Afghanistan

Afghan lawyer launches nonprofit to help others while also pursuing US legal education

It’s been more than four years since Abeera Ziayi fled Afghanistan, leaving behind her family, her life and her career. As a lawyer, Ziayi had handled hundreds of cases involving violence against women and children, criminal and civil issues and divorces. She was also a human rights advocate, university professor and frequent volunteer in her community.

Oct 13, 2026 2:56 PM CDT

Lessons at sea on international law motivated this retired Navy commander to become a law prof

David Glazier recalls that his friends and family all assumed that he would go to law school. He even applied to and was accepted to the University of Virginia School of Law “just to keep people off my back,” says Glazier, now a professor at the Loyola Law School at Loyola Marymount University in Los Angeles. But before he hit the books again, he wanted to have his fun, see the world and have adventures. So he joined the U.S. Navy. Law school could wait.

Aug 25, 2026 9:13 AM CDT

Jury finds DC ‘Sandwich Guy’ not guilty of assaulting officer

A jury on Thursday acquitted a D.C. man who was charged with assault after throwing a sandwich at a federal agent during President Donald Trump’s crime crackdown in the capital.

Nov 6, 2025 2:12 PM CST

DC ‘Sandwich Guy’ goes on trial, says prosecution is half-baked

The D.C. man who flung a sandwich at a federal agent in a show of resistance to President Donald Trump’s takeover of local law enforcement went on trial this week, as his lawyers blasted the Justice Department for what they described as excessive and ham-fisted policing.

Nov 4, 2025 10:05 AM CST

Soldier wounded in suicide bombing wants right to sue military contractor

The suicide bomber made his away across Bagram air base in Afghanistan in 2016, heading toward a Veterans Day 5-K race featuring hundreds of U.S. soldiers. As U.S. Army Spec. Winston T. Hencely moved to grab the man, the bomber detonated an explosive-laden vest that left Hencely with severe injuries and killed six.

Nov 4, 2025 9:34 AM CST

DOJ ‘more concerned with punishing’ perceived Trump enemies than public safety, fired prosecutor’s letter says

A letter taped to the door of an assistant U.S. attorney who was abruptly fired last week said a false social media post apparently led to his termination while he was in the middle of a terrorism prosecution.

Oct 8, 2025 9:04 AM CDT

ABA project is supporting Afghan legal professionals 4 years after fall of Kabul

In the months following the fall of Kabul to the Taliban on Aug. 15, 2021, the ABA began working to help judges and lawyers from Afghanistan resettle, obtain immigration benefits and secure jobs using their legal skills.

Aug 20, 2025 11:38 AM CDT

Lawyer awarded $3.3M after crashing snowmobile into negligently parked Army helicopter

A federal judge in Massachusetts has awarded $3.3 million in damages to a lawyer for injuries suffered when he crashed his snowmobile into a camouflaged U.S. Army Black Hawk helicopter parked on a snowmobile trail at dusk.

Sep 26, 2024 2:28 PM CDT

Protecting the citizens on the ground—both in Afghanistan and as a lawyer

“Ideas are destiny. Mine sent me to the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, to platoon leadership in Afghanistan, to the intensive care unit—and, eventually, to law.”

Sep 21, 2023 10:36 AM CDT

ABA helps find permanent homes for Afghan evacuees stuck in Abu Dhabi, other parts of the world

“Since my childhood, I wanted to serve the society and people honestly, and I found lawyering to be a field that could connect me to my dreams,” Afghan refugee Qari Abeera Ziayi says. “So I chose the field of law, and for a long time, I served people a lot through law.” Ziayi left her country in October 2021, and through a foreign organization that assisted female lawyers facing danger in Afghanistan, she was brought to Emirates Humanitarian City.

Nov 10, 2022 9:46 AM CST

Advocates are helping Afghans apply for asylum and other immigration relief with ABA assistance

Freshta Kohgadai fled with her family from Kabul, Afghanistan, to the United States in the late 1980s. When she discovered the ABA Scholarship for Legal Advocates—a new program that aims to increase the culturally and linguistically competent pro bono services available to Afghan arrivals—she knew she had to apply.

Sep 8, 2022 3:30 PM CDT

ABA project aims to help Afghan legal professionals establish themselves in the United States

In the weeks following the one-year anniversary of the fall of Kabul to the Taliban on Aug. 15, the ABA Journal is highlighting the ABA’s efforts to help judges and lawyers from Afghanistan resettle, obtain immigration benefits and secure jobs using their legal skills. This is part one in our series.

Aug 23, 2022 8:53 AM CDT

Volunteer attorneys needed to help Afghan evacuees stuck in limbo within Abu Dhabi camp

Jordan Jones went to the United Arab Emirates in late March, hoping to help Afghan judges, prosecutors and rule of law professionals who fled their country nearly eight months earlier.

Apr 21, 2022 11:19 AM CDT

Afghan evacuee crisis adds pressure to already-stressed immigration attorneys

The crisis around the influx of Afghan evacuees has added to recent pressures felt by U.S. immigration attorneys, many whose jobs have expanded beyond direct representation of their clients. As of Dec. 31, more than 75,000 Afghans have been allowed into the United States, while more than 35,000 have applied for humanitarian parole.

Jan 24, 2022 10:27 AM CST