MLFA 2025 Summit Early Bird Tickets EXTENDED – Reserve Your Seat

MLFA 2025 Summit

Constitutional Breaking Point

Saturday, August 23, 2025 | SMU Dedman School of Law

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Constitutional Breaking Point is a one-day summit hosted by MLFA & SMU MLSA, bringing together attorneys, law students, organizers, and nonprofit leaders for urgent conversations and strategy sessions at the intersection of law and liberation.

Summit 2025

Saturday, August 23, 2025 | SMU Dedman School of Law | 3315 Daniel Avenue, Dallas, TX

This summit convenes the nation’s boldest legal minds at a time when constitutional protections are unraveling and dissent is criminalized. Together, we examine the threats and the legal tools to fight.

Free Speech on Trial

Weaponizing National Security

Legalized Discrimination

Beyond the Ban

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When: Saturday, August 23, 2025
Where: SMU Dedman School of Law
3315 Daniel Avenue, Dallas, TX

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Keynote Address

Lee Merritt

Civil Rights Attorney

Arshia Ali-Khan

MLFA CEO

Breakout Sessions

Delve into the legal challenges shaping today’s fight for justice. Hear from attorneys on the front lines and gain practical tools you can use.

(Registrants Must Choose Between Session I OR Session II)

BREAKOUT I
12:30PM

Government Overreach and the Expanding Criminalization of Speech

Explore how criminal defense is evolving as prosecutors, courts, and surveillance tech challenge the limits of constitutional rights.

Sufia Khalid

Charles Swift

Chelsea Estes

Campus to the Courts: Defending Free Speech in Practice

Learn how protestors and communities are navigating criminalization, and how lawyers can push back using legal protections.

Christina Jump

Chelsea Glover

Samira Elhosary

Jinan Chehade

BREAKOUT II
2:00PM

Current Trends Affecting US Nonprofits

Unpack the rise in congressional scrutiny of Muslim and international aid nonprofits, and how to stay prepared.

Sana Saleem

Huma Khan

Paul Carroll

Immigration Rights & Free Speech: Navigating the Changing Political Climate

This session dives into the challenges facing immigrant communities and the role attorneys can play in defending their rights in an increasingly hostile climate.

Kathryn Brady

Franchel Daniel

Waleed Naser

Nonprofit Legal Screening

TIME: 10:00 AM

Free Legal Screenings for Nonprofits: Hybrid Virtual Event

MLFA’s legal team will be offering private, confidential screening sessions during the summit for qualifying organizations. These consultations are designed to help your nonprofit proactively assess risk and better understand Treasury guidelines, nonprofit law, and federal inquiries.

Topics may include:

  • Anti-terrorism financing & Treasury guidelines
  • Federal investigations and document requests
  • Political activity boundaries and best practices
  • Structuring, governance, and liability risk

PLEASE NOTE: One person from the nonprofit will have free admission to the summit, any additional members would need to register at the community rate.

Tickets

Secure your ticket before it’s gone. Early bird pricing through July 4th
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The Legal Summit is pending 3.0 hours of CLE credit by the State Bar of Texas.

No separate CLE fee is required. CLE registration is included with your attorney ticket.

$100 for Attorneys.
Your ticket includes:

  • CLE Credit
  • Lunch
  • Keynote Address
  • Networking Power Hour
  • Sponsor Bag

$50 for Community Members.
Your ticket includes:

  • Keynote Panel
  • Networking Power Hour
  • Refreshments
  • Film Screening
  • Sponsor Bag

Sponsorship

Your sponsorship helps make Constitutional Breaking Point accessible to the attorneys, law students, organizers, and community members who need it most.

Whether you’re an individual, law firm, foundation, or organization, partnering with us demonstrates your commitment to justice, civil rights, and constitutional advocacy at a time when these values are under attack.

  • Title Sponsor: $15,000
    • You will be highlighted as part of the name of the symposium event.
  • Platinum Sponsor: $10,000
  • Silver Sponsor: $5,000
  • Community Partner for Justice: $1,000
Become a Sponsor

Sponsorship

Your sponsorship helps make Constitutional Breaking Point accessible to the attorneys, law students, organizers, and community members who need it most.

Whether you’re an individual, law firm, foundation, or organization, partnering with us demonstrates your commitment to justice, civil rights, and constitutional advocacy at a time when these values are under attack.

Become a Sponsor

Our Summit Sponsors

Lee Merritt
Civil Rights Attorney

S. Lee Merritt, Esq. commonly known as “the people’s lawyer”, is emerging as an influential new voice in the fight for Social Justice. A Civil Rights activist and attorney, Merritt runs a high profile practice focusing on victims of police brutality, hate crimes and corporate discrimination. As an activist, he has championed police reform and community empowerment. His office has led the way in reform in Texas, a state notorious for its failure to prosecute police officers, advocating for the first murder indictments of officers in the state in over 40 years. Following the devastation caused by Hurricane Harvey in the Summer of 2017, Merritt helped to launch the American Black Cross, a disaster relief organization geared to serve the most vulnerable sectors of society.

Arshia Ali-Khan
MLFA CEO

A visionary leader, with a professional career reflecting over two decades of creative, transformational leadership, in corporate and non-profit organizational development. From high-profile organizations to local individuals and entrepreneurs, Arshia serves as an experienced transformational organization development and human emergence leader and adviser. She has led organizations effectively with cross-functional & multi-cultural teams to transform and expand organizations throughout her career.

In August 2018, Arshia joined the Muslim Legal Fund of America (MLFA) as their first-ever Chief Development Officer (CDO) spearheading organizational development strategies, building development infrastructure, enhancing development activities, and planning and executing comprehensive development campaigns for MLFA. In June of 2020, she was appointed as the interim CEO, and in January of 2022 she was appointed by the board of directors as the CEO of MLFA. In her service as interim CEO she successfully led MLFA through the pandemic, and effectively established greater efficiency, transparency, accountability, and integrity within MLFA. In an effort to strengthen and protect the Muslim nonprofit community, Arshia envisioned and spearheaded a five-year partnership with Indiana University to launch the MLFA-funded Ihsan Standard, a legal and research project dedicated to leadership excellence among minority-led and Muslim American nonprofits. The program aims to encourage effective organizational decisions that benefit programs and clients, to support operations within legal parameters and reduce scrutiny, and promote community confidence in nonprofit organizations. To achieve these goals, The Ihsan Standard provides nonprofit legal screenings to assess the legal health of an organization.

As CEO, in order to build a strong foundation for MLFA Arshia, led and achieved a merger between MLFA and the MLFA-funded Constitutional Law Center for Muslims in America (CLCMA) in 2022. Under her leadership, MLFA will grow to become the National Security Hub for Muslims in the United States. In 2023, MLFA is positioned to grow and she holds a vision for expanding MLFA’s influence and effectiveness in service of setting precedent in national security rights on behalf of Muslim-Americans.

Sufia Khalid
MLFA Criminal Defense Senior Staff Attorney

Sufia joined the criminal defense department in 2019 and works on federal criminal national security cases. Her work involves Muslim defendants investigated by the FBI´s counter-terrorism division (often cases of entrapment) and prosecuted by the Department of Justice’s National Security Division.
Sufia works on cases in both trial and appellate federal courts across the country. She researches and writes motions challenging detention; evidentiary motions challenging unjust classified information procedures, prejudicial and irrelevant evidence, and other evidentiary issues; motions to dismiss on novel constitutional grounds; sentencing memorandums and objections challenging disproportionate sentencing guidelines reserved for Muslim defendants; and appellate arguments.

Sufia prepares cases for trial, co-writes cross examinations for government witnesses including FBI agents, undercovers,forensic experts, terrorism experts, psychiatrists etc. She also co-writes direct exams of defense witnesses, manages eDiscovery and selects trial exhibits, prepares trial outlines, manages and helps prepare defense witnesses. Sufia has participated in two national security jury trials while at CLCMA and has prepared for several others which the criminal department has resolved in extraordinary outcomes shortly before trial.

Sufia is a passionate advocate and anti-racist lawyer. In her work with the criminal department, they have uncovered significant and unconscionable FBI undercover operation tactics used against the most vulnerable in the Muslim community. They have successfully challenged government attempts to keep critical evidence secret, and have achieved exceptional outcomes in case resolution and sentencing for their clients.

Sufia went to law school in England at the University of Sussex before working at the United Nations Assistance to the Khmer Rouge Tribunal in Cambodia and the United Nations Development Programmer Legal Support Office in NYC. She received her LLM at Cardozo Law School, during which she interned at the Legal Aid Society’s Manhattan Trial Office. Sufia also loves to travel (21 countries, and counting) and enjoys exploring the DFW halal foodie scene with her husband.

Charles Swift
Criminal Defense Department Head

Charles Swift is the Criminal Department Head at MLFA´s legal Division. He was named by National Law Review as one of the top 100 legal minds in the nation. He is a retired Lieutenant Commander in the U.S. Navy, Judge Advocate General’s Corps. Charles is most known for winning the U.S. Supreme Court case Hamdan v. Rumsfeld for his client, Salim Ahmed Hamdan.

Following his military career, Charles was a visiting professor and head of the Humanitarian Law Clinic at Emory University School of Law in Atlanta, Georgia, before leaving to enter private practice in Seattle.

Charles has been a regular contributor on the topics of military law and terrorism for national news programs including MSNBC, CNBC, CNN, NPR, and Fox News. He has received numerous awards for his advocacy, including recognition as a Distinguished Alumnus at Seattle University School of Law, ACLU’s Roger Baldwin Medal for Distinguished Service, and was runner-up for Lawyer of the Year in 2005 as well as being named one of the 100 Most Influential Lawyers in 2006 by the National Law Journal.

Chelsea Estes
Criminal Defense Appellate Attorney

Chelsea joined the MLFA team as an appellate attorney in the criminal defense department because she is passionate about fighting injustice within the legal system. Her background in federal public defense and non-profit work firmly established her desire to champion human rights and be a voice for communities targeted by government authorities. 

Chelsea was born and raised in Oklahoma, where she went to college and law school. She graduated from The University of Oklahoma in 2010 with a Bachelor of Arts in Journalism, where she served on the University’s student court. In 2013 she graduated from Oklahoma City University School of Law, where she was involved in the Oklahoma Innocence Project and the mock trial team. In 2014, she earned her LL.M. degree in Criminal Defense Trial Advocacy from California Western School of Law. In 2015, she joined Federal Defenders of San Diego, Inc. as a trial attorney and continued in that role until 2021, when she moved into the appellate unit.  While at Federal Defenders, Chelsea tried multiple federal felony jury trials and litigated before the Ninth Circuit. As a federal public defender, Chelsea witnessed the prosecution of victimized populations, which led to her later work as a staff attorney with Free to Thrive, a San Diego-based non-profit organization dedicated to fighting back against the criminalization of human trafficking survivors.

Chelsea’s favorite place to be is at home with her family. Her best days start with coffee, yoga, and the Wordle puzzle.

Christina A. Jump
Civil Litigation Department Head

Christina Jump brings  more than 25 years of litigation experience to the organization, at both the trial and appellate levels. Her practice involves civil constitutional cases, including challenges to the No Fly and other government watchlists, land use and zoning law discrimination, religious discrimination in employment, religious accommodations in institutions, and defending denaturalization lawsuits on behalf of members of the Muslim community. Before joining the Constitutional Law Center for Muslims in America in March 2016, Christina represented clients in litigation in bench and jury trials in both state and federal courts. She handled hundreds of discrimination charges at the administrative agency level. In addition, she became Board Certified in Labor and Employment Law by the Texas Board of Legal Specialization in 1999, and earned her qualifications as a certified mediator in Texas at the University of Houston Blakely Advocacy Institute in 2003.

Christy also served as an Associate Hearing Officer for the City of Dallas for over ten years. She is a Fellow of the American Bar Foundation, Texas Bar Foundation and Dallas Association of Young Lawyers Foundation, and admitted to the Texas Bar College. Christy is a Past President of the Dallas Women’s Lawyers Association and served on the Board of Directors of the National Conference of Women’s Bar Associations, the Boards of Directors for the Dallas Association of Young Lawyers and DAYL Foundation, and currently serves on the Board of Directors for the Dallas Women Lawyers Foundation. She served for two years as Co-Chair of the Women’s Advocacy Awards for Legal Aid of Northwest Texas, and has been named a “Texas Super Lawyer” for multiple years, most recently in 2021 and 2022. Christy is admitted to practice before many federal District and Circuit Courts across the United States, including the Supreme Court of the United States.

Since joining CLCMA, Christy has presented multiple oral arguments on behalf of our clients to the Second, Third, Fifth, Sixth, Seventh, Ninth and D.C. Circuit Courts of Appeal, and represented our clients with many written briefs to the United States Supreme Court, the Second, Third, Fourth, Fifth, Sixth, Seventh, Ninth, Tenth and Eleventh Circuit Courts of Appeal, and numerous federal district courts across the country. Christy’s team secured remands back to the trial courts from the Ninth and D.C. Circuits, allowing Center clients to continue their constitutional challenges at the trial court levels. Christy also led CLCMA’s successful trial at the administrative level, to obtain victory for our client who sought religious accommodations in the federal workplace. This led to his recovery of hundreds of hours of back time, removal of improper discipline for time observing prayers, monetary compensation for his emotional distress and attorneys’ fees for the Center.

Christy challenges cases on behalf of our clients all the way to the Supreme Court, appearing as the lead Counsel of Record in six cases where we filed Petitions to the Supreme Court, and as lead Counsel of Record on an amicus brief to the Supreme Court in support of another case.

Christy regularly collaborates with other organizations on cases, including on behalf of Muslim and Jewish inmates with the same goal for religiously compliant meals in Arizona institutions, and as part of the “RLUIPA Litigators” collaborative calls led by the Department of Justice’s Civil Rights Division, bringing together dozens of organizations and attorneys working toward the same purpose. She also appears on behalf of CLCMA and MLFA for quarterly meetings where Department of Justice attorneys ask to hear from Muslim, Arab, Sikh, South Asian and Hindu community groups on pressing issues and problems, and provide liaison services where possible. In addition, Christy applies her contacts from her prior work at large law firms to partner with attorneys at Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld, as well as Perkins Coie, Lewis Brisbois and many others in order to expand the reach and impact of our organization.

Chelsea Glover
Civil Litigation Senior Staff Attorney

Chelsea Glover began her legal career in civil litigation in 2015, and she is excited to join the Constitutional Law Center for Muslims in America’s Civil Litigation Division as a Senior Staff Attorney. Before joining CLCMA, Chelsea primarily worked in commercial litigation, with a focus on antitrust and employment law. Chelsea also worked pro bono on immigration appeals, Violence Against Women Act petitions, and Special Immigrant Juvenile status applications.

Chelsea has represented clients in both state and federal court. In addition to legal work, Chelsea authored an article for the Texas Lawbook in 2022 entitled “Is Diversity a Pipeline Problem, or a Reservoir Problem?” She also co-authored a law review article for the SMU Annual Texas Survey in 2021 on Professional Liability. She is a member of the J.L. Turner Legal Association and Dallas Women Lawyers Association. Prior to law school, Chelsea taught Developmental Writing for the Nashville State Community College. Chelsea has also been recognized as a 2022 and 2023 Best Lawyer: Ones to Watch in Antitrust Litigation. Chelsea received a JD and LLM in International and Comparative Law from Duke University School of Law in 2015 and is licensed to practice law in Texas.

Samira Elhosary
Civil Litigation Staff Attorney

Samira Elhosary graduated from American University Washington College of Law in 2021. While in law school, she was the Co-Editor-in-Chief of the Human Rights Brief, a staffer on the Journal of Gender, Social Policy & the Law, and participated in the Civil Advocacy Clinic. She graduated in 2018 from The George Washington University with a B.A. in International Affairs.

Jinan Chehade
MLFA Civil Litigation Junior Staff Attorney

Jinan Chehade graduated from Georgetown University Law Center in 2023, building her experience in civil litigation and advocacy along the way. Jinan worked at the Department of Justice Civil Rights Special Litigation Division while attending Georgetown Law, and strategically analyzed cases on the intersection of policy and litigation. Jinan also represented refugees seeking asylum through the Center for Applied Legal Studies, where she successfully litigated and achieved asylum for her client. And as a legal intern at the Council on American Islamic Relations (CAIR), Jinan honed her litigatory skills on issues of religious freedom in the workplace and in schools. Jinan also worked as an intern at the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) on landmark cases of government accountability, free speech, and criminal justice reform.

Jinan also developed her leadership skills while doing all the above. At Georgetown Law, Jinan co-founded Law Students for Justice in Palestine. She also served as president of the Muslim Law Students Association (MLSA) and Program Chair of the National Muslims Law Students Association (NMLSA).

Prior to law school, Jinan studied Public Policy, Arabic, and Islamic World Studies at DePaul University. Born and raised in the Bridgeview (Little Palestine) area of Chicagoland, Jinan credits much of her drive for civil rights to the sense of purpose her community instilled in her at a young age. Jinan now has over eight years of experience organizing and working for civil rights in the community and on campuses. Jinan founded a national non-profit campaign that raised over $1,000,000 for humanitarian causes around the world, including Yemen, Rohingya, and also for asylum seekers.

Sana Saleem
Nonprofit Department Program Manager & Staff Attorney

Sana Saleem joined MLFA in 2023 as the Nonprofit Department program manager and staff attorney. She was previously a visiting assistant clinical professor with the Indiana University Lilly Family School of Philanthropy. Sana has experience working with Muslim nonprofit organizations, as she was previously a staff attorney with the Muslim Civil Liberties Union where she advised clients, filed an EEOC charge of discrimination, and pursued post-litigation torts against a federal prison. After passing the Texas bar exam, Sana practiced with Durkin & Graham, in the areas of civil litigation and workers’ compensation. Sana is licensed in both Texas and Indiana, and practices in the area of nonprofit law.

Sana obtained her Juris Doctor from the University of Denver’s Sturm College of Law where she was the Candidacy Editor for the Denver University Law Review. She also participated in the Civil Litigation Clinic where she helped represent a client bringing a Title VII race discrimination case against a national retailer, and she completed internships with the Executive Office for Immigration Review (EOIR) and the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC). Sana has a B.S. in Public Relations from The University of Texas at Austin with minors in Business and Spanish.

Huma Khan
Nonprofit Senior Staff Attorney

Huma Khan is a not-for-profit and family-based immigration attorney, and one of the founders of The Law Office of Tajuddin & Khan PC located in the Chicagoland area. She grew up in Columbus, Ohio, and received her undergraduate degree from The Ohio State University, graduating Magna Cum Laude with Honors. She went on to attend The Ohio State University Moritz College of Law, and received her law degree in 2008. She has lived and worked in the Chicagoland community since 2009, and her goal has always been to be of service to her community. She values helping organizations and individuals navigate the legal issues they face, and takes the time to connect to her clients and provide honest and practical legal advice.

Paul Carroll

Paul works to help organizations and movements achieve their goals in social change and public policy drawing on more than twenty years of government, philanthropic and NGO experience. With federal government experience in both Congress and the Executive Branch as well as in Washington, DC and a regional office, he understands the dynamics between “headquarter” offices and field locations. He also understands and has facilitated the interaction between private resources and nongovernmental capacity to support approaches to policy change using media, constituent campaigns, and analytical arguments.He excels at public speaking and media as seen on CNN, Fox News, Al Jazeera, CBC and others. 

Kathryn H. Brady
Immigration Department Head

Kathryn (“Kate”) Brady has practiced as an Immigration & Nationality Law attorney since 2006 with extensive experience in family-based & employment-based petitions before U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services and the Department of State. She has represented a wide variety of clients before USCIS for applications for Adjustment of Status, applications to naturalize to become a U.S. citizen, and petitions for nonimmigrant workers. Her experience includes USCIS Motions to Reopen and/or Reconsider denials and appeals to the Administrative Appeals Office when benefits have been administratively denied. Additionally, she has assisted clients with Department of State applications for immigrant visas, including those requiring Waivers of Inadmissibility, and in proving derivative citizenship of foreign-born children of U.S citizen parents. Before joining the Constitutional Law Center for Muslims in America, Kate represented clients in removal proceedings before the Executive Office of Immigration Review (“EOIR”) and the Board of Immigration Appeals.

Kate’s law practice blends her extensive knowledge of immigration law with federal civil litigation to assist clients in obtaining immigration benefits through the administrative processes, in removal proceedings, or in federal civil litigation. She regularly challenges DHS’s unlawful delays and discriminatory denials of MLFA’s clients’ applications for U.S. immigration benefits at USCIS, EOIR, and in multiple federal court jurisdictions, including filing a Writ of Certiorari to the U.S. Supreme Court.

She obtained her law degree from Texas Wesleyan University School of Law (now Texas A&M School of Law) in Fort Worth, TX in May 2006. Kate earned a Bachelor of Science in Sociology with a concentration in Social Psychology from Brigham Young University. She is licensed to practice in the State of Texas, and is a member of the Missouri Bar. Kate has been a member of the American Immigration Lawyers Association since 2007. She served on the board of the J. Reuben Clark Law Society’s Dallas Chapter in various positions from 2006 to 2019.

Franchel Daniel
Immigration Senior Staff Attorney

Franchel Daniel began her legal career in civil litigation, focusing on product liability defense. She has represented clients in both state and federal courts. While studying abroad in London, United Kingdom, through Pepperdine Caruso School of Law, Franchel worked for René Cassin, a charity organization aimed at promoting and protecting human rights. While there she worked to promote equality and combat discrimination against the Gypsy, Roma and Traveller populations. Franchel was a founding member of Charlotte Advocates Against Trafficking Humans in Charlotte, North Carolina. Franchel earned her Bachelor of Science in Psychology from Lipscomb University and graduated magna cum laude from Charlotte School of Law, where she served as the Article Editor of the Charlotte Law Review and a member of the Moot Court Honor Board. Franchel also holds a Master of Science degree in Counseling Psychology from Tennessee State University and a Master of Science in Public Service Management from Cumberland University. Franchel is licensed to practice law in Texas and the State of Washington.

Waleed Naser

Waleed Naser, a proud MLFA alumnus, is the founder and principal attorney of Naser Immigration Law, LLC, where he focuses on federal immigration litigation, asylum, and family-based immigration. He has filed dozens of lawsuits against the federal government, including mass-plaintiff cases involving hundreds affected by systemic delays and unlawful policies. Waleed has also helped numerous families and asylum seekers obtain legal status in the United States and is actively involved in Palestine-related immigration advocacy. He is admitted to practice in 13 U.S. District Courts and is a member of AILA’s Federal Court Litigation Section and the Immigration Benefits Litigation Committee.