Attorney Uswah A. Khan of Trumbull, CT, a staff attorney with The Center for Family Justice’s Pro Bono Legal Center, was elected a 2021 Fellow of the Connecticut Bar Foundation (CBF) James W. Cooper Fellows Program. Fellows are nominated by their peers based on their outstanding service to the profession and larger community and are elected by the CBF Board of Directors.
“We are pleased to recognize our new Fellows for their distinguished services to our legal system and for their commitment to the principles of equal justice and the rule of law,” said Timothy Diemand, President of the Connecticut Bar Foundation. Thirty-five Fellows were elected this year.
The purpose of the James W. Cooper Fellows Program is to promote a better understanding of the legal profession and the judicial system among the citizens of Connecticut, and to explore ways to improve the profession and the administration of justice. Programs developed by the Fellows include several speaker series, symposia, roundtable discussions, mentorships, a high school essay contest, and a Fellowship for recent law school graduates. More information about these and other Fellows programs can be found at www.ctbarfdn.org.
Attorney Khan has been a staff attorney at the Center for Family Justice in Bridgeport, CT since 2019. Previously she was a Hearing Officer for the Connecticut State Department of Education. She received a B.A. from Columbia University, Barnard College in 1999, a J.D. from Pace University School of Law in 2002 and an MBA from the University of Connecticut School of Business in 2020. She was admitted to the Connecticut Bar in 2002. She was also admitted to the U.S. District Court, District of Connecticut in 2005, and to the United States Supreme Court in 2018.
A member of the Executive Committee of the Connecticut Bar Association Family Law Section (2011–present), Attorney Khan also served as a Co-chair of the Women and the Law Committee for the Fairfield County Bar Association (2015-2017).
Attorney Khan serves as the Secretary for the Barnard Alumnae Club of Connecticut (2016 –present). She previously served on the Governor’s State Advisory Council on Special Education (2008-2016). She was a Commissioner for the Asian Pacific American Commission (2012-16).
Attorney Khan serves as a Special Master for Bridgeport and Milford Family Court (2010–present). She also volunteered with the Stamford Volunteer Attorney Program (2012-2014), and as a Judge/grader for the Frederick Douglass Moot Court Competition (2010-2012). She was an elected member of the Board of Directors for Side-by-Side Charter School (2007-2009).
Designated as a Rising Star by Super Lawyers, Family Law Section in 2015, 2016 and 2017, Attorney Khan was also selected as a Super Lawyer by Super Lawyers, Family Law Section for 2018, 2019, and 2020. She was selected as a Rising Star by the Connecticut Bar Association, Family Section (2011-2012) and received the ALM “New Leaders in the Law” Award in 2016. In 2001, she was a recipient of the C.H. Revson Law Student Public Interest Network Fellowship.
Attorney Khan is a Norwalk native, and resides with her husband Dr. Ayub Khan and children in Trumbull, CT.
The Fellows Program is now in its 26th year. In addition to lawyers in private practice, the group consists of U.S. Court of Appeals judges, U.S. District Court judges, Connecticut Supreme, Appellate, and Superior Court judges, corporate counsel, attorneys in non-profit associations and legal services agencies, and government lawyers. The program also includes law school deans, former deans, and professors of law, past and current leadership of the Connecticut Bar Association and other bar associations, and present and former government leaders.
The Connecticut Bar Foundation is a philanthropic organization that develops and administers programs to enhance the understanding and improvement of the law and legal institutions, and it sponsors educational symposia. The CBF administers several grant programs that fund the delivery of legal services for Connecticut residents who cannot afford an attorney, including the Interest on Lawyers’ Trust Accounts and the Interest on Trust Accounts programs, the Judicial Branch Grants-in-Aid, and the Court Fees Grants-in-Aid.
