Amish Doshi inducted as first Indian American man to serve on Queens’ bench

Amish Doshi was inducted as a Queens Civil Court judge last week. Eagle photo by Ryan Schwach 

By Ryan Schwach

Amish Doshi was inducted as the first South Asian man to serve on the bench in Queens last week inside a courtroom where he will soon preside.

Doshi, who immigrated to Queens from India as a child, was recognized by his new judicial colleagues, community members, friends, family and elected officials on Wednesday as he officially became a Civil Court judge.

“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 said. “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 amount 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.

“He's an accountant, and he went to night school to get his law degree. We have somebody who's truly and uniquely qualified in many different ways, but not just the professional degrees,” said State Senator John Liu. “He works hard. He worked super hard on the campaign trail. He was everywhere.”

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.

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.”

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.”