Umar is passionate about responsible and impacts investing and the potential of partnerships among business, investment, and philanthropy. For nearly 20 years, Umar has advised on a variety of corporate and finance matters. Much of his work has been on behalf of ethical and responsible sponsors, investors, and business owners seeking to create a positive impact. Clients call on Umar to design socially responsible and environmentally conscious legal and business terms to help create participatory, inclusive, and more responsible transactions, markets, and economies.
Umar’s work includes structuring a variety of funds and investment vehicles, private equity and venture capital transactions, and a broad array of real estate initiatives. He has additionally designed innovative mortgage products and trade finance solutions. He is currently advising various communities on the establishment and design of endowments.
Umar is Lecturer in Law at the University of Connecticut School of Law, where he has taught courses in Islamic finance and investment as well as Islamic law and jurisprudence. He also serves as adjunct faculty at Michigan State Law School, where he teaches one of the first courses in Halal Food Law in the U.S. Umar is widely published and has spoken at numerous forums on topics including Islamic law, finance, and Muslim markets and communities. He is the author of A Socially Responsible Islamic Finance: Character and the Common Good (Palgrave-MacMillan). Umar earned his J.D. from Temple University and his B.A. and M.A. from the University of Pennsylvania.