Rajan O. Dhungana is a Partner with the Federal Practice Group. He has been practicing primarily in immigration law with extensive trial experience, having won a majority of his cases that have gone to trial. In addition to immigration and trial work, Mr. Dhungana has appealed cases to the Nevada Supreme Court as well as the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals.
Prior to law school, Mr. Dhungana worked extensively in Food and Beverage, Beer distribution and import, Wine distribution and import, and spirits distribution and import. He successfully owned and operated three restaurants in Las Vegas, Nevada, Santa Fe, New Mexico and Durango, Colorado before transitioning to a legal career. Mr. Dhungana has substantial experience in Food, Beverage and Alcohol Law and has successfully represented breweries, wineries, distilleries, distributors, importers, restaurants and liquor stores.
Alcoholic beverages law is unique in the American legal landscape in that it is the only trade product explicitly mentioned in the US constitution, and one of the few products where regulation is primarily under the purview of the individual states vs the federal government. Mr. Dhungana has extensive personal experience navigating the legal landscape in California, Nevada, Colorado and Washington States. He and his team at the Federal Practice Group can help you navigate the complexities of liquor beverage laws throughout the United States.
In addition, Mr. Dhungana and the Federal Practice Group is well-versed in employment issues relating to Food, beverage, or alcohol sales businesses, and can guide clients through immigration laws in the event a business wants to bring talented sommeliers, vintners, brewmasters, distillers, or cicerones to the United States from abroad.
He is fluent in Nepali and Tagalog, having been born in the Philippines and having grown up in Nepal. He is also fluent in Hindi, Norwegian, and Swedish.
Mr. Dhungana graduated from the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) then subsequently attended and graduated from the University of Nevada, Las Vegas (UNLV) William S. Boyd School of Law. During his time in law school, Mr. Dhungana established and organized UNLV’s Volunteer Income Tax Assistance (VITA) program in conjunction with the Internal Revenue Service, and taught tax classes in the greater Las Vegas community, as well as at Nellis U.S. Air Force base, for which Mr. Dhungana earned the Dean’s Award for individual contributions and accomplishments of note to the community.
