he oversaw fundraising initiatives and assisted with development of the organization’s marketing and public relations strategies. During his tenure at IAAB, Mr. Bokhour also organized the Fourth International Conference on the Iranian Diaspora, student summit, and annual leadership camp. Mehrdad received his Bachelor of Arts from University of California, Berkeley in Political Science.
Salman Elmi (Washington, D.C.)
Salman H. Elmi was born in Bridgeport, Connecticut. He attended the University of Michigan at Ann Arbor, where he completed the pre-medical course requirements, graduating with two Bachelor of Arts Degrees in 1997. Mr. Elmi attended law school at Emory University School of Law, receiving his J.D. degree in May, 2000. While at Emory, he was awarded a letter of commendation for excellence in the Law School’s prestigious Kessler-Eidson Trial Techniques Program. Mr. Elmi was admitted to the bar of the State of Maryland in 2000, the District of Columbia in 2001, and the Commonwealth of Virginia in 2011. Mr. Elmi spent the first few years of his legal career focusing on FDA/Healthcare Regulatory matters at law firms in Washington, D.C. and New York City, before transitioning to pharmaceutical products liability litigation. Mr. Elmi is currently Senior Corporate Counsel at ACell, Inc., a bio-medical device manufacturer in the DC metropolitan region. Mr. Elmi is a member of the American Bar Association, and the District of Columbia Bar Association.
Erich Ferrari (At-large)
Erich Ferrari is the founder of Ferrari Legal, P.C., a federal regulatory and criminal defense law firm. Mr. Ferrari began his legal career as a Consultant for the Center for Terrorism Law in San Antonio, TX focusing on legal issues arising out of the U.S. War on Terror, including those related to the imposition of U.S. economic sanctions. He later went on to serve as lead trial counsel in the Washington, DC office of McNabb Associates, P.C., and was named a Partner in 2010. At the beginning of this year Mr. Ferrari resumed his own practice at Ferrari Legal, P.C. Mr. Ferrari is a member of the American Bar Association, the District of Columbia Bar Association, and the Federal Bar Association. In addition, he has practiced in a number of U.S. District Courts around the country. His practice areas include OFAC compliance and licensing, defense of federal regulatory investigations, OFAC blacklist removal, and white collar federal criminal defense. He attended Purdue University graduating in 2002. Mr. Ferrari attended law school at St. Mary’s University School of Law as a Research Fellow for the Center for Terrorism Law, receiving his J.D. degree in May 2006. Since graduating from law school, Mr. Ferrari has represented clients all over the world in a variety of OFAC related matters and has defended a number of high profile criminal clients, including the former Secretary of Finance for the State of Virginia and a former executive of a Fortune 500 company.
Ramin Hariri (San Diego)
Ramin Hariri is an associate in the litigation group of the San Diego office of Lewis, Brisbois, Bisgaard and Smith LLP. His practice focuses on professional liability, general liability and environmental toxic torts. Mr. Hariri received his Bachelor of Arts in Political Science, from the University of California, San Diego in 2002 and his J.D. from Loyola Law School in 2007. While in law school, Ramin externed for the Honorable Ellen Carroll, United States Federal Bankruptcy Court, Central District of California and served on the Editorial Board for the Loyola of Los Angeles Entertainment Law Review. Mr. Hariri is active in the San Diego County legal community. He has represented IABA as a committee member for the San Diego County Bar Associations Ethnic Relations and Diversity Committee and is a member of the San Diego County Bar Association. Ramin has been active with IABA since 2004, and is one of the founding members of the San Diego County Chapter.
Ali Hosseini (At-large)
Ali Hosseini is an attorney at the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission in Washington D.C., where he serves in the chief counsel’s office of the Division of Market Oversight. He currently focuses on drafting and implementing regulations for the U.S. derivatives markets pursuant to the landmark 2010 Dodd-Frank financial reform legislation. Previously, Mr. Hosseini worked for four years as an associate in the New York office of Milbank, Tweed, Hadley and McCloy, where he represented large financial institutions and corporate borrowers in a wide range of domestic and international financial transactions, with an emphasis on financings for energy and infrastructure projects. While at Milbank, he was also active in pro bono matters and led a Hague Convention child abduction case that culminated in a favorable decision by the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals. Mr. Hosseini received a B.A. with honors in Middle East studies from Columbia University in 2002 and a J.D. from Georgetown University in 2005. He is a member of the New York bar. He is fluent in Farsi and proficient in Spanish.
Nahal Iravani-Sani (Northern California)
Nahal Iravani-Sani is a Deputy District Attorney in Santa Clara County, CA. She has been a criminal prosecutor with the office since 1995 having prosecuted a variety of felonies through all phases of the criminal justice system. Her assignments have included serving on the Narcotics, Domestic Violence, Juvenile Delinquency, and Burglaries/Assaults/Thefts units. Her desire to have broader community impact prompted her to transfer to the Environmental and Consumer Protection Unit, where she is currently prosecuting both individual and corporate violators of environmental laws and regulations. Ms. Iravani-Sani is currently a Lecturer of Law at Santa Clara University School of Law, in Trial Techniques and sits on the Board of Directors of the Public Affairs Alliance of Iranian Americans (PAAIA). Ms. Iravani-Sani earned her B.A. in 1990 from University of California, Irvine in Social Ecology, with an emphasis in Criminology and Legal Studies. She earned her J.D. from Santa Clara University School of Law in 1993.
Raymond Iryami (New York)
Raymond Iryami is an attorney in New York Cit, NY and has represented individuals, commercial companies and healthcare facilities and professionals in corporate, commercial litigation, and regulatory matters. His corporate/business law experience includes drafting and negotiating asset purchase agreements, stock purchase agreements, operating agreements, licensing agreements, and employment agreements. He has represented clients in state and federal courts on various commercial, corporate, and regulatory matters (including Article 78 proceedings). In addition, Mr. Iryami has advised healthcare providers as they seek to structure their practices in a way that complies with the myriad of state and federal regulations (such as STARK and the Anti-Kickback laws) that apply to them, and navigate the bureaucratic framework of state and federal agencies such as Medicare, Medicaid, New York State Department of Health, Office of Professional Medical Conduct, the New York State Office of Alcoholism and Substance Abuse Services and the New York State Board of Pharmacy. Mr. Iryami’s legal writings and proposals have been cited by legal scholars and various media outlets, including ABC News and CNN.com. His writings on legal matters have appeared in treatises on contract law and intellectual property law. He is a graduate of SUNY Stony Brook and the Fordham University School of Law, where he was a guest lecturer on contract law, and became the first student-assistant to edit the “Law of Contracts” by John D. Calamari and Joseph M. Perillo (West’s Hornbook Series, 4th Ed. 1998).
Nili T. Moghaddam (At-large)
Nili T. Moghaddam is an Assistant United States Attorney in the Criminal Division of the United States Attorney’s Office in Los Angeles. Prior to that, Ms. Moghaddam served for five years as a litigation associate at Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison LLP in New York where her practice focused on complex commercial litigation, corporate investigations, and regulatory enforcement matters. Ms. Moghaddam began her legal career as a judicial law clerk to the Honorable John S. Martin Jr. in the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York. Ms. Moghaddam is a member of the California and New York bars. She received her J.D. from Columbia Law School where she was named a Kent Scholar as well as a Harlan Fiske Stone Scholar and served as an editor on the Journal of Transnational Law. She received her B.A. with honors from Brown University where she was elected to Phi Beta Kappa. Ms. Moghaddam serves as a mentor with the Public Affairs Alliance of Iranian Americans and is active in the Iranian American community.
Dawn Sepideh Mortazavi (Orange County)
Dawn Sepideh Mortazavi is an attorney in the Orange County area. She is currently in the process of setting up her own law firm focusing on criminal appeals defense. 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.
Amir Nayebdadash (Los Angeles)
Amir Nayebdadash is an attorney with the Los Angeles office of Littler Mendelson, P.C., where his practice focuses on defending employers in single plaintiff and wage and hour class actions. Mr. Nayebdadash also advises and counsels his clients in employment practices and policies to shield them from litigation or mitigate any potential exposure should they find themselves embroiled in a lawsuit. Mr. Nayebdadash has extensive jury and bench trial experience and has obtained a complete defense verdict in each matter he has tried. Mr. Nayebdadash obtained his undergraduate degree from UCLA, graduating cum laude with a bachelor’s degree in philosophy. He continued his studies at King’s College School of Law in London, England where he graduated with merit honors with a Master of Arts degree in international relations. Mr. Nayebdadash continued his studies at Pepperdine University School of Law where he obtained his jurist doctor degree in only two and a half years with a certification in dispute resolution from the acclaimed Straus Institute for Dispute Resolution. Mr. Nayebdadash returned to London during law school where he assisted Professor Colleen Graffy, former deputy United States Assistant Secretary of State for Public Diplomacy, and served as a legal intern for McDermott, Will and Emery’s London office, and Eversheds, LLP, a prominent multi-national law firm. After law school, Mr. Nayebdadash joined one of the preeminent defense trial lawyers in Southern California, the Law Offices of David J. Weiss. Recognizing his skill and leadership, Littler Mendelson, P.C., the largest labor and employment law firm in the United States, recruited Mr. Nayebdadash to join its Los Angeles office. Mr. Nayebdadash is active the Iranian-American community through his commitment to the Iranian-American Bar Association and membership in several Iranian-American organizations.
Azar Rebekah Rashidfarokhi (Chicago)
Azar Rebekah Rashidfarokhi is a Staff Attorney at the Chicago Volunteer Legal Services Foundation (CVLS), where she has worked since her admission to the Illinois bar in 2007. She practices in all areas of general civil litigation, including immigration, family law, probate, mortgage foreclosure defense, adoptions, landlord-tenant law, and tort defense. Ms. Rashidfarokhi is a graduate of the University of Georgia School of Law, where she served as a legal advocate at a family violence clinic, co-chair of an immigrants rights project, and volunteer for Catholic Social Services. During law school, Ms. Rashidfarokhi spent her first summer working as an intern at the United Nations Office of Drug and Crime (UNODC) in Bogot, Colombia. In 2006, she worked as a summer associate at an international law firm in Madrid. Before law school, Ms. Rashidfarokhi was a law clerk at Diocesan Migrant and Refugee Services at the US-Mexico border at El Paso, Texas. She was also a coordinator for international academic programs throughout Europe, Latin America, and the Caribbean. Ms. Rashidfarokhi is fluent in Spanish and has a particular interest in immigration and asylum law. She is a Director of the Young Lawyers Section of the Chicago Bar Association for 2009-2011. She is a member of the Junior Leadership Council of the National Immigrant Justice Center, where she serves as pro bono council on political asylum cases. She is also a member of the CBA Legal Aid Committee and the Junior Board of Catholic Charities of Chicago, where she volunteers with the Refugee Resettlement Program.
Anthony B. Ravani (Seattle)
Anthony B. Ravani is an entrepreneur and previously worked with Microsoft and Exxon/Mobil at an executive level. He is now currently an immigration and family Law attorney practicing in Seattle, Washington. Over the past 20 years Mr. Ravani has had a successful career growing mid-size companies and start-ups into large public corporations. Mr. Ravani has been guest speaker at the UCLA MBA program, Comdex, and various other forums and conferences in Europe, Japan, and the United States. He has taught MBA courses at University of Houston, and has taught Venture Capital Backed Entrepreneurial Start-Ups at Seattle University School of Law as an Adjunct Professor. Mr. Ravani joined Microsoft in the early 1990s and built a world-wide licensing/operation organization with over 200 software engineers working in Europe, Japan, and the United States. He reported directly to the executive team of Microsoft and worked directly with Bill Gates. Some of Mr. Ravani’s accomplishments were described in Bill Gates’ book: “Business at the Speed of Thought,” as models of business during digital and internet era. Mr. Ravani left Microsoft toward the end of 1999 to start up his first SaaS venture. In addition, Mr. Ravani formed a non-profit organization to help abused women. He has provided over 500 hours of pro-bono annually taking cases in domestic violence and asylum, amongst others. Mr. Ravani received a B.S. and an M.S. degree in Accounting from University of New Orleans, a M.S. in Industrial Engineering from Louisiana State University, and J.D. from Seattle University, School of Law. He has been admitted to Washington Bar, U.S. Western District Court, and he is a member of American Bar Association, Washington Bar, King County Bar, and American Immigration Lawyers Association.