Nishat Ruiter

Brainstormer, Change Agent, Concerned citizen, Global soul, Lawyer

I enjoy untangling complex legal issues using simplicity and a practical approach, as long as there’s some good coffee a team to collaborate with. My happiness thrives if I can build solutions –whether legal, collaborative or social– between people and entities with (at-times) widely varying interests. This has been my focus in my 25 years of working in the legal field and pursuing social justice efforts at home in our community. Inspired by a Baha'i perspective, world-changing ideas have always been a source of meaning for me, and TED has been a big part of that. In 2015, I was a newTEDx organizer for our town; and saw the impact of how amazing the framework for building ideas can build bridges in communities like nothing else (TEDxHillsboroughLibrary2015). My love language is authenticity, and I'm excited by great food, music, tennis, meaningful conversations and finding connectedness with people from all walks of life. I am married to my best friend, who is Dutch, multi-lingual and a pensive writer, and frankly is more well-read than anyone I know (about everything) and is a constant source of learning and inspiration. We are parents of our son Alec, a passionate film composer attending as a rising Sophomore at San Francisco Conservatory of Music and our daughter Isabella, a double Masters student , graduating attending University of Toronto for Museum Studies and Information in the fall. While family, social justice advocacy and work fills my time, I do find time to traveling to beautiful cities, explore new ways to find balance (yoga and sketching my latest new habits) and stay somewhat curious at all times. I also acknowledge in my heart that there is much more trouble in the world because so many of our brothers and sisters are living without privilege and opportunities that they deserve. So the work never ends, and hopefully the more of us that realize that the more we can find solutions.

re-imagining models for legal education and standards, where impact of legal decisions on communities is as valuable to law schools as passing the bar exam. We need thoughtful, critical and caring law advocates to help us build policy and advocate for change that helps shape a meaningful law and policy that is based on ethics vs. driven by precedent, group-think and power.

It’s time to revolutionize how we train lawyers. In a world shaped by AI and accelerating complexity, the skills that matter most — collaboration, solution-building, cultural competence, professional identity, and ethical leadership — are the ones least emphasized in legal education. We need to prepare lawyers to engage effectively with AI, connect across generations, and tap into our shared humanity to build a better, more just legal field. And the way we get there is by learning from the field itself — practicing lawyers, General Counsels, judges, policymakers, and law professors hold the key to understanding the skills that matter most. By collecting their insights and building from real-world experience, we can reinvigorate legal education with a curriculum that is practical, human-centered, and truly future-ready. And how? By using the best platform for ideas in the world — TED. To learn more, connect with me — and welcome to this exciting conversation!

I married a TED fan before I knew what TED was; and back in 2006 he clued me into what would become one of our greatest sources of inspiration. We taught high school students, created a TEDx and integrated TED viewing with as many friends as possible. And then one day, I found myself having an email correspondence with Chris Anderson about a new role for general counsel. That was more than 9 years ago and what a ride it has been! I am still honored and blown away by working in a dream job that I never could have imagined so many years ago.

Creative expression through song and theater, including accents and maybe even a little tiny bit of comedy.