Lena F. Masri, Esq.

Lena F. Masri, Esq., Senior Staff Attorney for the Council on American-Islamic Relations, Michigan (CAIR-MI), focuses her practice in the area of civil rights litigation. 

She is licensed to practice law in Michigan, New York, and Washington, D.C.  She has been admitted to practice in the Michigan Supreme Court, the New York Court of Appeals, the District of Columbia Court of Appeals, the 6th Circuit Court of Appeals, the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan, and the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Michigan.  She holds a Juris Doctorate degree from Indiana University - Indianapolis, School of Law, where she focused her studies in International & Comparative Law and International Human Rights Law.  She received her Bachelor of Arts degree in Political Science and Near Eastern Studies from the University of Michigan.

In 2014, she was awarded the RARE Everyday Hero Award by Winning Futures for her “extraordinary commitment, integrity, selflessness and courage to changing lives and inspiring others.”  She has also been honored by the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan in 2013 and 2014 for her pro bono work on behalf of poor and indigent clients.  She was awarded the Norman Lefstein Award of Excellence as a Gold Level Participant in the Pro Bono program and a Certificate of Recognition for United Nations Human Rights Reporting Initiative & Advocacy.  She has also been recognized by several community organizations, including the Syrian American Medical Society, Syrian Expatriates, the American Muslim Diversity Association, among others, for her civil rights and humanitarian work and empowering the youth.

Prior to joining CAIR-MI, she worked in different areas pertaining to national security, and international human rights, including ethnic cleansing, genocide, enforced disappearances, arbitrary detentions, torture, use of child soldiers, money laundering, and sex trafficking.  She holds a Certificate from the University of Oxford in Investigating, Monitoring, and Reporting on Human Rights Violations.  In 2008, she principally authored and presented a shadow report to the United Nations Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination and delivered a speech before the United Nations Special Rapporteur on Contemporary Forms of Racism, concerning U.S. violations related to arbitrary arrests and detentions, use of secret evidence in closed proceedings, secret detentions, refoulement, and proxy torture.   

She has worked with the Center for Justice & Accountability in San Francisco, California; Akeel & Valentine, PLC, in Birmingham, Michigan; the Neighborhood Christian Legal Clinic in Indianapolis, Indiana; and the Oakland County Circuit Court in Pontiac, Michigan.  

She has lectured across the United States on issues related to human rights, civil rights, and Islam.  She was featured in several documentaries and on major media outlets including Michigan Lawyers Weekly, Huffington Post, HBO, FOX, CBS, Al Jazeera, the Associated Press, National Public Radio, WWJ Radio, the Detroit Free Press, the Detroit News, and HuffPost Live.

In addition to her work with CAIR-MI, she serves as a volunteer attorney for the Family Law Assistance Project, the Legal Aid Defender Association, and Lakeshore Legal Aid, representing poor and indigent clients and victims of domestic violence.