Legal Counsel
Siham Nurhussein serves as Legal Counsel at Pathfinder International. She is a mission-driven attorney with nearly 20 years of legal experience spanning the nonprofit, public, and private sectors. As Pathfinder’s principal legal advisor, she provides strategic guidance to senior leadership, the Board, and country offices, and advises on the full range of legal issues arising from the organization’s global operations.
Prior to joining Pathfinder, Siham spent nearly a decade as an attorney at USAID, where she advised on complex international assistance programs, regulatory compliance, enterprise risk, and grants and contracts. Her portfolio included some of the agency’s most challenging operating environments, including Ukraine, Syria, Nigeria, and Myanmar. Following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, she was instrumental in developing the legal strategy for a $22.9 billion budget support initiative that enabled the rapid deployment of assistance while ensuring accountability for US taxpayer funds. Siham began her legal career in private practice, where her work included civil rights and employment litigation, as well as sanctions, anti-corruption, and other regulatory compliance matters.
Siham holds a JD from NYU School of Law, an MPA (with a concentration in International Relations) from Princeton University’s School of Public and International Affairs, and a BA in Social Studies from Harvard University. She resides in Washington, DC.