My path to human rights law

I was in my mid-twenties, a newlywed, and I was working a corporate job that was pretty unfulfilling. From a young age, my parents ingrained in me the importance of serving humanity and making a difference in my community. I wanted to make a change in my life and I was thinking about different ways I could do more fulfilling work. My incredible wife, Ayesha, encouraged me to go to law school and that choice unlocked a world of possibilities for me.

My passion for human rights law started when I was a student at the University of Richmond School of Law. I got to focus on issues that impacted the lives of real families. This made me feel alive and gave me so much purpose. As a student, I got actively involved with nonprofits working in legal advocacy. One of them was the Virginia Poverty Law Center (VPLC), an incredible organization that I ended up doing pro-bono work for after I graduated.

When I started with the VPLC, I worked specifically with the office of domestic and sexual violence. In that office, I was able to support low income women who didn’t have access to the financial resources to hire a lawyer. As a student, this work opened my eyes to the wide range of experiences lawyers can have both inside and outside the courtroom. Oftentimes our clients were immigrants, like myself. I worked with women who were here on a K-1 fiancé visa or on some kind of a work visa where their documented residency here was dependent upon a spouse. I usually dealt with the legal complications caused by an abusive spouse and the immigration ramifications of ending the relationship.

It was heavy stuff; the women I worked with would face the harm of abuse and the fear of deportation. I’m proud of the work I did helping women file the necessary paperwork, helping them work through their legal options, and ultimately help them stay here in the United States in a legal and safe manner.

I started this work in law school, but it’s work I do in a pro bono capacity to this day. After law school I started working in corporate law for a couple of years. I would moonlight as a human rights lawyer with the VPLC and organizations in my community. Even though I was making a great living in corporate law, I was miserable. Not to mention the fact that I was burning the candle on both ends.

Once again, my incredible wife stepped in and helped me chart my path. One day she said to me “you’re making good money, but at the end of the day, life’s too short to have making money be your barometer of success.”

I decided to leave corporate law to join KARAMAH, one of the nonprofits that I had been working with pro bono for some time. I came on as their national Director of Civil Rights and Policy. It was a 50% pay cut. There was no 401k, no gym membership, no company cell phone, but it was where I needed to be. I jumped in head first and I’ve never looked back.

I spent my 20s and 30s figuring out what I wanted to do with my life. It’s been an incredible journey in human rights law. I feel so lucky to wholeheartedly say that I love what I do. But, I say this all the time, advocacy can only go so far. I’m running to turn my advocacy work into policy. I’m proud of the movement my campaign and I have built. Most of all, I’m grateful to my parents and my wife for pushing me in this direction.

Qasim recently spoke about this on the Rock the Boat podcast. Learn more about Rock the Boat here: www.gorocktheboat.com