About me

Zainab Khan is a federal criminal defense attorney with extensive experience representing clients in a wide range of federal cases, including drug importation and distribution, fraud, firearms offenses, robbery, human smuggling, illegal reentry, and assault. Throughout Ms. Khan's career, she has been dedicated to providing strategic, client-centered advocacy at every stage of the federal criminal process, from initial appearances to trials and sentencing hearings.

Ms. Khan began her legal career as a Research Fellow at the Muslim Legal Fund of America (MLFA), where she assisted on national security cases and high-impact civil rights cases. Significantly, she assisted in the case of United States v. Noor Salman, a material support case that resulted in a hard-fought acquittal. 

Ms. Khan later served as a Trial Attorney in the Southern District of California with the Federal Defenders of San Diego, representing clients in both felony and misdemeanor federal cases. She subsequently joined the Federal Public Defender’s Office for the Northern District of Texas as a Assistant Federal Public Defender in the trial unit. 

During Ms. Khan's career, she has contributed and presented at local and national training programs, to include: 

· “Best Practices for Defending 1326 Cases” at the CJA conference in the Northern District of Texas

· “Advancing the Practice of Muslim Attorneys in Federal Defense” at the national SUSTAIN conference 

· “Alien Smuggling Prosecutions” at the CJA conference in the Southern District of California

· “Celebrating the Joys and Navigating the Complexities of Working in Teams” at the national GRIT conference

· “Searches of Electronic Devices at the Border” 

· “Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act”

Ms. Khan is also listed as an editor for the 2023 edition of Defending a Federal Criminal Case.

In addition to her practice, Ms. Khan currently serves as the Managing Attorney for the Immigration Detention Project in the Immigrant Rights Clinic at the Texas A&M School of Law.

Ms. Khan is licensed in both Texas and California. She earned her Juris Doctor, cum laude, from the Southern Methodist University Dedman School of Law, where she served as Associate Managing Editor of the International Law Review and competed in the Philip C. Jessup International Law Moot Court Competition. Ms. Khan also holds a Bachelor of Science in Global Business, magna cum laude, from the University of Texas at Dallas. Ms. Khan is fluent in Urdu and Hindi.

Ms. Khan is committed to providing meticulous, tenacious, and compassionate representation for every client she serves.