I grew up in Afghanistan, under the Taliban regime. I witnessed first-hand the abuse of power and how the powerless are always at the mercy of the Goliaths. Even at a very young age, I knew I wanted to be a lawyer so that I could stand and fight for those who aren’t well equipped to defend themselves against injustice. Fortunately, right after 9/11, the U.S. started offering lottery programs for Afghan civilians so they could leave the country before the imminent war. My mother, a teacher, always wanted her children to be educated and have a better life. Her prayers were answered when she won the lottery. When we migrated to the U.S., I was 13-years old, the oldest of my five siblings. The following year, before I could even speak proper English, I joined my high school’s mock trial team. I worked hard, got admitted to UCLA, and upon graduation, I took a couple of years off to run my moving business. In 2013, I finally pursued my lifelong dream of becoming an attorney and enrolled at McGeorge. There, I had one dream—to open my firm and help people like myself growing up. A few months after passing the bar exam, I opened my firm, United Citizen Law. Our focus is personal injury law, wrongful death, and any case where someone refuses to accept responsibility, where someone’s conduct has gravely injured another person’s right or well-being. My upbringing and my experiences continue to fuel me to fight on each and every one of our cases with the utmost passion.