Alina Habba

Their parents were Catholics who emigrated from Iraq to the United States in the early 1980s to escape persecution in their home country.

Her father, Saad F. Habba, is a gastroenterologist.

Alina Saad Habba (born March 25, 1984) is an American lawyer and Managing Partner of Habba, Madaio & Associates LLP, a firm based in Bedminster, New Jersey, with an office in New York City.

Habba is currently representing former U.S. president Donald Trump, and is also a senior advisor for MAGA, Inc., Trump's Super PAC.

Habba and her two siblings were born in Summit, New Jersey.

Habba graduated from Kent Place School in 2002.

She attended Lehigh University, graduating in 2005 with a bachelor's degree in political science.

Between 2005 and 2007, Habba worked in the fashion industry in accessories production and marketing with executives at Marc Jacobs.

According to her, though she enjoyed the fashion industry, she decided to attend law school for financial reasons.

She obtained a Juris Doctor from the Widener University Commonwealth Law School in 2010.

After finishing law school, Habba was a law clerk to Eugene J. Codey Jr., then Presiding Judge of the Civil Superior Court in Essex County, New Jersey, from 2010 to 2011.

Habba began private practice in September 2011, when she joined as an associate at Tompkins, McGuire, Wachenfeld & Barry, LLP, where she worked from September 2011 to February 2013.

From February 2013 to March 2020, she was an equity partner and the Managing Partner of Sandelands Eyet LLP, a seven-attorney firm formed by her then-husband in 2013.

Trump had called Zervos a "liar" in 2017, after she accused him of kissing her and groping her, without her consent, when she was a contestant on Trump's reality TV show, The Apprentice.

In October 2021, Habba filed a Trump countersuit against Zervos, claiming she was trying to stifle Trump's right to free speech.

Shortly thereafter, in November 2021, Zervos discontinued the lawsuit.

Habba represented Trump in a legal case where he was being investigated for falsely representing the value of his assets on various Statements of Net Worth that banks required him to file annually to ensure that Trump had sufficient funds to repay their loans.

She unsuccessfully appealed a court order requiring Trump and his children to give sworn testimony about the valuations they signed for when filing those returns.

New York's Attorney General, Letitia James, personally questioned Trump on August 10, 2022.

Habba was present during the deposition and led the defense.

Trump refused to answer any questions during the four-hour deposition, pleading the United States Constitution's Fifth Amendment over 450 times.

In February 2022, Habba unsuccessfully attempted to prevent Trump from being required to give a sworn statement in an investigation led by New York Attorney General James.

In 2019, Habba joined the Trump National Golf Club Bedminster in New Jersey, an eight-minute drive from her law firm.

There, she and Donald Trump got acquainted.

In a lawsuit filed in December 2023 aimed at referring Habba to the New Jersey Office of Attorney Ethics, a Trump National Golf Club Bedminster employee alleged that in the second half of 2021, Habba induced the employee into entering an illegal non-disclosure agreement when the employee intended to accuse a club manager of workplace sexual misconduct (New Jersey banned non-disclosure agreements for workplace harassment).

The employee alleges that Habba tried to befriend her, encouraged the firing of the employee's lawyer, provided the non-disclosure agreement with penalties for disclosure, and warned the employee not to publicize the workplace sexual misconduct accusation; Habba responded in 2023: "I always conduct myself ethically and acted no differently in this circumstance.".

Habba had never done legal work for Trump when, in September 2021, he hired her as part of his legal team, replacing several well-established lawyers who had worked for Trump for many years but had withdrawn their services, including: Marc Kasowitz, Charles Harder, Joanna Hendon, Marc Saroff Mukasey, Jay Sekulow, and Lawrence S. Rosen.

Quickly after her hiring, Habba filed a $100 million lawsuit on Trump's behalf against The New York Times, three Times reporters, and Trump's niece, Mary L. Trump.

Her lawsuit was dismissed by the judge for "fail[ing] as a matter of constitutional law".

Habba also worked on Trump's behalf when he was sued for defamation by Summer Zervos.

In March 2020 she left to start her own firm.

The firm, Habba, Madaio and Associates LLP, employs five people.

Along with the firm's Bedminster, New Jersey office, Habba has an office in Manhattan.

Habba is licensed to practice law in New York, New Jersey, and Connecticut.

She has served as lead counsel for three cases, including a federal class action suit against a New Jersey nursing home accused of various negligent acts and consumer fraud violations.

Habba has also held the position of general counsel for her second husband's parking garage company.

She has represented clients in various legal cases including a man suing a nursing home in New Jersey, and a student seeking a refund for college tuition after University of Bridgeport moved classes to an online format.

In July 2021, Habba represented Siggy Flicker, a former member of The Real Housewives of New Jersey who alleged that Facebook had disabled her account for wishing Melania Trump a happy birthday.

Habba wrote a letter to Facebook, which Facebook appeared to ignore.

In July 2021, Habba represented Caesar DePaço, a vitamin supplement entrepreneur, in a federal court case where she filed a lawsuit against Portuguese journalists for revealing his close connections to the far-right Chega party in Portugal.