Abed Awad is a founding partner of Awad & Khoury, LLP located in Hasbrouck Heights, New Jersey. His practice in the New Jersey / New York area focuses on complex family law, Sharia-compliant estate planning (Islamic wills and Islamic Trusts (waqfs), Islamic law and business law. Awad is AV rated by Martindale and is a fellow of the International Academy of Family Lawyers. Awad has native fluency in Arabic and is an international expert in Islamic law and the laws of Muslim countries. Awad has testified, consulted, and/or provided expert reports for courts and attorneys throughout the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, and Singapore concerning the interpretation and application of Shari'a (Islamic law) and the laws of Muslim countries. Awad is the Founder and CEO of Shariawiz.com, an award winning online Islamic estate planning portal for Muslim Americans.
Awad was an adjunct law professor at Rutgers Law School, Newark (2003-2020), and has taught at Pace Law School and Seton Hall Law School. Courses taught include Matrimonial Litigation, Islamic Banking & Finance, and Islamic Jurisprudence. Awad was also a contributor and U.S. Editor for Harvard Law School's Islamic Legal Studies Program ShariaSource portal (2016-2019).
As a frequent public speaker at bar associations, universities, conventions, and political events, Awad lectures on subjects ranging from law, American politics, International Affairs, immigrant identity, gender, religion, and culture internationally, and he has more than 200 television and radio appearances as a political and/or legal commentator for numerous media outlets, including The New York Times, ABC, CNN, Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, Al-Jazeera, BBC, NPR, Dream TV, Palestine TV, French 24 (Arabic), and Al-Arabia.
Awad has been frequently quoted by national and international media outlets as a political and/or legal commentator, including The New York Times, ABC, CNN, Bergen Record, Star Ledger, Foxnews.com, ESBN, Washington Post, Boston Globe, Chicago Tribune, The Village Voice, and Chicago Lawyer.
Awad has published extensively in various publications, among them The Star Ledger, Oxford Encyclopedia of Islam and Women, New Jersey Law Journal, ShariaSource.blog, CNN.com, National Law Journal, North Carolina Lawyers Weekly, Daily Journal (California), The Daily Record (Maryland), The Nation and the Bergen Record. Awad is a regular continuing legal education lecturer nationally.
In 2002, Awad was selected as one of ten “Lawyers of the Year” by the Lawyers Weekly (USA) for his groundbreaking decision enforcing the mahr provision in a Muslim Marriage Contract. Awad was a member of the New Jersey Electoral College (2004) and has been the recipient of numerous awards, most notably
Scholar of the Year, New Jersey Muslim Lawyers Association (2018), Pro Bono Lawyer of the Year, Unchained (2018), Corporate International’s Islamic Law Firm of the Year (2017), Avenue Magazine’s Legal Elite (2010), the Vision & Achievement Award, Mental Health Association in Passaic County (2010), Community Activism Award, Arab-American Anti-Discrimination Committee (ADC) (2007) among others.
Awad earned a juris doctorate from Pace Law School and an MA in Islamic Studies from the University of London (School of Oriental & African Studies) with a focus on al-Muʻtazilah’s methodology to authenticate hadith. Prior to entering private practice, Awad clerked for Hon. George E. Sabbath, NJ Superior Court.
