My path to law. Straddling two identities

• Author: Zain Sayed
• Pages: 14-15

PHOTO BY LAUREN CARTER

Opening Statements

#MyPathToLaw is a guest colu mn that celebrates the diversity of the l egal

profession through at torneys’ fi rst-perso n stories detailing their unique a nd

inspiring traje ctories. Read more #mypathtolaw s tories on Twitter.

MY FIRST RECOLLECTION OF THE

U.S. legal system happened dur ing

my father and mother’s separation in

1995. Fearing the e ect of acrimoni-

ous behavior that he had seen duri ng

courtroom proceed ings regarding

our custody, the judge warmly wel-

comed my sister, Aaima, a nd me,

ages 5 and 7, respectively, to his

chambers.

It was a mere two-and-a-half year s

after we had entered t he United

States in early 1993. At t he time, my

family lived wit h my uncle, who had

been in the U.S. since the mid-1980s

and who housed us in a small ra nch

home. After an inten se dispute with

my father and uncle, my mother

found herself temporarily homeless

with only the clothes on her back.

Despite obtaining tempora ry work

as a paralegal, she ha d little knowl-

edge of the law or her rights. Her

employer, a female attorney origi-

nally from India , not only provided

her with shelter but assisted her in

gaining custody of her ch ildren.

It was a low point in our lives but

only one in a series of challenges

we would ultimately face bei ng

raised by a single parent who lacked

higher education and who received

sporadic or no child support. A s

recent immigrant s, we also could

not fall back on the ty pe of govern-

ment safety net that would ty pically

help support children in simila r

situations.

Unbeknownst to my sister and me,

my mother often wondered whether

she would be able to provide food

for the next day. After she obtained

our fi rs t apartment, our fi rst se t of

utensils were from a nearby Du nkin’

Donuts—not out of choice, but out of

nec es sit y.

Yet my mother was still able to

create enough stability, or some sem-

blance of it, for my sister and me to

excel academica lly, a pursuit that my

mother would always say was criti-

cal in creating a br ighter future.

I would fi ni sh high school in New

Jersey, where I achieved the highest

standardiz ed test scores and among

the highest grades in my g raduating

class. I went on to begin col lege at

New York University.

Despite my interest in cosmology

in middle school, my mother, who

feared I may become a stereot ypi-

cally disheveled professor, steere d

me toward other professions. Dur ing

high school and the earliest yea rs of

college, I had my eyes set on medi-

cal school.

Although we had always k nown

of our lack of immigration st atus,

much of its e ect s had yet to rear

their heads.

In 2007, I lost my wallet, which

contained my driver’s license, S ocial

Security c ard and employment

authorization card. W hile at a gov-

ernment o ce to replace these docu-

ments, the agent asked whether my

mother, who had accompanied me,

was aware of deportat ion orders that

had been issued in absentia se veral

years prior.

Hearing of these orders was dev-

astating. My focus shif ted from

academics to wonderi ng when we

would be placed on a plane back to

Pakistan. At t he same time, I also

realized that a dmission to medi-

cal school would be vir tually impos-

sible. Prior to the announcement

of Deferred Action for Chi ldhood

Arriva ls by President Barack Obama

in 2012, U.S. medical schools rarely

took students who were not citi-

zens or permanent residents. On the

rare occasion that t hey did admit

international students, t hey usu-

ally required four yea rs of tuition

to be placed into escrow, a fi nan-

cial feat that would be impossible for

me. Additionally, a few days prior

to my sister’s fi r st week at college at

Rutgers University, her fi nancia l aid

o er was enti rely revoked due to her

immigration statu s.

A scholarship and fi nancial aid

14 || ABA JOURNAL MAY 2019

MY PATH TO LAW

STRADDLING

TWO IDENTITIES

By Zain Sayed