Osama is currently pursuing his J.D. at the University of Chicago Law School. Born of Palestinian decent, Osama was raised in San Diego where he graduated from San Diego State University with highest honors in Political Science. There, he received the Graduating Student of the Year award. Prior to law school, Osama worked at the International Rescue Committee in San Diego helping newly resettled immigrants gain economic stability.

Legal work experience: Osama’s time in law school has been spent defending indigent clients caught at the intersection of criminal and immigration systems. During his first summer of law school, Osama worked at the Federal Criminal Justice Clinic where he defended clients charged with federal crimes, and then he completed an internship at the San Diego Public Defenders office. The following summer, Osama worked at the ACLU’s Immigrants’ Rights Project challenging the Trump administration’s draconian immigration policies, and he followed that up with an internship at the Public Defender Services in the District of Columbia.

Leadership in law school: During law school, Osama served as the president of the ACLU chapter, the co-president of the Muslim Law Students Association, the co-president of the South West Asian and North African association, the vice president of the Defenders organization, and a board member of the National Lawyers Guild. Osama is the Executive Articles Editor of the Chicago Journal of International Law (CJIL), and a member of the Federal Criminal Justice Clinic. As a staffer for his CJIL, Osama conducted research on corporate accountability and presented his research at the inaugural CJIL symposium, and the Salzburg Global Seminar in Washington D.C. He presented on his work with Palestine Legal at the 2019 Rebellious Lawyering Conference in Yale Law School.