I've Operated Inside the System.

There's a version of this bio that reads like a resume. Federal attorney. IPO counsel. Immigration advocate. Valedictorian. Published scholar. Federally certified law enforcement officer. Board leader. Founder. Moderator. Dual citizen.

That version is accurate. But it misses the through-line.

Every role I've held has been about one thing: using law, strategy, and narrative to move people and systems toward something better.

The Story

I grew up between worlds — culturally, professionally, geographically. Born in Toronto, educated in Toronto and Sydney, building in Los Angeles. The in-between space taught me something most legal training doesn't: the most important work happens at the intersections. Between law and narrative. Between institution and community. Between power and accountability.

I spent my early career learning how the system works from the inside — as a corporate counsel at hypergrowth companies, as a senior legal lead building infrastructure for a company going public on the NYSE, as an immigration attorney fighting for unaccompanied children in family and immigration court, and most recently as a Senior Attorney-Advisor with the U.S. Department of Justice, overseeing the legal portfolio for four federal correctional institutions across Southern California.

What I learned across all of it is that the most consequential change happens when someone is willing to sit inside the complexity — not advise from a safe distance. That's the kind of counsel I provide. And that's the kind of convener I've become.

Ideate Legal and The Civic Room are the expression of everything I've built — and the platform for everything I'm building next.

The Foundation

Over twelve years, Devika has built her practice across every sector that shapes public life. As a Senior Attorney-Advisor with the U.S. Department of Justice — Bureau of Prisons, she advised executive staff on constitutional, civil, and operational legal matters across four federal correctional institutions in the Central District of California. Before that, she was the second legal hire at FIGS (NYSE: FIGS), scaling the legal function through hypergrowth and helping architect a successful IPO — building infrastructure across marketing, brand, IP, employment, and commercial operations from the ground up.

Her commitment to the most vulnerable runs equally deep. As a Staff Attorney at Immigrant Defenders Law Center, she represented unaccompanied minors in immigration and family court proceedings, leading legal strategy across more than 65 active cases. She has also held senior legal roles at Wynden Stark Global Markets, AirMap, and ZestFinance — building compliance, policy, and legal infrastructure across fintech, drone technology, and global recruiting.

In parallel, she has built in public. As the founder of The Civic Room and moderator of Law Unboxed through the South Asian Bar Association of Southern California, she has convened hundreds of leaders, advocates, and change-makers in conversations that matter. She serves on SABA SoCal's board as Co-Director of Mentorship and Events. And she is the founder of two ventures: Ideate Legal, her boutique strategic advisory firm, and Motherland Designs, a storytelling-centered art brand rooted in cultural identity.