Yalda Neil: President
yalda_neil Yalda Neil has extensive litigation experience in a variety of commercial, business, and personal injury cases. Additionally, her practice includes the defense of healthcare providers with an emphasis on allegations of elder abuse, professional negligence, unfair business practices, fraud, and violations of statutorily-imposed duties.

While attending the University of Southern California, Gould School of Law, Yalda was selected into the Hale Moot Court Honors Program for oral advocacy. Currently, she is also an Adjunct Professor of Law at the Abraham Lincoln University School of Law where she teaches Products Liability.
Natalie Rastegari: National Board Representative
Natalie Rastegari is a litigation associate at Salisian | Lee LLP. Ms. Rastegari’s practice is focused on representing Southern California-based businesses and individuals in a wide variety of business and real estate matters. Ms. Rastegari has gained significant experience inside and outside of the courtroom, handling all phases of litigation and settlement negotiations, including pre-trial and jury trial practice. Ms. Rastegari also worked as a law clerk for the Orange County Public Defender’s Office, where she gained valuable experience in criminal defense work.

Ms. Rastegari received her J.D. from USC’s Gould School of Law. While there, she externed for Justice Harry Pregerson of the U.S. Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals. During the course of her legal studies, Ms. Rastegari also worked in her law school’s immigration clinic and for a prominent civil rights and employment litigation firm in downtown Los Angeles. She received her B.A. from UCLA, graduating cum laude.

Ms. Rastegari is admitted to practice law in California and before the United States District Court for the Central District of California.
Afshin Mozaffari: Pro Bono/Outreach Director
Afshin Mozaffari is the founder and principal of Mozaffari Law, a plaintiff-side employment litigation law firm based in Santa Monica, California. Afshin’s practice focuses on employee rights litigation, including discrimination, harassment, retaliation, whistleblower and wrongful termination actions.

Afshin has been recognized as a Top 40 Under 40 Attorney in the area of employment law by the National Advocates every year from 2015 through 2017, and as a Rising Star by the Super Lawyers magazine in 2014, 2015, 2016, and 2017. He is a member of the California Employment Lawyers Association, Labor & Employment Sections of the California State Bar and Los Angeles County Bar Association, and serves on multiple committees.

Prior to the founding of Mozaffari Law, Afshin represented corporations, schools, and non-profits in employment class action and individual cases. He left the defense side about six years ago to follow his passion for representing the rights of employees and other individuals.

Afshin graduated magna cum laude from Whittier Law School, where he served as Articles Editor on the Whittier Law Review and as a judicial extern to the Honorable Ronald S.W. Lew of the United States District Court.
Mona Afrashteh: Pro Bono/Outreach Director
My name is Mona Natalia Afrashteh and I’m a Public Defender for the county of Los Angeles. Currently I work with the Alternate Public Defender’s Office in Compton, defending the rights of the indigent who are accused of criminal offenses. I’ve been an attorney for three and a half years and I specialized in Criminal Law at my law school which was Golden Gate University of Law. Prior to that I graduated from UCLA with a Political Science and History double major. In college I started an Iranian Group Organization because I had found that the image of Iranian Americans was not one that represented the dedicated, educated, and driven people that we are. From then I’ve been actively involved in different organizations aimed at increasing awareness to who we are and what we are about including: IABA, PAAIA public affairs alliance of iranian americans, NIAZ and more.
What I envision for Iranian Americans here in Los Angeles is ideally unity. I think we can work together to provide networking, reaching out to connect each other in different fields, and eventually be able to teach our children that what sets us apart is our unique culture and inept drive…not what the media sometimes paints us out to be.
I’ve always been a passionate Iranian-American who still yearns for change and betterment in our home land. But my opinion is that before you can implement change any where else, you have to be able to strive for change within yourself and the immediate groups around you.
Hedieh Fazeli Zarrabi: President
Hedieh Fazeli Zarrabi is a Family Law litigator. She handles a wide range of cases including high profile and high asset cases. From prenuptial agreements to divorces, custody and visitation, child and spousal support, paternity, domestic partnership issues, and more.
Prior to becoming an attorney Ms. Zarrabi was a paralegal for eleven years and usually was designated as the trial paralegal for Family Law and Civil Litigation firms. She graduated from UCI with a Social Science major and Business Administration minor. As a first year law student she was elected as the vice-president of the Student Body Association. Throughout undergraduate and law school and through today, she has been involved in different organizations and events with a goal of increasing awareness in the Iranian community and other organization that provide a public service to those who desperately need it. This is Ms. Zarrabi’s my fourth year serving on the IABA Board. As a board member, and now as President, her goal is to increase the activities and events, especially through public service, to provide more of an opportunity for people in our community to get to know each other and build a strong organization, while coming together as a groups
helping others.Email: losangeles@iaba.us
Samy Sadighi: Pro Bono/Outreach Director
samysadighi Samy L. Sadighi is Counsel at Toyota Motor Credit Corporation a subsidiary of Toyota Motor Corporation. Prior to joining TMCC Samy was an associate with Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher LLP and Buchalter Nemer, PLC, where he represented banks, finance companies, hedge funds and other financial clients in a broad range of financing and workout transactions. Samy presents and has been published on various topics, including distressed debt negotiations and workouts.Samy’s background includes a J.D. degree, with honors, from the University of Michigan Law School and B.A. and B.S. degrees, with honors, from the University of California, Irvine.
Dorna Moini: Communications/MCLE Director
Dorna Moini is the Founder of HelpSelf Legal, a legal software company focused on closing the justice gap. Before starting HelpSelf, Ms. Moini was an Associate at Sidley Austin and at Sheppard Mullin. While there, she represented companies in class actions and high-stakes discrimination, whistleblower, and intellectual property cases. She has tried cases to favorable verdict before juries, in arbitration, and in administrative hearings.
Ms. Moini received her J.D. from USC Gould School of Law, where she was an editor of the Southern California Review of Law and Social Justice. She received her B.A. magna cum laude from NYU.
Sheila Esmaili: Communications/MCLE Director
Sheila Esmaili is the principal attorney at the Law Offices of Sheila Esmaili, in Century City, California. Her practice primarily focuses on bankruptcy and litigation. She is extremely skilled in restructuring and reorganizing the finances of businesses and individuals. As a highly sought after attorney, she has acquired extensive experience in representing both creditors and debtors in Chapter 7, 11, and 13 Bankruptcy and related proceedings and litigation, including Adversary Proceedings. She has represented numerous plaintiffs and defendants through to trial, as well as handle several pre-bankruptcy planning and strategy, debt settlements and debt negotiations.

Prior to starting her own practice, Sheila spent five years as an associate attorney for a boutique bankruptcy firm in Beverly Hills, California, where she predominantly handled complex Chapter 11 Bankruptcy matters and Adversary Proceedings.

While in law school, Sheila focused her studies on bankruptcy law and secured transactions. She also served as a judicial extern to the Honorable Samuel L. Bufford, United States Bankruptcy Judge, Central District of California, hosted Serbian delegates researching U.S. Bankruptcy laws in an effort to revise Serbia’s Bankruptcy legislation, and studied international bankruptcy at the University of International Business & Economics in Beijing, China.

Sheila is licensed to practice law in California and Nevada. She is a member of the Iranian American Bar Association (IABA), the Beverly Hills Bar Association (BHBA), and the Central District Consumer Bankruptcy Attorneys Association (CDCBAA).

Sheila obtained her J.D. from Loyola Law School (LLS) and her B.S. from the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), where she graduated with honors.
Mitchell M. Tarighati: Mentorship/Membership Director
Mitch is a seasoned litigator with extensive experience representing both plaintiffs and insured defendants in a variety of personal injury, employment and real estate matters. Over the years, he has been exposed to the gamut of laws and issues that are commonly at the heart of a litigated dispute. As a successful mediator, he also mediates cases including personal injury, employment, and real estate matters. Over the years, Mitch has worked hard to develop the skills of diplomacy and peacekeeping, and as a result, he has earned a reputation among his peers, clients and industry professionals for serving as the voice of reason during the mediation process.

Mitch spent the first year of his legal career working for a solo practitioner where his experience was nothing short of litigation boot camp. Thereafter, he became an Associate at a boutique firm where he focused his practice on defending professional liability claims against real estate agents and brokers. In 2008, he joined a statewide law firm in California where he developed a new practice area for the firm in the field of education and school liability law. Within his niche, he represented institutional clients in low, mid and high exposure tort and employment cases. In 2011, he became a Partner nominee, and he was voted in as a Partner the following year. Ultimately, he decided to pursue his passion of becoming a full time mediator, and in 2012 he cofounded his current firm, Sepassi & Tarighati, LLP, where in addition to mediation, he pursues a balanced plaintiff and defense practice.

Mitch obtained a Bachelors degree in Business Law, and later earned a J.D., as well as an M.B.A., focusing on the areas of corporate law and finance, respectively.
Mona Tashroudian: Mentorship/Membership Director
Mona Tashroudian, co-founder of Tash Law Group, APC, in Woodland Hills, CA, is a 2010 graduate of UC Hastings College of Law. She obtained her Bachelor of Arts degree from UC Irvine, with a triple major in Criminology, Psychology and Political Science.

Upon graduating from law school, Mona worked for a Plaintiff’s side employment law firm in San Francisco. She then moved to Los Angeles to be closer to her family, and joined a large defense firm, where she handled primarily high-profile generality liability and wrongful death cases. After spending 4 year on the defense, Mona and her brother founded their firm, Tash Law Group. She currently focuses her practice on Plaintiff’s side employment litigation and business litigation. Mona is active in the legal community. She is a member of the California Employment Lawyer’s Association, American Bar Association, and Westside Bar Association. Mona enjoys relationship building and hopes to create more unity amongst Iranian-American attorneys in Los Angeles. She also enjoys blogging on mindfulness and the law, yoga, and the outdoors.
Neeloufar Mahrouyan: Student Representative
Neeloufar Mahrouyan is a second year law student at Loyola Law School. At Loyola, she is the President of the Iranian-American Law Students Association and promotes academic and professional excellence by bringing together law students and attorneys in the Iranian community. In 2014, Neeloufar received her B.A. degree, with honors,​​ from the University of California, Los Angeles in Psychology.
Nikoo Berenji
Since obtaining her law degree from Berkeley School of Law, Nikoo Berenji has devoted the majority of her legal career to representing the disadvantaged and undeserved populations of her native Los Angeles. After working briefly as an associate attorney at the law firm of Latham & Watkins, Nikoo left to serve as a trial attorney at first, the Los Angeles County Public Defender, and then, the Office of the Federal Public Defender in Los Angeles. She currently works for the State of California representing indigent defendants in their criminal appeals, and is also an adjunct professor of Business Law. Prior to her legal career, Nikoo obtained her MA degree in Near Eastern Studies from New York University, where her thesis focused on the Iranian-American diasporaâs political involvement and influence. While at NYU, she was a researcher for a United Nations NGO, where she studied the effects of armed conflict in the Middle East. She remains active in numerous organizations that seek to educate the public about matters of concern to Middle Eastern communities; but she is most proud of her work with, and for, local foster children. In addition to having represented foster children in dependency court for the Children’s Law Center, Nikoo currently serves as a legislative advocate for, and mentor to, local foster youth. She is also the founder and director of Heart-Beats.Org, a nonprofit organization dedicated to providing them with access to music and music devices.
Mr. Partow-Navid
Mr. Partow-Navid is an associate in the Intellectual Property practice group in the Los Angeles office of Seyfarth Shaw LLP. Mr. Partow-Navid’s experience includes preparing and prosecuting patent applications, including patent re-examination and reissue; litigation support and opinions regarding infringement analysis, patent validity and freedom to operate; and foreign and domestic trademark prosecution and oppositions. He has experience in prosecuting U.S. and foreign patents relating to wireless communications (CDMA, GSM/GPRS, WCDMA, LTE), mobile handheld digital television signaling, microprocessors, software, computer networks, cellular devices, mechanical devices, and home entertainment devices.
Previously, Mr. Partow-Navid worked as a software quality assurance engineer at Symantec Corporation. While at Symantec, Mr. Partow-Navid developed a new ad-blocking technology which is pending prosecution with the United States Patent and Trademark Office.

IABA – LA Chapter By-Laws