Mariam Atash

Mariam Atash is an attorney with experience in the legal, business, government relations/diplomacy, media and nonprofit sectors.

Mariam has been Managing Attorney of Prime Counsel, a law firm providing services in corporate, immigration, government contracting, and international business law.  She has worked on numerous successful petitions for business, family, and humanitarian-based immigration matters, negotiated and drafted business agreements including Operating Agreements, commercial leases, and joint venture agreements, as well as handled legal representation of mid-sized U.S. companies doing business in the greater Middle East region including licensing, tax clearance, compliance, and work visas.  Mariam has also handled matters involving data privacy, trademark and copyright registration and infringement and contracts or matters relating to the Departments of Defense, Commerce, and Treasury and the United States Agency for International Development (USAID).

Mariam is also an Adjunct Professor at Bay Atlantic University, where she teaches courses on International Trade, Intellectual Property, Human Rights and Cybersecurity. She is a member of the U.S.-Afghan Women’s Council.  She serves on the Board of Directors of Nooristan Foundation, a nonprofit organization that has provided education and vocational training in Afghanistan since 2002.

Mariam was a co-founder of the Afghanistan Advocacy Group, which began as a network of professionals in 2008 that has become a coalition of organizations working on U.S.-Afghan policy issues.  She is also a co-founder of the PlanetPix media brand through which she has launched Leading the Way, an initiative to share the voices of women bringing peace through leadership.  Mariam has served on public-private partnerships of the State Department relating to women’s empowerment and justice sector reform and on the United States Institute of Peace’s Gender and Law Working Group.

Mariam has experience as a journalist and moderator.  She was the host of “PUL,” a television show produced by America Abroad Media that broadcast in Central Asia and was the moderator of the “Global Challenges Series” with the Center for Strategic & International Studies.  Mariam was also Executive Producer for two radio programs, which broadcast through Internews that focused on social and political issues and Co-Producer of Funatical: Taking Comedy to the Extreme, a multi-faith comedy show that toured through major cities in the U.S and included a Cultural Diplomacy through Comedy program at the National Press Club.

Mariam began her professional career as an attorney at Dechert LLP, a top 50 law firm.  She was then appointed as the Commercial & Trade Counsel at the Embassy of Afghanistan in Washington, D.C, re-establishing bilateral trade ties between the U.S. and Afghanistan.  She worked on reform of Afghanistan’s commercial laws, leading to accession of Afghanistan to the NY Convention and served as an Honorary Advisor to the Afghanistan Centre for Dispute Resolution.

From 2002-2004, Mariam served as an Advisor to the Constitutional Commission of Afghanistan through the United Nations Legal Affairs Working Group.  Her efforts led to stronger protection for women’s rights in the new Constitution of the country. She has been active on promoting women’s rights and empowerment in the U.S. and conflict countries.  She contributed as a speaker and mentor to the Peace through Business program from 2008-2015 and is an Honorary Advisory Board for the Afghan Women’s Justice Organization.

Mariam has provided guidance to numerous organizations working in the education, development and human rights fields.  She was a Founding Director of the American University of Afghanistan and Aschiana Foundation and served on the Honorary Board of Advisors of Innocents at Risk, Afghan-American Bar Association, and The Global Partnership for Afghanistan.  She is also a founding member of the Orange County chapter of American Women for International Understanding. Mariam has experience with nonprofit formation, fundraising and public relations.

Mariam is a graduate of the Georgetown University Law Center and of the Honor’s Program for International Relations at George Mason University and was the first Afghan-American to be selected for the White House internship program.

Mariam can be reached at matash@stealthict.com.