Layli Shirani is a Civil Rights Attorney for the Sacramento Valley/Central California office of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR-SVCC). In this capacity, she advocates for and represents community members facing religious/racial discrimination in a vast array of matters and arenas, including employment, travel, education, interactions with law enforcement and the FBI, public accommodation, and prisons, as well as advocating for victims of hate crimes and hate incidents.
Prior to joining CAIR, Layli’s practice primarily centered on state and federal criminal appellate law and clemency-related matters. She was a member of the team that fought for 13 years to overturn the conviction, on terrorism-related charges, of Hamid Hayat. Layli also served as a Mitigation Specialist on the defense team for Ammar al Baluchi, one of the five individuals capitally charged in planning the September 11, 2001 attacks.
Layli graduated from UC Hastings School of Law, with concentrations in Public Interest and Criminal Law. While at Hastings, she was extern to Judge Edward Chen of the Northern District of California, and she served on the Race & Poverty Law Journal. Layli is also a trained mediator, having earned certification by the Northern California Mediation Center and the Bar Association of San Francisco. Layli can be reached at lShirani@cair.com
