Astha Sharma Pokharel

Astha Sharma Pokharel is a staff attorney at the Center for Constitutional Rights, where she is an expert in issues of abusive immigration practices, corporate human rights abuses, criminalizing dissent, and Palestinian solidarity. 

Her notable cases include Bronner v. Duggan, which challenged legal attacks towards activists, academics, and organizations for their advocacy on behalf of Palestinian rights, and White Hat v. Murrill, where she represented Louisianan residents of Cancer Alley who resisted the petrochemical industry. In 2020, Sharma Pokharel worked on the team that challenged the detention of immigrants during the COVID-19 pandemic in Dada v. Witte.

Before her role as a staff attorney, Sharma Pokharel was a Bertha Justice Fellow at the CCR and a Clinical Teaching Fellow at the International Human Rights Law Clinic at UC Berkeley Law. She also served as a Global Programs Fellow at Namati, an organization focusing on legal empowerment around the world.