Christina Elhaddad

Education and Experience

Ms. Elhaddad represents a diverse group of individuals and small, mid-sized, and large organizations. She focuses her practice on general civil litigation; corporate and contractual disputes; residential and commercial real estate transactions; and family-based immigration petitions.

Ms. Elhaddad earned her Juris Doctor from the American University Washington College of Law, where she established a chapter of the International Refugee Assistance Project, traveling internationally to assist in refugee resettlement. Post-graduation, Ms. Elhaddad completed a two-year Immigrant Justice Corps fellowship at the Arab American Association of New York, spearheaded by the late Chief Justice of the Second Circuit Court of Appeals, the Honorable Robert A. Katzmann, where she helped establish the organization’s legal department and represented noncitizens in various immigration proceedings. Following the Fellowship, Ms. Elhaddad represented survivors of gender-based violence at the Domestic Violence Project in NYC. Before her move to California, Ms. Elhaddad successfully represented many detained immigrants in their removal proceedings before the Elizabeth Immigration Court as a Staff Attorney at the Legal Services of New Jersey. Ms. Elhaddad’s interest in real estate law grew from her personal experience as the daughter of a single mother and immigrant who relied on real estate investments for financial prosperity.

Ms. Elhaddad earned her Bachelor’s Degree, cum laude, from Rutgers University – New Brunswick/Piscataway with a semester completed at the Sorbonne Nouvelle in Paris, France. Post-graduation, she interned for the Honorable Tonianne J. Bongiovanni, United States Magistrate Judge for the District of New Jersey – Trenton, and worked as a producer and videographer for Al-Arabiya news agency at the United Nations building in New York City.

Bar Admissions

• New Jersey; admitted November 2015
• New York; admitted January 2019
• California; admitted December 2020
• US District Court for the Southern District of California; admitted December 2021
• US Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit; admitted June 2023

Languages

• Arabic
• French
• Spanish

Professional Memberships

• Arab American Bar Association, Co-Founder and President
• San Diego Unity Bar, Co-Chair of the Endorsement Committee
• Lawyers Club of San Diego, Member
• San Diego County Bar Association, Member
• National Association of Women Judges, Associate Member

Additional Information

Ms. Elhaddad is a first generation Lebanese-American and a classical pianist. She enjoys traveling, sky-diving, baking, camping, and off-roading.