Laiba Motiwala

Laiba Motiwala’s interest in family law began with a clear goal: to do meaningful work that allows her to help people through difficult moments in their lives. At Skillern Firm, she brings that purpose to her work through careful preparation, attentive listening, and empathetic communication. She wants clients to feel comfortable sharing their concerns and confident that those concerns are being taken seriously.

Raised in Sugar Land in a Pakistani immigrant household, Laiba was surrounded by a community of people with different backgrounds and perspectives. She developed an interest in working with people and helping them navigate challenges, which led her to decide to pursue a legal career while still in high school. Before entering law school, she gained experience in immigration and commercial litigation. As a legal assistant at an immigration firm during college, she worked closely with clients from a wide range of backgrounds on family-based and employment-based immigration matters. Her subsequent work at a commercial litigation firm introduced her to the demands of litigation, from preparing court filings to organizing evidence and tracking deadlines.

Her commitment to family law grew through law school clerkships and internships with family law firms and nonprofit organizations serving survivors of domestic abuse. Through her work with Aid to Victims of Domestic Abuse and Texas Advocacy Project, she gained experience supporting legal advocacy for people facing deeply personal and challenging circumstances. She researched family law issues, drafted pleadings and discovery, helped prepare cases for court, and participated in trauma-informed legal services training.

At the University of Houston Law Center, Laiba further developed her skills through the Mediation Clinic and Civil Justice Clinic. She completed mediation training and served as a student mediator in civil disputes. As a student attorney in the Civil Justice Clinic, she worked under faculty supervision on divorce and estate planning matters, gaining direct experience communicating with clients and helping move their cases forward.

These experiences reinforced the approach Laiba brings to family law and the importance of understanding the person behind the case, listening closely to their priorities, and approaching their concerns with care and diligence.

Laiba earned a Bachelor of Science in Political Science with a minor in Psychology, magna cum laude, from the University of Houston. While in law school, she was named to the Dean’s List in 2025 and received the 2026 J. Huey O’Toole Scholarship Award for academic excellence in family law courses. She is fluent in Hindi and Urdu.