CBF Director for the Nonprofit Legal Support Project

sminwalla@chicagobarfoundation.org

312.554.8021

Sherizaan joined the CBF in September 2025 as the CBF Director for the Nonprofit Legal Support Project collaboration. In this role, Sherizaan works with a distinguished advisory committee of nonprofit, legal aid, and law firm experts and other local and national partners to help nonprofit organizations in Illinois respond to an evolving legal environment regarding DEI programs and related threats to their federal funding.

Prior to becoming the Director for the Nonprofit Legal Support Project, Sherizaan worked overseas in Iraq, where she led access to justice and human rights programs. For the past decade her work focused primarily on transitional justice for survivors of genocide, and survivor-centered engagement with women and girls who face systemic and conflict related sexual violence. Her legal career began in Chicago with the National Immigrant Justice Center running a statewide program for noncitizen survivors of domestic violence and sexual assault under the Violence Against Women Act.

Sherizaan earned her J.D. from the Chicago-Kent College of Law, M.A. in Applied Sociology with an emphasis on gender studies at Loyola University Chicago, and a B.A. in International Relations from the University of Cincinnati with an emphasis on Middle Eastern Studies.

Outside of her CBF role, Sherizaan continues to support access to justice and ethical engagement with and use of information related to systemic and conflict related sexual violence through Taboo LLC, her global consulting practice.