Erika joined Tahirih in 2019. As the Client Services & Operations Coordinator, Erika provides critical operational and administrative support to the San Francisco office, including day-to-day office administration, development, and financial duties. She also supports our client services and conducts preliminary screenings of service seekers, assists with client referrals, and supports our volunteer program. Prior to joining Tahirih, Erika worked as an Agency Customer Service Representative, Agency Producer, and Office Manager with Farmers Insurance Agency. and eight extensive years as a Retail Manager at Hugo Boss US. 

“I am inspired by Tahirih’s vision of a gender-equal society and mission to defend Immigrant Women’s rights. And honored to be part of an organization that empowers immigrants who are a vulnerable group and are routinely denied basic rights.”

Education: Gavilan College, A.A. Associate Business Administration

Languages: Spanish

Hometown: Gilroy, CA

Meghan Berman joined Tahirih in 2021. As an Immigration Attorney in the San Francisco Bay Area office, Meghan provides legal counsel and representation to immigrants who are survivors of gender-based violence in cases including asylum, Violence Against Women Act (VAWA), U Visa, and other immigration remedies. Prior to joining Tahirih, Meghan worked as an immigration attorney at Immigration Center for Women and Children and La Raza Centro Legal. Meghan studied abroad in Madrid, Spain during her time at Stanford University.

“I am passionate about advancing and defending immigrants’ rights.”

Education: New York University School of Law, JD; Stanford University, BA

Languages: Spanish

Hometown: Minneapolis, MN

Payal joined Tahirih in 2021. As Managing Attorney for Tahirih San Francisco Office, she provides legal representation to survivors of gender based violence, mentors pro bono attorneys & oversees the San Francisco pro bono program, and manages the legal team. Prior to joining Tahirih, Payal served as a Managing Attorney at Peace Over Violence, Los Angeles, CA. She is a distinguished Women in Policy Fellow, where she had the opportunity to work on CA bills AB 865: Mandatory CSEC training for Resource families (Approved by Governor in October 2019) and SB 493: Gender Equity in Education: Sexual Harassment and Sexual Violence, a bill that will protect California students’ civil rights (Approved by Governor in Oct 2020). Also, she serves as an Executive Board Member and a Co-Chair at the Immigration Committee at the International and Immigration Section (CLA) and as an advisor for the California Young Lawyer’s Association. She has been awarded CA Senate Certificate for her work in the field of policy advocacy in 2018.

“I am inspired by Tahirih’s commitment to provide access to trauma informed, holistic services to overcome barriers that a gender based violence survivor endures in their journey.”

Education: USC Gould School of Law, LL.M

Languages: English, Hindi

Hometown: New Delhi, India

Morgan Weibel joined Tahirih in 2010. As Executive Director of Tahirih’s San Francisco Bay Area Office, she ensures the delivery of high-quality legal and social services case management, engages regional stakeholders, and oversees the local office’s financial and operational integrity. Morgan previously served as Tahirih’s Director of the Baltimore office, and as a Supervising Immigration Attorney. She also worked for three years as a paralegal at the Law Offices of Robert B. Jobe, a San Francisco-based firm focusing on asylum and deportation defense. She interned with the Immigration and Refugee Services Department of the Spanish Red Cross in Granada, Spain, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees office in Washington, DC, and at a Swiss Refugee Transit Center.

“I am inspired by the strength and courage of the women and girls that I have the privilege of serving at Tahirih. Their unwavering commitment to breaking century-old cycles of violence against women and the courage that it takes to stand up against their families and traditions is remarkable.”

Education

Morgan is a graduate of the University of California at Berkeley with high honors and the University of California Hastings College of Law, where she served as the Scholarly Publications Editor on the Hastings International and Comparative Law Review and was awarded the Judith Stronach Women’s Rights Fellowship to work with the Center for Gender and Refugee Studies (CGRS). Morgan also served as a Graduate Research Fellow at CGRS where she drafted a protocol for the investigation of femicides and assisted Professor Karen Musalo in updating sections of her course book related to asylum based on membership in a particular social group. During law school, she interned in the Trial Chambers of the International Criminal Tribunal for Former Yugoslavia and the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda. Her undergraduate honors thesis compared the United States and Canadian applications of gender-based guidelines in asylum law.

Awards and Recognition

Morgan was named Leader of the Year by AILA’s DC Chapter Liaison Division in 2013, and in 2008, she won National Championship and First Place Speaker Awards at the UC Davis Asylum Law Moot Court Competition.

In the Media

• “Despite the #MeToo Movement, Roll-Backs in Protection Endanger Immigrant Women: It is Time for #ImmigrantWomentToo,” Morgan Weibel, Think Immigration, blog post, 27 March 2019.
• “Matter of A-B-: How the Attorney General Attempts to Subvert Asylum Law and Dismiss Domestic Violence as a Private Affair,” Morgan Weibel and Sayoni Maitra, PLI Current: The Journal of PLI Press, Vol. 2, No. 4, Autumn 2018.
• “Witnessing Cruelty at the Border,” Morgan Weibel, San Francisco Examiner, op-ed, 23 August 2018.
• “The Asylum Process Under Trump Has Become Arbitrary and Inhumane,” Morgan Weibel, Los Angeles Times, letter to the editor, 8 August 2018.
• “Travel Ban Suspension Has Immigrants Hustling to Get to U.S.,” CBS News San Francisco, Feb. 6, 2017