South Asian Bar Association (SABA) of North America

SABA North America wishes everyone a Happy Independence Day!

Last call for conference registration! If you plan to attend the SABA annual conference in Toronto, be sure to register as we are closing conference registration TOMORROW!! As you prepare to come to Toronto, we remind you to ensure that your passport is valid and up to date for travel purposes. Please reach out to ea@sabanorthamerica.com with any questions or to express interest as a volunteer for the conference. For more information, and to register, visit our registration page here: https://lnkd.in/e3jJaG8v

SABA North America is honored to present our Diversity and Inclusion Champion Award to Davis Wright Tremaine LLP! Davis Wright Tremaine LLP is a full-service AmLaw 100 firm, providing clients with sophisticated, cross-disciplinary work that simplifies their toughest challenges and enhances their success. With more than 600 lawyers across 11 offices, the firm is nationally recognized for excellence serving the technology, financial services, media and entertainment, food and beverage, and healthcare industries, and for substantive leadership in areas that include litigation, advertising and brand protection, labor and employment, privacy and security, and ESG. The firm’s DEI vision is to foster a culture where all talented individuals—including those from traditionally underrepresented communities in the legal profession—can have, and can see, paths to success. The firm implements this vision through a four-pillar DEI strategy: Community (fostering an inclusive and belonging culture); Growth (developing the pipeline and ensuring equitable access to opportunities); Education (elevating individual and collective knowledge); and Engagement (collaborating with external stakeholders—including clients—around a shared DEI commitment.) The firm has been widely honored for the strength of its four-pillar strategy and dedication to advancing DEI. Recent recognition from clients includes the 2024 Law Firm DEIB Recognition Award from LPL Financial, the T-Mobile 2023 Excellence in Diversity Award, and the 2022 Citi Law Firm Diversity Champion Award. Learn more at dwt.com/DEI. Follow the link below to register before we sell out: https://lnkd.in/eFrsA4i9

We encourage you to join to learn about a new pipeline initiative for South Asian women in the law, as well as to determine what impact the women of SABA would like to have in 2025 and beyond. RSVP here: https://lnkd.in/giaZtxin Follow the link below to register for the conference before we sell out: https://lnkd.in/eFrsA4i9

SABA North America is honored to present our Rising Star Award to Tanisha Palvia! Tanisha Palvia, Member at Moore & Van Allen, advises and represents individuals and corporations facing white-collar criminal prosecution and government enforcement actions. She also manages and conducts internal investigations for various organizations, including financial institutions, private and public universities and schools, and medical providers, on a variety of sensitive issues, including financial fraud, Title IX, and labor and employment concerns. Her significant trial experience makes her a passionate advocate for her clients, both in the courtroom and out. Tanisha has always been devoted to pro bono work and represents indigent defendants charged with federal criminal offenses as well as victims of sexual assault in the prison system and human trafficking. Previously, she was a partner at a North Carolina firm and spent five years as a prosecutor in the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office in New York City where she prosecuted and tried a variety of criminal cases, including financial, sexual, and violent crimes. At the DA’s Office, Tanisha was chosen to lead the newly created Animal Cruelty Unit, tasking her with handling heinous crimes against animals, as well as supervising other attorneys handling those matters. She received her undergraduate degree from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, where she was a Robertson Scholar, and she graduated from Emory Law School with honors. Immediately after law school, she was a law clerk for the Honorable Robert N. Hunter, Jr. at the North Carolina Court of Appeals. Follow the link below to register before we sell out: https://lnkd.in/eFrsA4i9

SABA North America is honored to present our Rising Star Award to Pravin Patel! Pravin Patel is a partner in Weil’s Complex Commercial Litigation practice, where he has significant experience and expertise litigating and favorably resolving a broad range of disputes, including class actions, product liability, business torts, breach of contract, sports and entertainment, employment, fraud, real estate, and environmental remediation cases. Pravin also has significant experience in internal investigations and white collar matters. These engagements have involved complex financial and deal instruments, sophisticated corporate governance issues, first-of-their kind sports law issues, novel discrimination claims, significant product defect allegations, and collectively, billions in potential liabilities. Pravin has led the defense of numerous nationwide and multi-state putative class actions. He has deep experience litigating all aspects of these and other cases, ranging from discovery and dispositive motions to settlement and trial. He has represented clients across various industries, including Apple, Repsol, Saks Fifth Avenue, Creative Artists Agency, PetroChina, Goldman Sachs, Burger King, Hilton, Procter & Gamble, MLB All-Star and AL MVP Shohei Ohtani, and NBA All-Star Zion Williamson. Pravin is regularly recognized as a top attorney nationally and in Florida. In 2023, he was again recognized by Chambers USA as a top lawyer in Florida for General Commercial Litigation. He was also named in 2023 as a recommended lawyer nationally for General Commercial Disputes by Legal 500, and in 2023 and 2024 as a “Lawyer to Watch” in the areas of Commercial Litigation and Product Liability by Best Lawyers: Ones to Watch in America. Pravin is also actively involved in the Firm’s pro bono initiatives and the local community, achieving nationally recognized results in these engagements. Notable among these are his representation of clients in class actions challenging "puppy mill" sales and Miami‑Dade’s ICE detainer compliance policies. Follow the link below to register before we sell out: https://lnkd.in/eFrsA4i9

SABA North America is honored to present our Rising Star Award to Gigio Ninan! Gigio K. Ninan is a current Director of the Asian American Bar Association of New York. Gigio was previously the VP and a Regional Representative of SABANJ, a VP of Private Sector and Young Lawyers of SABANY, the president of Rutgers Law Alumni Association-Camden, and the Chair of the Solo/Small Firm Section of the SABA-NA. In 2023, Gigio served on the law school Dean’s Search committee.  Gigio is a Certified Mediator by the Federal Court, District of NJ and an adjunct professor at Rutgers Law. Gigio practices in the area of business and employment counseling and litigation in NY/NJ/PA. Gigio exemplifies the passion for paying it forward to future leaders through his stellar accomplishments, leadership and service to others. After graduating cum laude from Binghamton University in 2008, Gigio earned his law degree from Rutgers University in 2011, where he served on a Journal. Gigio went on to clerk for the Hon. Stephen M. Holden, Ph.D., and worked at national firms before founding  Shankar Ninan. Gigio has been recognized several times: 2023 Rutgers Law School Muslim, Asian, South Asian (MAPS) Groundbreakers Award 2016-24 Superlawyers® Rising Star 2021 Rutgers Law Alumni Distinguished Recent Graduate Award recipient 2019 Binghamton Lois B. DeFleur Distinguished Young Alumnus award recipient 2017 New Leader of the Bar by New Jersey Law Journal (formerly “40 under 40”) Gigio's professional accomplishments, hard work, energy and drive are impressive, but equally impressive is his commitment to Rutgers Law School, Binghamton University, and the Asian and South Asian American Bar Associations. Follow the link below to register before we sell out: https://lnkd.in/eFrsA4i9

SABA North America is honored to present our Rising Star Award to Priya Bhanu! Priya L. Bhanu is an Attorney-Adviser in the Office of the Legal Adviser at the U.S. Department of State, where she advises on legal issues that arise in international multilateral fora related to biodiversity, conservation, global food security, wildlife trade and trafficking, and human rights and the environment. Of note, she serves as the legal adviser to and a lead negotiator on the U.S. delegation to develop a new international agreement on the conservation and sustainable use of marine biological diversity on the high seas, known as the BBNJ Agreement or the High Seas Treaty, which has been in the process of being negotiated over the last 20 years, and which was finally concluded and adopted at the United Nations last year.  In this role, she not only engaged with foreign counterparts in the margins to solve legal issues, but also on the floor of the United Nations to negotiate the text of this new treaty, which will protect vital marine biodiversity on the high seas.  This experience of a lifetime gave her the opportunity to make her mark in the international community. Previously, she was an attorney at Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton LLP and a law clerk to the Honorable Paul. S. Grewal on the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California.  Priya is a past President of the South Asian Bar Association of Washington, DC (SABA-DC). Priya received her J.D., cum laude, from University of Michigan Law School and her B.A., phi beta kappa, in International Studies and East Asian Studies from Johns Hopkins University. Follow the link below to register before we sell out: https://lnkd.in/eFrsA4i9

SABA North America is honored to present our Rising Star Award to Gurneet Singh! Gurneet Singh, an accomplished IP lawyer at Jones Day, represents leading companies in district courts, at the ITC, and before the PTAB. His expertise has been pivotal in litigating and resolving high-stakes competitor disputes, including a multi-jurisdictional conflict for NXP against Impinj involving over 50 patents, a widely-publicized bet-the-industry ITC case for NXP against MediaTek, and a patent litigation defense of Cohesity against Commvault that was covered by Forbes. Since 2012, Gurneet has developed patent and trade secret portfolios for market leaders. He has helped protect technologies in, for example, Google’s hardware accelerators, SAP’s enterprise resource planning systems, Ant Financial’s blockchain systems, Twitter’s social media, ASICS’ sports shoes, FICO’s credit-score systems, and Motional’s autonomous-vehicle systems. Gurneet’s comprehensive approach to IP matters is well-regarded, with contributions to publications including Competition Policy International TechREG Chronicle, Chicago-Kent Journal of IP, IAM Media, Law360, and IP Litigator. Mondaq recognizes him as a “very popular” author in the U.S. for 12 different topics. Gurneet has provided pro-bono counsel to 30+ asylees, who feared persecution in their home countries, at detention centers along the U.S./Mexico border in Texas. He supports the Legal Aid Society of San Mateo County’s mission of helping low-income clients with civil legal issues by serving on a committee that organizes one of their largest fundraisers. Gurneet actively participates with FinAccelerate, Jones Day’s accelerator program recognized by the National Law Journal as a Legal Technology Trailblazer. He serves on the Board of SABA Northern California, which recently presented him the Corporate Responsibility Award Follow the link below to register before we sell out: https://lnkd.in/eFrsA4i9

SABA North America is honored to present our Rising Star Award to Annie Tayyab! In her day job, Annie is a litigator with Torkin Manes LLP. In that role, she routinely advocates on behalf of a broad range of clients. Annie regularly appears before the Commercial List on shareholder and partnership disputes, and has significant experience with various other contractual disputes and regulatory proceedings, as well as defending lawyers in professional liability claims. She also counsels clients on commercial leasing disputes and other general real estate litigation matters. In her previous roles, Annie gained extensive experience in high-stakes litigation, including multi-jurisdictional class actions and competition law. She has appeared before Courts of Appeal throughout the country and has acted for an intervener before the Supreme Court of Canada.   In addition to a busy litigation practice, Annie prioritizes community involvement. She has been on the board of the South Asian Bar Association of Toronto for many years, having held the positions of Secretary, Treasurer, and Vice President. She has been instrumental in developing new programming and advocacy initiatives in response to the evolving needs of SABA Toronto’s membership. She is also a member of the Young Advocates’ Standing Committee of The Advocates’ Society; has been the Secretary of the Ontario Class Actions Bench-Bar Liaison Committee; is an active volunteer with Pro Bono Ontario; and is a mentor with Muslims Achieving Excellence (MAX). She also sits on the board of Visual Arts Mississauga, a not-for-profit dedicated to arts education and community engagement in the Greater Toronto Area. Follow the link below to register before we sell out: https://lnkd.in/eFrsA4i9