Zachary M. Nightingale is a California State Bar Certified Specialist in Immigration and Nationality Law. He is a 1996 graduate of Stanford Law School, who received his undergraduate degree from the University of California, Berkeley in 1989, and a Masters degree in Mathematics from Stanford University in 1991. He has been with the firm since 1996. His practice focuses on deportation defense and federal court litigation, with an emphasis on the immigration consequences of criminal convictions. Other specialties include asylum, naturalization, and family-based adjustment of status. A significant part of his practice includes advising non-citizens and their attorneys as to the immigration consequences of pending criminal charges, and how to minimize those consequences.
Since 2003, a few years after joining the firm, he has been a partner at Van Der Hout, LLP (previously known as Van Der Hout, Brigagliano & Nightingale, LLP), and is currently the managing partner of the firm.
Mr. Nightingale was honored with the 2003 Jack Wasserman Memorial Award for excellence in litigation from the American Immigration Lawyers Association (AILA), and the 2014 National Immigration Project (NIP-NLG) award of outstanding contributions to the cause of immigrant justice. He has spoken regularly at local and national conferences of AILA, the National Immigration Project of the National Lawyers Guild, and elsewhere, has participated on several AILA committees including the Benefits Litigation Committee (2022-23), Ethics Committee (2018-21), Annual Conference Program Committee (2017, 2010, 2002), Litigation Section Steering Committee (2014-2018), CA Chapters Conference Committee (2016, 2011), and been a mentor to many immigration attorneys. He lends his immigration experience on a pro bono basis by providing regular mentoring to Pangea Legal Services and by serving on the Board of Directors of two nonprofit organizations: the American Immigration Council (since 2012), and the New Breath Foundation (since 2018).
He has litigated a number of important immigration cases which established new Ninth Circuit law and held the government to its legally obligated duties. He has served as an expert witness in both federal and California state courts regarding immigration matters, and has advised hundreds of defendants and their criminal defense counsel regarding the immigration consequences of criminal charges and convictions.
Representative Cases
- Magana-Pizano v. INS, 200 F.3d 603, 1999, 9th Cir.
- Barahona-Gomez v. Reno, 167 F.3d 1228, 1999, 9th Cir.
- Quintero-Salazar v. Keisler, 506 F.3d 688 , 2007, 9th Cir.
- Camins v. Gonzales, 500 F.3d 872 , 2007, 9th Cir
- Li v. Ashcroft, 389 F.3d 892 , 2004, 9th Cir.
- Abebe v. Gonzales, 493 F.3d 1092 , 2007, 9th Cir
- Zheng v. Holder, 644 F.3d 829 (9th Cir. 2011)
- Chen v. Aitken, 917 F.Supp.2d 1013, 2013, N.D. Cal.
Honors & Awards
- Jack Wasserman Memorial Award, American Immigration Lawyers Association
- Named one of the top immigration lawyers by Northern California Super Lawyers 2008-2022 magazine
Professional Associations & Memberships
- American Immigration Lawyers Association, Member, Program Committee
- Mentor in the Area of Immigration Court Litigation,
- American Immigration Counsel, Board of Directors
- New Breath Foundation, Board of Directors
- American Civil Liberties Union, Northern California, Legal Committee
- Bay Area Lawyers for Individual Freedom (BALIF)
- California Attorneys for Criminal Justice
Classes/Seminars
- Speaker, American Immigration Lawyers Association
- Speaker, National Lawyers Guild, National Immigration Project
Published Works
- “An Attorney’s Ethical and Legal Obligations to Pereira-Affected Clients”, AILA Ethics Committee article, September 18, 2018 (AILA Doc. No. 18091831)
- “Practice Advisory: Immigration Risks of Legalized Marijuana” Immigrant Legal Resource Center, January 2018 (co-author). Available at: https://www.ilrc.org/sites/default/files/resources/marijuana_advisory_jan_2018_final.pdf
- “Approaching an Immigration Case as a Litigator”, Immigration Practice Pointers, Tips for Handling Complex Cases, 2012-13 Ed. (AILA)
- “Legal Strategies Involving Motions to Reopen, Reconsider, and Rescind Before the Board of Immigration Appeals”, authored with Avantika Shastri, Immigration and Nationality Law Handbook, 2008-09 Ed. (AILA)
- “Here We Go Again: Motions to Reopen, Reconsider, and Rescind Before the Board of Immigration Appeals”, (Co-Author with Avantika Shastri), Bender’s Immigration Bulletin, Vol. 11, No. 15, Aug., 2006
- “General Notes On Representing Persons Detained By INS, Especially Persons Detained Other Than For Criminal Convictions,”, Guild Practitioner, 2002
- Kurzban, Ira, ed., Immigration Law Sourcebook, 2004-2022 (reviewer)
- AILA’s Immigration Litigation Toolbox: Essential Materials, Administrative and Federal Court Practice, 2005