Nicholas Hersh is an immigration and refugee lawyer at Community Legal Services of Ottawa and professor of the Refugee Sponsorship Support Program course at the University of Ottawa: Faculty of Law. He has worked extensively in refugee private sponsorship since 2010 with Capital Rainbow Refugee, a community group committed to providing a safe haven for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (LGBTQ) refugees. He previously worked in the Protection Division of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) in Rabat, Morocco. Nicholas has published in peer-reviewed journals on credibility and evidentiary challenges facing LGBTQ claimants in refugee law, as well as a chapter on improving UNHCR protection services for LGBTQ refugees. In 2017 and 2018, he delivered professional development trainings to the Immigration and Refugee Board's (IRB) adjudicators, registrar staff, and research directorate on Guideline 9: Proceedings before the IRB Involving Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity and Expression.