NIDHI DESAI

Nidhi Desai joined the firm in 1998 and handles everything from adoption matters to complex surrogacy and egg donation agreements. In 2004, Nidhi worked closely with Illinois House Representative Barbara Currie in a successful legislative effort to enact "The Gestational Surrogacy Act", the first law of its kind in the nation to recognize the enforceability of contracts between parties in gestational surrogacy arrangements. In addition to being one of the principal authors of the Gestational Surrogacy Act, her testimony in front of the state House and Senate judiciary committees was instrumental in gaining unanimous support for this legislation.

     Nidhi serves on the Executive Committee of the Board of Directors of RESOLVE of Illinois, and is a member of the American Academy of Adoption Attorneys as well as the American Society for Reproductive Medicine (ASRM). On behalf of RESOLVE of Illinois, she co-coordinates and teaches "The Nuts and Bolts of Collaborative Reproduction," a one-day seminar that highlights the psychological, medical and legal issues involved in family building through assisted reproduction.

     Nidhi authored a chapter on surrogacy and assisted reproduction for the 2002 IICLE Practice Handbook on Illinois Adoption Law, and was appointed to a national advisory committee to provide recommendations to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services regarding federal embryo donation policy. She is a frequent speaker on infertility legal issues, both on the local and national levels, addressing medical professionals as well as prospective parents.

     Nidhi obtained her undergraduate degree from Washington University in St. Louis, where she was appointed President of the Mock Trial Association and participated in a number of volunteer activities including Action Against Child Abuse. She then received her law degree in 1997 from Loyola University, where she served as an articles editor for the Loyola Annals of Health Law. Nidhi was a semifinalist in the intraschool moot court competition and successfully represented a client in a pro bono habeas corpus appeal in the Seventh Circuit. In addition, Nidhi is a member of the Illinois State Bar Association and the Chicago Bar Association, where she serves as vice chair of the Adoption Law Committee. Nidhi is also part of the Chicago Area Professionals in Family Building (CAPFAB), an organization formed by psychologists, social workers, and attorneys who work with individuals and couples who have chosen to use reproductive technologies, including egg donation and surrogacy, to build their families.

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