The Power of Multidisciplinary Expertise: Lala Qadir Joins CMIST for Lawfully Speaking

In hindsight, careers and life paths may seem linear. Yet, while clear links can be drawn later between one step and another, the experience in the moment is frequently marked by a lack of clarity and uncertainty. On October 9, 2025, Lala Qadir, senior director of technology security and AI policy at Microsoft, joined the Carnegie Mellon Institute of Strategy and Technology (CMIST) for the fourth installment of Lawfully Speaking: A Forum on Law and Ethics. During the event, entitled “From Science to Strategy: Navigating a Career at the Nexus of Law, Technology, and Policy,” Qadir spoke about her own winding career journey, which took her from chemistry to policy, to law, to strategy. A key theme that emerged from the discussion was that, with resilience and grit, some of the most fruitful career experiences arise from unexpected decisions and even obstacles.

Instead of providing a lecture, as in past Lawfully Speaking events, Qadir joined CMIST Director Audrey Kurth Cronin for a fireside chat, in which she explored her undergraduate majors in chemistry and public policy. Originally planning to become a doctor, she changed her path after two pivotal moments in her undergraduate experience. First, following her professor’s advice to try something different for a summer, Qadir took advantage of an opportunity for science students to do policy work in the State Department. As part of the program, she had the chance to travel to Geneva, Switzerland, an international experience that laid the foundation for later decisions about working abroad. Then, when she was a senior in college, 9/11 occurred. As the recently-elected president of the Muslim student association at Duke University, Qadir prioritized her duties in this role—engaging with university leadership and fulfilling her duties as president—over her medical school applications. At the last minute, she decided to apply to a public policy program at the Harvard Kennedy School in addition to her medical school applications. Although she was rejected from all the medical schools to which she applied, she was accepted and decided to enroll at the Kennedy School. Stressing the importance of building resilience and grit, Qadir shared that these moments as an undergraduate student revealed the need to be open to new experiences and to be willing to take a leap of faith.

While in graduate school, she had an internship in South Africa, where her work on issues relating to mineral rights and constitutional governance drew her to the law. After deciding to go into consulting after graduation and becoming a homeland security consultant at Booz Allen, Qadir pursued the opportunity to work in Abu Dhabi for six weeks. Again demonstrating the power of unexpected turns, she described her desire to swap the cold weather in Washington, DC, for the sunshine in Abu Dhabi as motivation for opting in to this experience. There, she consulted on the development of the judicial system. Her work was so successful that the government asked her to move to Abu Dhabi to oversee the implementation of this system. Over her two years in this role, she explored questions about access to justice, gender equality, and the role of foreign investments.

Inspired by her experience, she returned to DC to pursue her law degree at Georgetown University Law Center. Her time in a national security law class with the Honorable Judge James E. Baker, last year’s Lawfully Speaking featured guest, sparked an interest that eventually led Qadir to work in the National Security Division at the White House Office of Science and Technology. When asked to describe a typical day, she stressed the atypical nature of the work in this office. In her role, she focused on ensuring that technology serves humanity and sought to understand critical emerging technology trends as well as best practices to ensure global prosperity and security in the future. Even as the presidential administration has changed, the question of how to ensure that technological developments are being used for public good without hindering innovation remains critical for the next generation.

To find her next career step, Qadir drew on her consulting background, asking herself questions such as, “What can I learn? How can I grow?” and “Where can I contribute meaningfully from the accumulation of all the things I’ve done?” With opportunities present in both government and industry, she reasoned that joining Microsoft would be a logical next move given the company’s involvement in the government and its position at the forefront of artificial intelligence.

While she said her days are almost busier working at Microsoft than they were during her time in the White House, Qadir’s current role illustrates how seemingly disparate interests can be combined in unexpected ways. Synthesizing her experiences, she shared two key insights: Be open to new experiences and be willing to take a leap of faith. Her interdisciplinary career path offers insight into the ways that being resilient and open to new experiences can lead to exciting opportunities and the ability to be well-positioned to address future challenges.

(Image 1, l to r: CMIST Director Audrey Kurth Cronin and Lala Qadir, senior director of technology security and AI policy at Microsoft; Image 2, Qadir speaks at CMIST’s Lawfully Speaking event “From Science to Strategy: Navigating a Career at the Nexus of Law, Technology, and Policy,”; Images 3-4, Cronin and Qadir engage in a fireside chat)