Today we’d like to introduce you to Mohammad Ullah.
Hi Mohammad, so excited to have you on the platform. So before we get into questions about your work life, maybe you can bring our readers up to speed on your story and how you got to where you are today.
I’m a young, ambitious attorney that is native to the Houston area. I am a four-time graduate of the University of Houston:
– B.A. in Political Science and Economics
– M.A. in Applied Economics
– J.D. from the UH Law Center
– LL.M in Health Law from the UH Law Center
I graduated in December of 2019 with my last degree and received my license the next month. Shortly thereafter, the COVID-19 pandemic short-circuited my bright career opportunities as I interviewed with multiple firms. With hiring freezes across the legal industry persisting longer than expected, I decided to open up my own solo practice in June of 2020. I began practicing strictly in landlord-tenant, estate planning, and basic contracts with the original plan to expand to more niche health law areas when the job market improved.
As the market for months going into even 2021 slowly improved, the offers available on the market were not able to offer me the flexible hours I had grown accustomed to as my own boss nor the income I was able to generate on my own through referrals and in-person networking. In fact, I consistently reached out to mentors as to how to improve my practice of the law and how to build my portfolio of clientele. As I pass the 3-year mark since licensure this January, I’ve been able to build a life with the freedom and time that my fellow young attorneys are constantly raving to me that they wish they could have. My practice has expanded into a more developed concentration of a variety of real estate issues (landlord-tenant; liens; mortgages, etc.) high net-worth estate planning (Wills, Trusts, Probate); and full-service small business support.
However, what most people have come to know me for is not that I am simply an attorney with credentials and a padded resume from years of schooling and professional development. Rather it is my passion for Chinese Martial Arts (also known as Wushu) and how I balance my time in practicing the sport with such fervor and intensity. During the pandemic I started two things that added to the diversity of my skillset: I started attending K-pop dance classes after years of being a fan of the music genre. I also returned to the gym with a focus on heavier lifting to assist my stamina and strength for Wushu.
Alright, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall, and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
The road worth taking is never smooth. The struggles I have had in the past 3 years are summarized:
1. Not knowing early on exactly what to charge clients and fully appreciating the worth of my expertise and the value I bring to my clients. Learning to overcome the fear of low revenue in the event I quote too high to potential clients.
2. Balancing the priority of time and resources between various types of clients.
3. Setting boundaries with clients about my time, i.e. when am I “on the clock” and when am I not.
On the fitness side:
1. Balancing pushing my physical limits v. preventing unnecessary injuries.
2. Breaking out of traditional notions of loyalty between teacher and student. I spent a lot of 2022 learning to be willing to learn from other teachers and masters from across the country to improve my practice of Wushu.
3. Balancing my commitments and promises between the Dance Studio and the Shaolin School (they are actually only 2 doors apart from one another!)
Appreciate you sharing that. What else should we know about what you do?
The sport of wushu is both an exhibition and a full-contact sport derived from traditional Chinese martial arts. In contemporary times, wushu has become an international sport through the International Wushu Federation (IWUF), which holds the World Wushu Championships every two years.
Competitive wushu is composed of two disciplines: taolu (forms) and sanda (sparring). Taolu involves martial art patterns and maneuvers for which competitors are judged and given points according to specific rules. The forms comprise basic movements (stances, kicks, punches, balances, jumps, sweeps, and throws) based on aggregate categories of traditional Chinese martial art styles and can be changed for competitions to highlight one’s strengths.
I began Wushu at age 20 when I was an undergrad at UH as a member of the UH Wushu Kungfu Club. From there, I became a student at the Shaolin Temple Cultural Center in Chinatown.
I specialize in the Southern Chinese Martial Arts forms, aggregately called Nanquan (pronounced ‘nan-chuan’) for competition. I am proud of what we have been able to do with my Nanquan in 2022, more than I have been able to do in any year prior. Aside from finally earning my first Wushu Trophy (Second Place Grand Champion) at a National Competition and a total of 16 medals over the course of the year, I finally broke barriers in terms of score thresholds in my competition events and traveling the country to learn from other masters and competitive athletes to bring my game to the next level. After the US Team Trials in May of 2022, I finally earned my qualification to become a member of the US National Kung Fu Team, eligible to compete at the World Kungfu Championships in China in August 2023. I now have my eyes set on making it onto the USA Wushu Team to compete at Wushu Worlds in Fort Worth, Texas in November 2023.
What sets me apart from Wushu athletes is my dual training in both Wushu and Dance. Specifically, over the past few years of learning choreography in a K-pop dance setting, improved not only my fluidity and freedom of expression but also how quickly I can learn and retain even more advanced choreography for Wushu. In turn, the strength and difficult movements of Wushu push the limits of the choreography I can showcase for dance class and performance. Additionally, despite being the only male in classes mostly attended by ladies and girls, I am accepted for how comfortable I am around them and how well I integrate into the greater Chinese culture and community (as the dance classes are taught primarily in Mandarin Chinese). While my brand is that of “The Wushu Lawyer”, in reality, I am the Wushu-Kpop-Weightlifting Lawyer. But that’s not something that easily rolls off the tongue. A Jack of all trades, and a Master of Some.
As I accumulate more skills, I naturally am given more titles by my colleagues. Some have even called me “Chinatown’s Adopted Son” for my willingness to fully appreciate and embrace the vastness of Asian culture (you should see my cooking!). Wushu and Dance together have given me the ability to deliver performances that fully showcase my commitment to technique, intellect, speed, strength, style, and fervor.
Lastly, I would like to credit my faith for inspiring and encouraging me to learn from other cultures based on the following verse from Surah Al-Hujurat, Verse 13: “O mankind, indeed We have created you from male and female and made you peoples and tribes that you may know one another. Indeed, the noblest of you in the sight of Allah is the most righteous of you.”
Can you tell us more about what you were like growing up?
Growing up, I wasn’t often near the center of the “it” crowd but my FOMO (fear of missing out) always led me to want to take on whatever opportunities I could because you never know how it would turn out if you didn’t. So when I couldn’t be the most popular guy around, I would try to associate as close as I could with whoever was the most talented, intelligent, or what have you in high school. In high school, I never really had a “free” weekend, because I was always doing something. Either I was competing at a Speech and Debate Tournament; participating in an orchestra activity; volunteering with the Muslim Student Association; or putting in time studying for a full slate of AP courses.
While I had a lot of extracurricular activities, in hindsight, I had no specific goal or milestones in mind for any of them. I just enjoyed being involved and making friends. While my life is much more focused now, the part about making friends thankfully has not changed.
Contact Info:
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/wushulawyer/
- Linkedin: www.linkedin.com/in/mwullahlaw
Image Credits:
Louis Le HTX https://www.louislehtx.com/
