As a Staff Attorney in Immigration Equality’s Pro Bono Program, Nishan works to expand and enhance our asylum work for LGBTQ and HIV-positive immigrants. He mentors pro bono attorneys and also assists with client representation in immigration proceedings at all levels. Prior to joining Immigration Equality, Nishan was an Equal Justice Works Fellow at the New York City Gay and Lesbian Anti-Violence Project (AVP), providing legal support to immigrant LGBTQ survivors of violence. He assisted with the direct representation of clients in New York City and policy advocacy on a local, state, and national scale. At AVP, he worked with coalition partners to focus on cutting-edge immigration relief for LGBTQ individuals. Before working at AVP, he was a Holley Law Fellow at the National LGBTQ Task Force where he worked on issues around religious exemption legislation and was also a law clerk at Lambda Legal, where he worked on issues around marriage equality as well as stop-and-frisk. He is a graduate of CUNY School of Law and a graduate of UC Davis in International Relations and Mandarin Chinese.