<p>Lawyer Nisha Rao maneuvers among the throng of black-coated attorneys clustered near Karachi's city courts searching for her client.</p>.<p>But Rao, 28, is not just another lawyer running for a meeting. As Pakistan's first transgender lawyer, she has carved a path from the streets to the courtroom and her example is inspiring other transgender people in the conservative Islamic Republic.</p>.<p>"I am proud to have become Pakistan first transgender lawyer", Rao told Reuters.</p>.<p>Life is hard for transgender persons in Pakistan, where the Supreme Court only allowed them to claim a third gender on their national identity cards in 2009. The parliament just passed a law in 2018 recognising transgender people as an equal citizen and protecting them from discrimination and violence.</p>.<p>Treated as outcasts, many transgender persons are victims of sexual assault and resort to working as wedding dancers or begging to make a living.</p>.<p>Rao also ended up begging on the streets after running away from her middle-class home in the eastern city of Lahore when she was 18 with two other transgender persons.</p>.<p>Arriving in Karachi, Pakistan's largest city, the elder transgender people she sought refuge with advised her to beg or become a sex worker to survive.</p>.<p>Rao stood at traffic lights begging from car to car but was determined to escape that path, eventually using her income to pay for law classes at night.</p>.<p>After several years, she earned a law degree, gaining her law license earlier this year and joining the Karachi Bar Association.</p>.<p>She has contested 50 cases and is working with a non-governmental organisation fighting for transgender rights.</p>.<p>Rao has broadened her clientele to include non-transgender persons<br />“As my case pertains to harassment, I feel that Rao can represent me best since transgenders are subjected to frequent harassment in our society,” said Jeya Alvi, 34, an office secretary meeting Rao for a consultation.</p>.<p>A 2017 census counted 10,418 transgender people out of 207 million in the country, but rights group Charity Trans Action Pakistan estimates there are at least 500,000.</p>.<p>"Rao used to beg here along with us, today she is better than many. But she still helps us, she even responds at midnight (if we contact her)," said Nayab, a transgender beggar who goes by one name.</p>.<p>Rao has even bigger aspirations than becoming an attorney.</p>.<p>“My goal is to become Pakistan’s first transgender judge,” she said.</p>
<p>Lawyer Nisha Rao maneuvers among the throng of black-coated attorneys clustered near Karachi's city courts searching for her client.</p>.<p>But Rao, 28, is not just another lawyer running for a meeting. As Pakistan's first transgender lawyer, she has carved a path from the streets to the courtroom and her example is inspiring other transgender people in the conservative Islamic Republic.</p>.<p>"I am proud to have become Pakistan first transgender lawyer", Rao told Reuters.</p>.<p>Life is hard for transgender persons in Pakistan, where the Supreme Court only allowed them to claim a third gender on their national identity cards in 2009. The parliament just passed a law in 2018 recognising transgender people as an equal citizen and protecting them from discrimination and violence.</p>.<p>Treated as outcasts, many transgender persons are victims of sexual assault and resort to working as wedding dancers or begging to make a living.</p>.<p>Rao also ended up begging on the streets after running away from her middle-class home in the eastern city of Lahore when she was 18 with two other transgender persons.</p>.<p>Arriving in Karachi, Pakistan's largest city, the elder transgender people she sought refuge with advised her to beg or become a sex worker to survive.</p>.<p>Rao stood at traffic lights begging from car to car but was determined to escape that path, eventually using her income to pay for law classes at night.</p>.<p>After several years, she earned a law degree, gaining her law license earlier this year and joining the Karachi Bar Association.</p>.<p>She has contested 50 cases and is working with a non-governmental organisation fighting for transgender rights.</p>.<p>Rao has broadened her clientele to include non-transgender persons<br />“As my case pertains to harassment, I feel that Rao can represent me best since transgenders are subjected to frequent harassment in our society,” said Jeya Alvi, 34, an office secretary meeting Rao for a consultation.</p>.<p>A 2017 census counted 10,418 transgender people out of 207 million in the country, but rights group Charity Trans Action Pakistan estimates there are at least 500,000.</p>.<p>"Rao used to beg here along with us, today she is better than many. But she still helps us, she even responds at midnight (if we contact her)," said Nayab, a transgender beggar who goes by one name.</p>.<p>Rao has even bigger aspirations than becoming an attorney.</p>.<p>“My goal is to become Pakistan’s first transgender judge,” she said.</p>