Breaking the Ice: Mahmud honored for service to profession – MinnLawyer
By Todd Nelson, Minnesota Lawyer
Attorney Sumbal Mahmud, cited for her “unwavering presence” in service to the profession, has received the recipient of the Minnesota State Bar Association’s 2025 President’s Award.
“When something matters — to the bar, to the profession, to the people we serve — Sumbal shows up,” 2024-2025 MSBA President Samuel Edmunds said in a statement announcing his selection of Mahmud for the award.
Mahmud, an attorney with Mid-Minnesota Legal Aid‘s Minnesota Disability Law Center, expressed appreciation for recognition of her 20-plus years of pro bono and volunteer work, including doing “(diversity, equity and inclusion) work before it was known as DEI work.”
She served on the MSBA Board of Governors, chairing its Judiciary Committee and represented MSBA in the American Bar Association.
Mahmud is a past president of the Minnesota Asian Pacific Bar Association and former vice president and regional governor of the National Asian Pacific Bar Association.
With a passion for human rights, Mahmud has interned or worked at the United Nations, the International Criminal Court and the International Court of Justice in the Netherlands and the Minnesota Senate.
Name: Sumbal Mahmud
Title: Attorney, Minnesota Disability Law Center, Mid-Minnesota Legal Aid
Education: B.A., political science and history, Hamline University; J.D., University of Minnesota Law School
Q: Best way to start a conversation with you?
A: I’m an immigrant and the child of immigrants. I’m comfortable with questions about my background. I invite them. I’m happy to share as long as the intent comes from a place of curiosity and not othering.
Q: Why law school?
A: My grandfather was an attorney. My father was an attorney. I think I just talked a lot, and thought that that’s what makes a good attorney. With time, I have decided that being an attorney is not about talking well or a lot. It’s about listening, and so I have cultivated my listening skills.
Q: What are you reading?
A: “The Namesake.” Its immigrant experience spoke to mine or my parents’. It’s the first time I realized that my upbringing was not so unique, that other people have had this experience, this shared experience, and therefore trauma, of being in my case, both an immigrant and a child of immigrants.
Q: Pet peeve?
A: People assuming that I got somewhere because of a particular background. People have said to my face that I was in a position because of “diversity’s sake.” I’m just as good and qualified.
Q: Best part of your work?
A: Teaching, educating. The Disability Law Center invites me to share, and I’m a pretty good trainer.
Q: Most challenging?
A: Right now, it’s challenging because my kids are home from school. School should be 13 months of the year. On the other hand, I’m in a place where I can be a successful mother and a successful lawyer. I give Disability Law Center credit for making it possible to be a productive member of society while still tending to my family.
Q: Favorite activity away from work?
A: During COVID, I taught myself how to make modest dresses. I started hash-tagging them “modestly speaking.” I’m a public speaker, and get asked to speak three times a week or more. I believe in sustainability and not fast fashion. I can’t save the world, but I can maybe make my own dresses for all these speeches I give.
Q: Where would you take someone visiting your hometown?
A: In Lahore, Pakistan, I’d take you to Badshahi Masjid. Not so much for a religious experience, but the architecture, it’s just gorgeous. Lahore is the city that doesn’t sleep. You can find good street food at 2 a.m.
Q: Legal figure you admire?
A: Tom Nelson, a past MSBA president. He’s the only person I know who writes more handwritten notes than me. Soon after I got this award, I received a thoughtful, heartfelt congratulatory note from him.
Q: Favorite book, movie or TV show about lawyers?
A: “The Lincoln Lawyer” on Netflix. He’s always working from his car. Many people in the community need help, usually with immigration, and I’m taking calls in between things. I don’t have a Lincoln, so I guess I’m the “Toyota Lawyer.”