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November 30, 2014

About Tahmina

Tahmina Watson obtained her law degree and graduated from Brunel University, London, England in 2000. She was Called to the Bar in 2002 (became a barrister) as a member of the Middle Temple Inn. After completing her pupillage (apprenticeship) from Bridewell Chambers in London in 2004, Tahmina continued as a practicing barrister, handling mainly criminal defense matters, before relocating to the United States in 2005. She was affiliated with Temple Court Chambers in London as a Door Tenant until recently.

Tahmina was admitted to the New York Bar in 2006.

Prior to founding Watson Immigration Law, Tahmina was a partner at White & Watson from July 2006 to December 2008 practicing exclusively in the area of U.S. Immigration and Naturalization law.  Before that, Tahmina externed with His Honor Judge Ricardo Martinez at the District Court of Western Washington in downtown Seattle.   She also interned for multiple terms at the Northwest Women’s Law Center (now known as Legal Voice).

Admissions and membership
Tahmina is admitted to practice law in Washington State and the State of New York.  She is also admitted to the federal court of Western District of Washington.  She is a member of the American Immigration Lawyers Association (AILA) and the King County Bar Association. Tahmina is currently an unregistered member of the Bar of England and Wales. Past memberships include the International Bar Association, The American Bar Association, King County Washington Women Lawyers and other minority bar associations. She continues to be a member of the Middle Temple in London, UK.

Adjunct Fellow
Tahmina is an Adjunct Fellow at The Niskanen Center, a Washington DC-based think tank. She advises on immigration policy issues.

Community Activities
Tahmina currently serves as Chair of the Response Committee of the Washington Chapter of the American Immigration Lawyers Association (AILA WA), a committee she helped create after the November 2016 election.  She is also a media spokesperson for AILA National. Tahmina currently serves on the Board of Trustee for the King County Bar Association as the First Vice President.  In addition, Tahmina recently helped form a non-profit organization called WIDEN- Washington Immigrant Defense Network which combines skills of immigration and non-immigration lawyers to help vulnerable immigrants in crises situations.

Her other community activities include serving on the board of Point Hope, an organization that helps children. She is an active member of the pro bono community in Seattle, e.g., Northwest Immigrants Rights Project, One America etc..  Tahmina often provides free legal advice at local legal clinics.  Furthermore, she is an active supporter of Chaya, a Seattle based non-profit organization that assists battered women from a South Asian background.

She serves as Chair of the Legal Advisory Committee of the Global Entrepreneur in Residence Coalition. Tahmina is also a columnist with Above the Law, a national legal publication, and a contributor to Entrepreneur Magazine.

She proudly served as the 2009-2010 President of the King County Washington Women Lawyers (KCWWL).  She also served on the board of Washington Women Lawyers from 2008-2010.  In the past, she served on the board of the Asian Bar Association of Washington.  She recently completed her term on the Mercer Island School District Committee.  In addition, she was the Advocacy Consultant for the feature film ‘For Here or To Go?’,  a movie that advocates for high-skilled immigration reform and a Startup Visa.

Passionate Advocate
Tahmina is passionate about immigration law. She is a frequent speaker, blogger, author and is the host of two podcasts Tahmina Talks Immigration, a talk show that used to be aired on a local Seattle South Asian radio station Desi 1250am but is now a podcast on Itunes and The Startup Visa podcast. She often advises organizations and non-profits on immigration policy issues, sometimes even law and policymakers.

Hobbies and languages
She fluently speaks, reads, writes (and sings when playing her harmonium) Bengali, and knows conversational Hindi and Urdu.

Tahmina is an avid bird and nature photographer. She shares her love of nature, birds and photography on Instagram and check out her photography website. 

In her spare time, Tahmina likes write, sketch, volunteer in the community, listen to audio books and podcasts, and spend time with her family.  She is the designer and owner of Pinky’s Shoebags, a novel storage solution for the woman who can never have too many shoes.

Author Kit Tahmina Watson