Nabih H. Ayad earned his law degree from the Detroit College of Law at Michigan State University in 1998, after completing a B.S. in Accounting at the Wayne State University School of Business in 1995. He opened Ayad Law in 1999 and has practiced there for more than twenty-five years.
After September 11, 2001, Mr. Ayad saw a sharp rise in Islamophobia and discrimination against Arab Americans and Muslims in Michigan. He turned his practice toward defending those communities in court, and went on to found the Arab American Civil Rights League (ACRL). His cases have challenged profiling, religious discrimination, discriminatory banking practices, government watch-listing, and the 2017 travel ban.
Notable cases
- Mokdad v. Lynch, 804 F.3d 807 (6th Cir. 2015): won reversal establishing that federal district courts may hear challenges to No Fly List placements
- El-Hallani v. Huntington National Bank (6th Cir. 2015): won reinstatement of discrimination claims by Arab American customers whose accounts were closed, followed by settlement
- Arab American Civil Rights League v. Trump (E.D. Mich.): obtained protection for lawful permanent residents from the travel ban and defeated the government's motion to dismiss
- ADC v. Ashcroft, 272 F. Supp. 2d 650 (E.D. Mich. 2003): part of the team that stopped the fast-track deportation of nineteen Lebanese nationals without a hearing
- Won dismissal, at the preliminary examination, of a post-9/11 charge of attempting to bomb two federal buildings in Detroit
Leadership and public service
Mr. Ayad founded the Arab American Civil Rights League in 2008. He was appointed by Governor Jennifer Granholm to the Michigan Civil Rights Commission, serving from 2008 to 2011, and has served as the State of Michigan's Advisory Counsel for Arab and Chaldean Affairs and on the ACLU of Michigan Lawyers Committee. Governor Gretchen Whitmer appointed him to the Detroit/Wayne County Port Authority board. He has served as Vice President of the Arab-American Political Action Committee (AAPAC), Chairman of the NAACP Western Wayne County Legal Redress Committee for eighteen cities, and Co-Chair of ALPACT (Advocates and Leaders for Police and Community Trust). He sat on the National Executive Board of the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee (ADC) and chaired its Advisory Board for the State of Michigan. He also served on the board of the Detroit Wayne County Airport Authority, including a term as its chair.
Honors
- ADC Michigan Attorney of the Year (2003)
- ADC National Advocate of the Year (2005)
- ACLU Bernard Gottfried Award (2006)
- NAACP Great Expectation Award (2012)
- Arab American Leadership Award (2012)
- Forum and Link Magazine Distinguished Leadership Award
- Wayne County Community Leadership Award
- AAPAC Community Service Leadership Award
- Alkebulans Community Leadership Award
In 2003, The Detroit News described him as a "tireless crusader for civil rights since September 11, 2001."