Khodadad “Ko” Darius Sharif

Bar Admissions:
State Bar of California – Admitted June 1997 (CASBN 187992)
United States District Court-Southern District of California
United States District Court-Central District of California
United States District Court-Eastern District of California

Professional Employment:
SHARIF | FAUST LAWYERS, Ltd., Shareholder/Partner
Southwestern Community College – Adjunct
Southwestern Community College – Past Chair, Grievance Committee (SCEA)
Southwestern Community College – Past Director, Jaguar Justice Legal Information Clinic

Activities and Professional Memberships

  • 2024 SDCBA Legal Ethics Committee
  • 2024 SDCBA Diversity, Equity & Inclusion Division (DEI) Executive Committee
  • 2023 Friend of SABA San Diego Award
  • Member – Federal Bar Association-SD Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Committee (2022 to 2023)
  • Fellow of the American Bar Foundation
  • Member – Public Positions Advisory Committee (SDCBA – 2023)
  • Member – Investment Committee (SDCBA – 2023)
  • Diversity Fellowship Program (Employer since 2022)
  • Member – SDCBA, DEI Division (2023)
  • Director – Board of Directors, Iranian American Bar Association (2022 & 2023)
  • Member- SDCBA, Committee on Diversity and Inclusion (2022)
  • Director – Board of Directors, San Diego County Bar Association (SDCBA, 2019-2021)
  • Chair – Membership Committee (SDCBA – 2021)
  • Chair – Public Positions Advisory Committee (SDCBA – 2020)
  • Fee Arbitrator – SDCBA Committee on Mandatory Fee Arbitration
  • Member – Lawyers Club of San Diego
  • Member – Anti-Racism subcommittee of the SDCBA
  • Member of SDCBA-LRIS Family Law Panel
  • Neutral – Resolve Law San Diego
  • Discovery Referee Panel – San Diego Family Law Bar Association
  • Member, San Diego County Bar Association (SDCBA)
  • Member, San Diego Family Law Bar Association (SDFLBA)
  • Member, Federal Bar Association
  • Member, Iranian American Bar Association (IABA)
  • Member, AMERICAN INNS OF COURT, Louis M. Welsh Inn
  • Member, Delta Theta Phi
  • Member, Southwestern College Education Association (SCEA)
  • Mock Trial Coach, Otay Ranch High School (2010-2015)
  • Delta Theta Phi, past Marshal of the Supreme Senate
  • Past volunteer with Junior Achievement
  • Interactions for Peace
  • Past board member of PTA and School Site Council
  • Past volunteer GATE writing instructor
  • Past AYSO soccer coach

Education:
Thomas Jefferson School of Law: J. D., 1995
Cambridge University U.K., Gonville and Caius College (Summer 1994)
Universidad Autonoma De Baja California (Summer program)
San Diego State University; B. A., 1992

Areas of Practice
Civil Litigation (Federal and State), Family Law, and State Criminal Defense

Additional Languages: Native FARSI speaker

Mr. Sharif has been an active member of the State Bar of California since June 1997, practicing law in both the State and the Federal Courts, and has handled many civil, criminal, and family law cases. He is an experienced trial lawyer, having litigated and defended many civil matters, including felony criminal jury trials and numerous sophisticated family law disputes.  To better serve his community, Mr. Sharif serves as a Fee Arbitrator with the San Diego County Bar Association (SDCBA) and has successfully arbitrated many fee disputes.  He has completed his service of a three-year term as a director on the Board of Directors at the SDCBA (2019-2021), having held various leadership positions within that organization, including the Chair of the Membership Committee (2021) and the Chair of the Public Positions Advisory Committee (2020).  He is a member of the Lawyers Club of San Diego and the American Inns of Court, Louis M. Welsh Inn, and a proud member of the Iranian-American Bar Association (IABA), as well as a lifetime member of Delta Theta Phi and having served as its past Marshal of the Supreme Senate.  As an active member of the Committee on Diversity and Inclusion at the SDCBA and its Anti-Racism subcommittee, Mr. Sharif advocates for inclusion and diversity within the community as his core principles. He supports the legal community in general by volunteering his time.

For several years, the love of teaching has taken Mr. Sharif to teach the Business Law-140 course at the local community college, Southwestern College. At the same time, as an adjunct professor, Mr. Sharif was asked and has served as the Grievance Chair for the college, serving its faculty union. Currently, Mr. Sharif is helping with the Jaguar Justice Informative Legal Clinic at Southwestern College, Chula Vista, which provides internship opportunities to the students enrolled in paralegal studies at the college.  Further community involvements have taken Mr. Sharif from coaching soccer at AYSO to coaching the high school Mock Trial team at a local high school.

A graduate of University City High School (’87), Mr. Sharif continued his studies in Political Science at San Diego State University, minoring in Philosophy.  A graduate of Thomas Jefferson School of Law, his interest in comparative law, took him to summer studies sponsored by his law school at Cambridge University U.K., Gonville and Caius College, and Universidad Autonoma De Baja California.  During law school, Mr. Sharif served the students as the elected Vice-President of the Student Bar Association and the Dean of Delta Theta Phi, also serving on various committees to help promote a better environment for the students.

His passion is to fight against injustice, fight for, and promote equality, inclusion, diversity, and fairness.