About Bardis

Bardis Vakili spent twelve years as an attorney with the ACLU, including eight years as a Senior Staff Attorney at the ACLU of San Diego & Imperial Counties, litigating civil rights cases involving the rights of immigrants, the rights of people impacted by policing and incarceration, and government transparency and accountability. Prior to the ACLU, Bardis was the Political Asylum Director at Casa Cornelia Law Center in San Diego, where he provided free representation to people imprisoned by the government in immigration jails while they seek relief in their immigratioremoval proceedings. He graduated from Tufts University in 1997 and the University of San Diego School of Law in 2006, where he received a Wiley Manuel award for pro bono service.

Awards and Memberships

Bardis has been a part of various litigation teams that have received awards for their work, including:

  • 2018 Attorney of the Year from the San Diego La Raza Lawyers’ Association, awarded to the Ms. L legal team that successfully challenged the family separation policy at the border

  • 2017 California Lawyer Attorney of the Year award from the Daily Journal, awarded to legal team working on the issue of deported United States veterans

  • 2008 Daniel Levy Award from the National Immigration Project of the Lawyer’s Guild, awarded to legal team challenging prolonged immigration detention

Bardis is admitted to practice in the following courts:

  • Supreme Court of the United States

  • United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit

  • United States District Courts for the Southern, Central, Northern, and Eastern Districts of California

  • Supreme Court of California

Bardis is a proud member of the American Immigration Lawyers Association, the National Police Accountability Project of the National Lawyer’s Guild, the National Immigration Project of the National Lawyer’s Guild, the San Diego County Bar Association, and the California Lawyers’ Association

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