Speakers:

Karishma Trivedi, Associate, Crowell & Moring

Karishma Trivedi is an associate in Crowell & Moring's Washington, D.C. office and a member of the firm's Health Care Group. Karishmarepresents health care providers, managed care organizations, and other health care entities in various regulatory, transactional, and litigation matters. Karishma primarily works with health care clients seeking to comply with federal and state laws and regulations or to resolve payor-provider claims disputes.

Before joining Crowell & Moring, Karishma interned with the White House Office of Presidential Personnel Office and the O’Neill Institute for National and Global Health Law. She graduated from the Georgetown University Law Center, where she served as president of the South Asian Law Students Association and was a student attorney with the Health Justice Alliance clinic. Prior to law school, Karishma earned a B.S. in Health Care Management & Policy from Georgetown University and worked in health care consulting, primarily serving hospitals and other provider entities.

Shivani Parikh, Queens Legal Services’ Housing, NASALSA Board of Advisors

Shivani Parikh is a civil rights and racial justice advocate for South Asian American working & immigrant families building power, currently working as a tenant defense lawyer for Queens Legal Services. She was the 2022-2023 president and 2023-2024 board of advisors’ chairwoman of NASALSA. She’s also a co-founder of the South Asian Legal Defense Fund, an Interfaith Center of New York (ICNY) Civic Leadership Academy Fellow, a beVisioneers-Mercedes Benz fellow, a NYC Civic Engagement Commission (CEC) charter-mandated Language Assistance Advisory Committee (LAAC) member, and a 2025 delegate to the United Nations’ Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) Youth Forum. In recognition of her impact, she is on City & State's Queens Power 100 list this year.

Vinanti Pandya, Law Clerk at New Jersey Superior Court, NASALSA Board of Advisors Chairwoman

Vinanti Pandya is currently a law clerk in the New Jersey Superior Court. She graduated from Penn State Dickinson Law and is originally from India but technically from Canada, where she did her undergrad.

Bakhtawar Mirjat, Associate, Chapman and Cutler LLP

Bakhtawar Mirjat is an associate in the Public and Institutional Banking & Finance Group at Chapman and Cutler LLP at their headquarters in Chicago, IL. She graduated from American University in 2019 and earned her J.D. from the University of Illinois College of Law in 2023. During law school, Bakhtawar focused on the intersection of blockchain, fintech and the law. She was on the Board of Directors for the Blockchain Summit at the Gies College of Business, complementing her academic coursework in the field.  

Bakhtawar participated in Chapman’s summer associate program in 2022 before joining the firm as an associate in 2023. She is deeply connected to her South Asian heritage, as a Sindhi – American and participates as a member in the Sindhi Association of North America (SANA). 

 Outside of her legal practice, Bakhtawar is a devoted cat parent to Fazluddin (“Fazli” for short).