CAIR National Legal Defense Fund (CAIR NLDF)

Activity

The CAIR National Legal Defense Fund (CAIR NLDF) is largely used by the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) to provide legal services and pursue lawsuits. ² In July 2024, the CAIR NLDF announced that it had successfully supported a challenge by a Muslim security guard against his employer to allow him to wear a beard at his job. ³

In June 2024, the CAIR NLDF announced that it had successfully supported a New Jersey bank manager in securing time off work to go on the Hajj pilgrimage to Mecca after approval for the trip had been denied by the bank for months. ⁴

In May 2024, CAIR NLDF, along with the U.S. Council of Muslim Organizations and the Muslim Legal Fund of America launched the Student-Lawyer Campus Legal Defense Initiative to encourage lawyers to provide legal services for students engaging in Palestinian nationalist demonstrations during the Israel-Hamas conflict in Gaza. According to a joint statement, the organizations claimed “[s]tudents across our nation who were unjustly brutalized, arrested and charged with a crime for launching sit-ins on their own college campuses to protest a genocide need help.” ⁵

In January 2018, the CAIR NLDF partnered with CAIR Florida to file a lawsuit on behalf of a U.S. citizen who was barred from flying back to the U.S. from Turkey due to being placed on a no-fly list. In the previous year, the organizations filed a similar suit when an American citizen was prevented from returning to the U.S. from Bosnia. ⁶

The CAIR NLDF does not have its own website but maintains an Instagram page that posts regular updates. The page’s posts include information on how to respond to inquiries from the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), how to respond to human resource investigations into pro-Palestinian social media posts, updates on major legal proceedings, and celebrations of Muslim holidays. ⁷

Leadership

President

As of 2023, the president of the CAIR National Legal Defense Fund (CAIR NLDF) is Roula Allouch. She also works as an attorney for Ohio-based law firm Bricker Graydon as well as a faculty member at the Islamic Seminary of America. Prior to this, Allouch worked at the Law Offices of Raymond H. Decker, Jr.; Smith Rolfes and Skavdahl Co. LPA; and O’Hara, Ruberg, Taylor, Sloan and Sergent. ^{1 8 9}

Allouch previously was chair of the board of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) and is an inaugural co-chair on CAIR’s emeritus board as of January 2025. Allouch is the chair of the American Bar Association’s Center for Human Rights and sits on the leadership council for the Association’s Section for Civil Rights and Social Justice. She is the chair of the Muhammad Ali Center and has been declared a “Daughter of Greatness” by the Center. ⁹

In April 2021, Allouch defended CAIR Florida leader Hassan Shibly after sexual harassment allegations were made against him. In a statement, Allouch claimed that an independent investigation could not corroborate claims against Shibly while claiming that CAIR employed women, including herself, in high-ranking positions within the organization. ¹⁰

Other Positions

Lena Masri is the secretary of the CAIR NLDF and a general counsel and national litigation director of CAIR. ^{11 1}

John Floyd is a board member of the CAIR NLDF, CAIR, CAIR Texas-Houston, and the Masjid at-Tawhid. Floyd is a lawyer who converted to Islam in 1994 and has provided legal support through CAIR Texas-Houston. ^{1 12}