Why Donald Trump's Lawyer Alina Habba Decided To Go To Law School
Attorney Alina Habba might be most closely associated with her high-profile client, former President Donald Trump, but the Assyrian-American lawyer had been practicing law for years before the ex-POTUS first hired her. In a 2022 interview with Bloomberg, Habba said she was first inspired by a guest speaker at her all-girls school in New Jersey.
Per Habba, a "beautiful, young, [and] vibrant entertainment litigator" visited Habba's class at Kent Place School to discuss her career. "She was doing such interesting work," the attorney recalled. "I just said, 'Oh, my god, I want to be like her.'" Habba started that journey by studying political science as an undergrad at Lehigh University in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania.
However, her path diverged slightly following graduation. Instead of jumping immediately into law school, Habba opted to try on the fashion industry for size. After working for Marc Jacobs in accessory production and marketing, Habba realized she wanted to afford the accessories she was working so hard to create. Thus, the aspiring luxury item collector enrolled in law school.
Alina Habba's taste for the finer things in life prompted her shift to law school
That fateful high school visit by an entertainment lawyer might have sowed the seed of wanting to be an attorney in Alina Habba's mind, but her love of luxury items was the water that allowed it to bloom. While speaking to Bloomberg about her time at Marc Jacobs, Habba said, "I decided I wanted to be able to actually afford the bags we made, so I decided to go to law school."
Habba enrolled at Widener University Commonwealth Law School shortly thereafter and graduated in 2010. The law school grad worked in several different law firms before establishing her own firm, Habba, Madaio, and Associates LLP, in March 2020. The firm operates out of Bedminster, New Jersey, and Manhattan.
If luxury wear was what Habba was after when she attended law school, she certainly got it. She regularly sports designer clothing, luxurious furs, and expensive accessories. In March 2024, Habba caused quite the online stir with a particularly pricey accessory: a crocodile-skin Hermés Birkin bag that retails for around or over $70,000. Internet users quickly pointed out the irony of Habba toting such an expensive handbag while her client, former President Donald Trump, struggled to pay his $464 million fine in relation to his New York civil fraud case.
Both Donald Trump and Alina Habba have defended her legal acumen
Alina Habba has faced rampant criticism since taking on Donald Trump as a client, including accusations that the ex-POTUS hired her for her looks, that Habba works for Trump out of political preference, and that she's not as skilled of a lawyer as she claims to be. But Habba has made it clear that these claims are false, and just because she first enrolled in law school to afford designer handbags doesn't mean she didn't learn anything while she was there.
"Just because I'm pretty doesn't mean I'm not a brilliant lawyer," Habba told the New York Post. In the same interview, the senior advisor for MAGA Inc., a Trump political action committee, told the Post that she didn't work for the former president out of political affiliation. "I'm not political," Habba explained. "What I am is a good American who just can't believe what I am seeing in terms of the corruption that has taken over this country."
Trump, too, has spoken highly of Habba's legal acumen. In a phone interview with Bloomberg, the former president said, "I've had many lawyers, but she's somebody that I think has done a very, very good job. She's very talented, she's smart, she's a very likable person." And while February 2024 saw explosive claims suggesting Trump's relationship with Habba was not so rosy at the start of that year, Habba continues to be a part of Trump's multi-faceted legal team.