Nelson A. Castillo is the Immediate Past National President of the Hispanic National Bar Association (HNBA). Founded in 1972, the HNBA is an incorporated, non-profit, national association representing the interests of over 38,000 U.S. Hispanic attorneys, judges, law professors, law students, legal assistants and legal administrators. Mr. Castillo joined the HNBA as a law student in 1995 and served as Region I President of the HNBA Law Student Division. Mr. Castillo’s most recent positions in the HNBA were serving as National President and Chair of the Immigration Law Committee, National President-Elect, 2004 Convention Chair and New York Region President.
The HNBA serves as the national voice for the concerns and opinions of Hispanics in the community generally, and in the legal profession in particular. The HNBA’s mission includes preserving the recruitment and retention of Hispanics in law schools and provides them with financial assistance and working with other bar associations, governmental agencies and community groups to achieve greater involvement in and understanding of the American legal system by the national Hispanic community.
During Mr. Castillo’s term as national president of the HNBA, the Association advocated for comprehensive immigration reform; the appointment of a Hispanic to the United States Supreme Court; greater judicial independence; the modernization of telecommunications laws without eroding anti-discrimination provisions that protect Hispanic and other underserved consumers; federal legislation to fund and strengthen state programs that provide services to youth-at-risk, including Hispanic youth; a fair process to enable the U.S. Citizens of Puerto Rico to select non-territorial status options; and greater diversity in law schools, law firms, board rooms, executive suites, corporate legal departments and federal and state governments.
Nelson A. Castillo is also principal of the Castillo Law Firm, PLLC, a general practice law office in Roslyn Heights, New York that provides representation in the areas of real estate, business organizations and immigration and naturalization law. Mr. Castillo has experience in representing clients in immigration matters related to applications for nonimmigrant visas, lawful permanent residence through family, employment or NACARA, adjustment of status, consular processing, temporary protected status and naturalization. He also advises buyers and sellers of residential real estate through the entire real estate transaction, from pre-contract to post-closing.
Mr. Castillo graduated cum laude from St. John’s University and received his Juris Doctor degree from St. John’s University School of Law, where he was a Dean’s Fellow and a Member of the Student Bar Association. Prior to founding the Castillo Law Firm, Mr. Castillo provided legal consulting services to leading international law firms and corporations. In addition, he has served as a Legal Intern at the United States Securities and Exchange Commission, the New York Stock Exchange, the New York Mercantile Exchange and the Chambers of the Honorable Deborah A. Batts, United States District Court, Southern District of New York.
Mr. Castillo is admitted to practice in the State of New York and the United States District Courts for the Southern and Eastern Districts of New York. He is a Member of various professional organizations including the New York State Bar Association, the Puerto Rican Bar Association and the St. John’s University School of Law Alumni Association. In addition to serving as Immediate Past National President of the HNBA, Mr. Castillo is a Member of the House of Delegates, the Executive Committee of the Real Property Law Section and the Committee on Leadership Development and Diversity of the New York State Bar Association. Mr. Castillo is a former Member of the American Bar Association’s Presidential Advisory Council on Diversity in the Profession, the Executive Council of the Network of Bar Leaders, Inc. and the Board of Directors of the Hispanic National Bar Foundation. Mr. Castillo was recently named to Hispanic Business magazine’s “100 Influentials List 2006” and he is listed in Who's Who in American Law® 2005-2006. Finally, Mr. Castillo has been honored by the New York County Lawyers’ Association, the New York City Bar Association, the Hispanic National Bar Association, the Dominican Bar Association, the Latino Lawyers Association of Queens County, the Puerto Rican Bar Association, St. John’s University School of Law, the Latin American Law Students Association of Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law, the New York Immigration Coalition and the Consulate of El Salvador in Long Island for his enthusiastic commitment and contributions to the legal profession and pro bono service to the indigent, low-income and other persons in need.
