Author and Attorney Zarinah Nadir and Dr. Aneesah Nadir
The Legally Savvy book and the Legally Savvy Movement were established by Attorney Zarinah Nadir to disrupt everyday perceptions of lawyers and help the rest of us feel more confident, empowered, and less stressed while navigating the legalities of love, life, and business.
Zarinah Nadir is an award-winning American lawyer, educator, social justice advocate, entrepreneur and visionary. Also known as the “legal translator,” she has a rare ability to make the law plain and accessible for everyday people. Over this last decade she has been laser-focused on bringing about access to justice to historically disenfranchised individuals, artists, families, communities, emerging entrepreneurs, and seasoned business owners in the United States and Canada to know their rights in areas from civil rights, juvenile law, family law, criminal justice, immigration, and corporate law.
Zarinah founded the Legally Savvy Movement to disrupt everyday perceptions of lawyers and help people feel more confident, empowered and less stressed while navigating the legalities of love, life, and business. Additionally, she works alongside progressive socially-conscious go-getters to build the largest human rights organizations on the planet bringing affordable access to attorneys to the masses – an essential key to social justice.
Raised in Phoenix to celebrate multiculturalism by woke parents from New York, language is one of her favorite tools for cultural understanding. She graduated with a Bachelor’s degree in Spanish from Arizona State University and after the tragic events of September 11th, was inspired to learn law as her next language. Graduating with a Juris Doctor from the Sandra Day O’Connor College of Law at ASU, shortly following her graduation she was appointed as its first African American Muslim woman Director of Admissions. Zarinah is currently adjunct faculty at the University of Dubuque teaching courses in criminal justice and sociology.
She is a highly sought-after speaker and guest on national podcasts. Having contributed to the community since her teens, Zarinah is an Arizona fixture being featured in multiple city of Tempe History Museum exhibits, most recently Tempe’s 150 Sesquicentennial Celebration. On a personal note, Zarinah loves being born in Queens but raised in Arizona, loves learning languages, and Zumba!
Connect with Zarinah on LinkedIn and Instagram.
Dr. Aneesah Nadir & Associates‘ motto is “Building bridges to a just home, community and society”. It’s mission is to build bridges by providing education and advocacy for mental health, wellness and peace of mind among individuals, families and communities.
The Before the Nikah Institute is a division of Dr Aneesah Nadir & Associates which provides relationship education and skills for singles, newlyweds, and divorced people.
Dr. Aneesah Nadir is the CEO and President of Dr. Aneesah Nadir and Associates, LLC. She is a social worker, family life educator and relationship life coach. With over 42 years experience as a social worker and a prevention specialist, she is passionate about teaching her Before the Nikah Marriage Preparation Course students how to prevent marriage and relationship problems and to live a loving, compassionate, fulfilling and peaceful life.
Dr. Aneesah has a Doctor of Philosophy of Social Work Degree from Arizona State University, where she taught for 17 years. Thousands of junior college and university level students of diverse backgrounds have studied the profession of social work and have been mentored by her.
Dr. Nadir combines her love of teaching, social work, and her concern for the state of marriages, families, and communities. Her Before the Nikah Marriage Preparation Course enables her to teach about a subject she loves while making a difference. Her new book titled, Before the Nikah: Proven Principles to Help Single Muslims Choose Wisely and Build Strong Marriages provides an opportunity to expand her reach and help her readers benefit from the lessons she has learned and shared with students over the past 20 years.
As a Co-Founder and the President of the nonprofit Islamic Social Services Association, Inc., Dr Nadir initiated and coordinated the community based Healthy Marriage Initiative and National Muslim Marriage Week which has led to the growing Healthy Muslim Marriage Movement in the U.S.A and Canada.
For her years of community service and pioneering work in the field of social work and Muslim Mental Health, Dr. Aneesah received numerous awards. In May 2021 Dr. Nadir was recognized as the 2021 Businesswoman of the Year by the Tempe, Arizona Chamber of Commerce for her work in the field of business and entrepreneurship!
On a personal note, Dr. Nadir and her husband Karim have been married for 40 years. Together they have four adult children, an amazing daughter in law and three grandchildren. Dr. Aneesah loves spending time with her family. She also enjoys mentoring young people, as well as up and coming professionals.
