Partner Profiles
Jamie Ibrahim
Working to level the playing field
Meet another important coalition member of the Reclaim Your Future campaign! This month, we’re introducing you to Jamie Ibrahim, the deputy director of our partner organization, Southern Arizona Legal Aid, Inc. (SALA), a Tucson-based nonprofit law firm that provides free legal services to low-income persons.
Jamie started her career as a legal aid attorney in 2006 in Jacksonville, Florida, before her appointment there as a General Magistrate presiding over family law cases. In 2021, she and her family decided to relocate to Tucson, where Jamie immediately looked for an opportunity to return to the work she missed.
“Thankfully, SALA had an open position, and I’ve been here ever since,” Jamie says.
Jamie’s first hearing as an attorney in Arizona, in fact, involved an expungement, which was ultimately successful. “It was fun being a lawyer again and obtaining a successful expungement for our very happy client,” she says.
“There is still a very large stigma surrounding criminal arrests or convictions, especially as they relate to drug offenses, including marijuana”
SALA, which was founded in 1951, has six offices across the state, including on the Gila River Indian Reservation and at Fort Apache. “SALA’s vision is for everyone to have social and economic justice. There is still a very large stigma surrounding criminal arrests or convictions, especially as they relate to drug offenses, including marijuana.
“By helping people who are eligible obtain expungements,” Jamie adds, “we’re allowing them to level the playing field and increasing their ability to find better employment and housing.”
