The most important thing in meeting with my clients — from the very first moment — is making sure they know they can trust me. I want to assure them I know what I’m doing and that I’m there to help them every step of the way.
Alysia Naomi Jawahar is one of Weitz & Luxenberg’s team of dedicated personal injury and negligence litigators. She comes to us with a variety of litigation experiences, including criminal law, construction law, environmental law, and credit reporting.
Her calling, she admits, is plaintiffs’ legal work. And she is thrilled to be a valued member of the W&L legal team. Ms. Jawahar helps our clients who have suffered personal injuries, including adult survivors of child sexual abuse.
Helping Clients Is Number 1
From a young age, Ms. Jawahar knew she wanted to pursue law. Although most of her immediate family members chose to pursue the sciences, Ms. Jawahar was drawn to law. She is the first person in her family to become an attorney.
Fighting for justice is something that was always important to her. And at the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office, she had the opportunity to do just that. Represent victims of crime.
Although she appreciated learning about representing defendants in some of her other positions, she had a sense early on that working with clients — and developing relationships with people who were harmed — was where she really wanted to be.
W&L Is the Right Place to Help People
At previous firms, Ms. Jawahar handled labor law construction litigation, commercial litigation, and environmental law cases. She also handled consumer protection cases in federal court under the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA) and ADA.
However, her earlier work — for the Bronx Defenders, Family Defense Practice and the Manhattan D.A.’s office — in addition to her clerkship with the Honorable Siobhan A. Teare for the New Jersey Superior Court, proved to be the most meaningful for her.
Then the opportunity came up to work in our personal injury litigation practice area. With our focus on cases involving adult survivors of childhood sexual abuse, Ms. Jawahar knew this was the kind of work she wanted to continue.
“It’s exciting to be part of the team,” she emphasizes. “W&L has a reputation as a highly prestigious firm. And to do this kind of work is incredibly important to me. I am surrounded here by exceptionally talented people.”
Helping People Who Have Suffered
“In my criminal law and public service work, I helped victims of crimes. I helped families and young children during what were probably some of the most traumatic times in their life,” Ms. Jawahar remembers.
“Working with children requires a gentle approach. You have to treat them differently. In my work in the public sector, I saw a lot of family abuse and sex abuse toward children,” she continues.
This work was so important to Ms. Jawahar that she wrote and published “Using Restorative Dialogue as an Assimilation Technique for Unaccompanied Children.”
Fighting for Individual Clients
“During the last few years, I was happy to gain experience of all kinds, including representing defendants, handling prosecutorial work and gaining a real sense of the procedural processes in preparing court cases,” Ms. Jawahar says. “I also love trial work and advocacy.
“But one thing I learned for sure was that I wanted to pursue plaintiffs’ work,” she insists. “It’s the perfect way to help clients one-on-one, and it’s not so different from handling criminal cases.”
She points out, “I work with people who have been harmed by someone else’s negligent, hurtful, and sometimes criminal acts. And I want to do everything I can to help victims and fight for them.”
Ms. Jawahar is licensed to practice law in New York state and for the Eastern District of New York. She earned her J.D. from the Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law in New York City and her B.S. from Cornell University School of Industrial Labor Relations (ILR) in Ithaca, New York.
Outside the Office
Outside the office, Ms. Jawahar loves exploring New York City, trying new restaurants, and walking her dog. She believes there’s always something new and different to see and do in the place she calls home.
