Sahar Atassi

Sahar represents clients in high-stakes disputes, combining strategic insight with creative approaches to resolve complex legal challenges. She delivers clear, persuasive advocacy informed by experience across trial and appellate courts.

Before joining Cooley, Sahar served as the Francis D. Murnaghan Jr. Appellate Advocacy Fellow at the Public Justice Center, where she litigated civil rights and public interest appeals in state and federal courts. Her work spanned a range of substantive areas, including authoring merits and amicus briefs in cases involving immigrants’ rights, police misconduct, consumer protection and government accountability.

Sahar clerked for Judge Loren L. AliKhan of both the US District Court for the District of Columbia and the District of Columbia Court of Appeals, as well as for Judge M. Hannah Lauck of the US District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia.

While in law school, Sahar served as an articles editor for The George Washington Law Review, along with being a Dean’s Fellow and a Legal Research and Writing Fellow. She also contributed to classroom instruction as a teaching assistant for civil procedure and first-year legal writing. Sahar gained additional experience through internships with the DC Solicitor General’s Office and federal district judges of the US District Court for the District of Maryland and the Eastern District of Virginia.

Before law school, she worked in immigration law and refugee advocacy.

Sahar maintains an active pro bono practice, which includes representing noncitizens in petitions for review before federal appellate courts.