Amish Doshi becomes first South Asian civil court judge in Queens

Indian American lawyer immigrated from India as a ten-year-old child with his mother and a brother in 1982

By Arun Kumar

Amish Doshi, who immigrated to Queens from India as a child, has become the first South Asian man to serve as a Civil Court judge in the New York City’s largest borough, home to a large number of the community.

Doshi, 52, was inducted into the bench last week inside a courtroom where he will soon preside, watched by his new judicial colleagues, community members, friends, family and elected officials, local media reported.

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“Words cannot express the honor and how humble I feel as I stand here before you as a judge of the Civil Court of New York City,” Doshi told Queens Daily Eagle. “If in 1982 when I first came to this country, when I was 10 years old, somebody said that I would be standing here as the first South Asian man to be elected [as a judge] in Queens, I would have called them delusional, at best.”

A tax lawyer and certified public accountant, Doshi was first nominated to serve on the bench ahead of the 2024 Democratic primary, but was not elected. But following a law passed last year shortly after his electoral loss which expanded the number of positions in the Civil Court, Doshi was nominated again, this time securing enough votes to be elected in November.

Throughout the induction, Doshi was recognized for his work ethic as a lawyer and community member by elected officials and friends, according to the local newspaper.

Councilmember Shekar Krishnan, the first Indian-American elected to city government, also acknowledged the historic nature of Doshi’s judgeship. “I couldn’t be prouder to be here today in this courtroom,” Krishnan said.

Although most of the praise was directed at Doshi, a near equal amount of recognition was for his mother, who immigrated with two young boys to the U.S. from India in the 1980s.

“I owe it all to my mother,” Doshi said, prompting a standing ovation for his mom. “I owe an unmeasurable amount of gratitude to her wisdom, her courage, her sacrifices, her strength and resilience…She had struggled and sacrificed everything for the both of us, and that is unmeasurable.”

Doshi’s induction was not just a big step for the now-judge personally, but for the South Asian community in Queens, who have long fought for increased representation on the bench, Daily Eagle said. That rang true for the South Asian Indo-Caribbean Bar Association, which counts Doshi as a founding member.

“When we started this organization six years ago, we had one judge in Queens County elected from this community,” said lawyer Ali Najmi, the president of the South Asian Indo-Caribbean Bar Association. “Now we are boasting five more judges who have been elected to our membership, and that includes Amish, the first Indian male to be elected to the bench.”