Iranian American Bar Association
The Iranian American Bar Association (IABA) is a national association of Iranian-American judges, attorneys, legal scholars, and law students. The IABA was originally formed in 2000 by four founding members in the District of Columbia. There are currently eight IABA chapters: Los Angeles, New York, Northern California, Orange County, Phoenix, San Diego, Washington D.C., and Southeast.
The Phoenix IABA Chapter was founded in the Spring of 2012 by Samin Adib. Ms. Adib and her family fled to New York City during the Iran-Iraq war in the late 1980’s. “Speaking only Farsi, they left behind home, families, friends, and jobs to give their family an opportunity for an education and a meaningful and enriched life.” USD School of Law Alumna Samin Adib '09 (JD) Appointed Maricopa County Court Commissioner - University of San Diego Ms. Adib served as a Deputy County Attorney in the Maricopa County Attorney’s office prior to her appointment as the first Iranian-American Court Commissioner in Arizona.
Ms. Adib worked diligently with Meenoo Chahbazi, former Phoenix IABA Chapter President and current Outreach Director, to locate initial members to join the Phoenix Chapter. Ms. Chahbazi recalled her pathway to involvement with the IABA, noting that she moved to Washington D.C. after completing a clerkship with the Alaska Supreme Court. “When I was in D.C., I started meeting Iranian-Americans who were involved with IABA. It was really a great resource to network and to meet other attorneys–I made some really great friends through the organization.” Ms. Chahbazi subsequently moved to Phoenix to take a position with the EEOC in 2009, whereupon she met longtime Phoenix resident Pouria Paknejad. Mr. Paknejad was the first Iranian American attorney on the SBA's Board of Governors. Mr. Paknejad introduced Ms. Chahbazi to Samin Adib. Ms. Chahbazi recalled initial efforts to create the Phoenix Chapter: “We were pretty tiny at that point–Spring of 2012 is when we gathered enough members to be recognized as an IABA chapter. . . .we were meeting with some ASU professors and some other professors, trying to find students who were Iranian. I think Samin went on the State Bar website [and looked] for anyone who spoke Farsi as a second language. [We had] some networking events, and that’s how we created the Phoenix Chapter.”
The Phoenix Chapter Board of Directors includes Afsanieh Rassti (President), Saman Golestan (President Emeritus), Arash Tavanaei (National Board Representative), Amir Sadeghi (Treasurer), Parisa Gorg (Event Director), Shar Bahmani (Board Advisor), Meenoo Chahbazi (Outreach Director), and Negar Nahid (Student Director).
The IABA Phoenix Chapter has approximately fifty active members. The local chapter, described as “tiny, but mighty” by Phoenix Chapter President Afsanieh Rassti and Outreach Director Meenoo Chahbazi, works to advance the IABA’s national mission. The IABA’s mission is threefold: to educate the Iranian-American community about salient legal issues, to protect and advance the legal rights of Iranian-Americans and other minority communities, and to foster achievement of Iranian-American legal professionals.
The Phoenix IABA Chapter hosts various community events throughout the year focused on educating the Iranian-American community about important legal issues. The Phoenix IABA Chapter hosted a booth at the Persian New Year Festival on March 1 and has plans to host a series of “Know Your Rights” events at the Persian Cultural Center. Several “Know Your Rights” events have occurred in the past, mainly focused on immigration. Ms. Chahbazi hopes to co-sponsor events with the collaborative bar, noting that, “the rest of the collaborative bar is a huge resource for us. Through co-sponsoring events we can be more relevant [and can] continue to serve our community.”
IABA is proud of its efforts to protect and advance the legal rights of the Iranian-American community. Members of the National IABA Board of Directors, assisted by key members of Persian community organizations and law firms contributing their time pro-bono, have worked heavily on travel ban litigation. Ms. Rassti explained the heavy involvement of the IABA in travel ban litigation: “A lot of our past members and past Board of Directors spent a lot of time fighting against the travel ban. It’s one of the things that IABA is most proud about because it really did affect the Iranian-American community. A lot of our members when the travel bans first came out were at the airports giving free legal advice to folks. It was one of those things that really impacted our community and the work that we did in such a significant way and made us realize that the work we do is very, very important.” One instrumental IABA was Leila Mansouri. Ms. Mansouri, who currently sits on the Board of the Iranian American Bar Association and Persian Women in Tech, spearheaded efforts around the country on travel ban litigation. More information on Ms. Mansouri and her community involvement may be found here.
At the national level and in the local Phoenix Chapter, the IABA is committed to fostering the achievement of Iranian-American legal professionals. IABA issues scholarships each year to law students in good standing enrolled in accredited law schools in the United States. These scholarships are awarded to students who demonstrate commitment to advancing the legal rights of Iranian-Americans and other minority communities.
The IABA Phoenix Chapter plans to start awarding local chapter scholarships beginning in 2026. Afsanieh Rassti, the current President of the IABA Phoenix Chapter, is passionate about building a diverse legal community by offering financial support to law students, including those dedicated to public service careers. Ms. Rassti began as a Student President while attending ASU Sandra Day O’Connor College of Law. While in law school, Ms. Rassti additionally served on the executive council of the Pro Bono Board and helped create the Law Society of Human Rights to support law students in human rights missions abroad. Ms. Rassti spoke about the Phoenix Chapter’s plans to raise funding for scholarships through the annual gala: “We had our first annual gala last year, we had a masquerade gala, so this year we’re planning to do bigger and better–larger venue, attract and market to a larger crowd so we can start doing our own local chapter scholarships starting 2026. The fundraising is a huge goal for us this year. We want to–just through the collaborative bar in Arizona–co-sponsor with them certain events so we can attract more members and [hopefully] engage with different groups at the law schools.”
Ms. Rassti hopes for continued growth of the “tiny but mighty” Phoenix IABA chapter, remarking, “I want to leave the chapter in a place with new blood, new goals, new ambition.”
More information about the Phoenix IABA Chapter may be found online at https://iaba.us/chapters/phoenix/ You can contact the Phoenix IABA Chapter via email at phoenix@iaba.us, or follow the Chapter on Instagram at @iaba_phoenix and LinkedIn at Iranian American Bar Association, Phoenix Chapter. Information on upcoming IABA events may be found here.
Interview Clips
Meenoo Chahbazi, Phoenix Chapter Outreach Director, discusses her pathway to involvement with the IABA here:
[link to Chahbazi interview, audio clip #1]
Meenoo Chahbazi recalls efforts to create the Phoenix Chapter here:
[link to Chahbazi audio clip #3]
Meenoo Chahbazi discusses the IABA mentorship program:
[link to Chahbazi interview, audio clip #7]
Meenoo Chahbazi discusses community legal education efforts here:
[link to Chahbazi interview, audio clip #9]
Meenoo Chahbazi talks about the benefits of the collaborative bar:
[link to Chahbazi interview, audio clip #10]
Afsanieh Rassti, Phoenix Chapter President, discusses her previous experience as a Student President while attending ASU Sandra Day O’Connor College of Law:
[link to Rassti interview, audio clip #2]
Afsanieh Rassti discusses her goal to increase student involvement within the Phoenix Chapter here:
[link to Rassti interview, audio clip #4]
Afsanieh Rassti talks about the first annual gala and fundraising goals here:
[link to Rassti interview, audio clip #6]
Afsanieh Rassti discusses upcoming national IABA events here:
[link to Rassti interview, audio clip #7]
Afsanieh Rassti recalls travel ban litigation efforts here:
[link to Rassti interview, audio clip #11]
And here:
