Ronita Bahri

A native of Iraq and a Chaldean, Ronita Bahri came to the U.S. with her family as a refugee at the age of 8, settling in the Detroit area. At a young age she became trilingual, speaking her native Aramaic, Arabic (which she learned while living in Iraq and Jordan), and English here in the United States. Bahri, the youngest of six children, was the first of her family to go to college. She not only went to college, but also graduated magna cum laude from Wayne State University in 2011 with a B.A. degree in political science and psychology. After earning her undergraduate degree, Bahri set out to San Francisco for a new perspective on life and to earn her J.D. from the University of San Francisco, School of Law. In 2014, she returned home to the Detroit area after graduating with one goal in mind: To serve the community.

"I missed home," she says, "and I always wanted to be in a field where I could help those in need."

Before becoming a Detroit personal injury attorney at Goodman Acker P.C. in 2015, Bahri worked as a legal and policy associate at Michigan Community Resources in Detroit, where she assisted start-up nonprofit organizations. Having had some courtroom experience interning with the San Francisco Public Defenders office during her third year of law school, she wanted the chance to try cases. So when the opportunity to join Goodman Acker, P.C. came along, she took it, launching a busy practice that focuses on personal injury and no-fault insurance cases.

In law school, she was very active in student organizations, serving as president of the Middle Eastern Law Student Association and chief executive editor of the Law and Global Justice Forum. She was also co-chair of the Student Bar Association's Diversity Committee.

Currently, she is a member of the Chaldean American Bar Association and the Michigan Association for Justice. In addition to the personal satisfaction she derives from helping people, Bahri also finds law to be a fulfilling profession in other ways. "It's a learning experience,” she says. “I never want to stop learning, so that's one of the things that I enjoy about it. And there's a lot of human interaction, whether it's people on the other side or your clients or co-workers. I really enjoy that."

Bahri also takes pleasure from spending time with her family—she has seven nephews and three nieces who mean the world to her. "I wanted to be a part of their lives, they are very important to me." She is also an avid follower of the Detroit Tigers and the Detroit Red Wings.