Karim Basaria is a partner at Sidley Austin LLP, where he represents corporate clients, individuals, and many of the world’s largest professional services firms in high-stakes litigation, white collar, and regulatory enforcement matters. As a former Certified Public Accountant, Karim has a combination of legal and accounting skills that have enabled him to play a leading role in a variety of matters involving complex financial accounting, economic damages, and audit issues.
Karim also plays a leading role in the legal community. In addition to serving on IEJF’s Board of Directors, he is a board member and serves as Treasurer of Illinois Legal Aid Online and serves a board member of the Chicago Lawyers Committee on Civil Rights. Additionally, Karim maintains an active pro bono practice. Most recently, Karim represented an elementary school student in appealing an exclusionary discipline decision where, in partnership with co-counsel, he was able to help the student fully reinstate without maintaining a record of expulsion. Karim was also involved in Ms. J.P. v. Barr, a lawsuit in which Sidley partnered with Public Counsel to represent a class of parents who were forcibly separated from their children due to the family separation policy implemented by the government in 2017. He also assisted in the representation of a putative class of immigrant visa applicants challenging Presidential Proclamation 9945, an order requiring applicants to prove they will be covered by adequate health insurance or able to pay for reasonably foreseeable medical costs.
Karim has also served in various leadership roles within Sidley. As an associate, he co-chaired the Chicago Associates Committee and was a member of the firm’s Associate Diversity Council in Chicago. Karim is also actively involved in the firm’s recruiting efforts and plays a leading role in the legal community. He serves as a co-chair of the firm’s Summer Committee in Chicago, which oversees the firm’s summer associate program each year, and is engaged in Sidley’s training and mentoring programs.
Karim received his B.S. in accounting and finance with honors from the University of Illinois at Chicago (UIC) in 2007, and his J.D., cum laude, from the Northwestern Pritzker School of Law in 2012. He has also served as an adjunct professor at the UIC, where he taught an undergraduate criminal justice course on white collar crime. Prior to law school, Karim was a Certified Public Accountant in Illinois, where his practice focused on financial statement audits of public entities and forensic accounting matters. Karim resides near Chicago with his wife and two sons.