Harrison-Stein, PC Managing Partner Nick Harrison has been named a finalist for the Washington Blade’s 2026 Best of LGBTQ DC “Best Lawyer” award, part of the newspaper’s annual readers’ choice celebration recognizing people, organizations, businesses, and institutions across Washington’s LGBTQ community.
For Harrison, the nomination carries particular meaning because Washington was not always home. When he arrived in the District in 2013, he was starting over in a new city, renting a small carriage house apartment behind the historic Shehan Mansion near Dupont Circle, signing up for kickball, joining a gym, and trying to find his place in Washington.
“Thirteen years ago, I was just trying to build a life here,” Harrison wrote after learning of the nomination. “I never expected anything like this.”
A Washington Story Rooted in Community
Harrison’s connection to Washington’s LGBTQ community began not through law practice, but through community life. He became involved with Stonewall Kickball, eventually serving as the league’s Treasurer, and later served as an officer and member of the Board of Directors of the DC Center for the LGBTQ+ Community.
Not long after arriving in Washington, Harrison took on one of his first cases as an attorney, representing Oklahoma Daily journalist Joey Stipek in Stipek v. University of Oklahoma. Stipek was seeking university parking records to investigate whether student athletes received preferential treatment, but the University had refused to disclose the records, citing federal student-privacy law. The resulting open-records litigation challenged the University’s interpretation of FERPA and became an important early case in Harrison’s career involving transparency, institutional accountability, and the public’s right to information.
After establishing himself in Washington, Harrison founded Harrison-Stein, PC, building a practice focused in significant part on serving small businesses, nonprofit organizations, and individuals in the local community.
“Much of the work I’m proudest of has been in service to LGBTQ nonprofit organizations and the people who rely on them,” Harrison wrote on LinkedIn, “helping institutions navigate difficult moments, strengthen their governance, protect their missions, and continue serving the community.”
Challenging the Military’s HIV Policy
Harrison’s challenge to the military’s HIV policy began years before the lawsuit itself. He helped build a nationwide coalition of servicemembers living with HIV, worked with national advocacy organizations, and pressed congressional offices to confront policies that treated otherwise qualified troops as categorically unfit for deployment and commissioning. After the Army denied him a commission in the Judge Advocate General’s Corps because of his HIV status, Harrison became the named plaintiff in Harrison v. Austin, turning years of advocacy into a direct legal challenge to the policy that had blocked his own career.
In 2022, the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia struck down the challenged restrictions and ordered the Army to reconsider Harrison’s commission without relying on them. The ruling was followed by a Department of Defense policy change allowing servicemembers with well-controlled HIV to deploy worldwide and commission as officers, transforming a personal fight for equal treatment into a broader victory for servicemembers across the country.
Harrison subsequently commissioned as an Army Judge Advocate, nearly a decade after the Army first selected him for the JAG Corps. He currently serves as a JAG officer assigned to the Trial Defense Service Office of the District of Columbia National Guard, where he represents Soldiers facing adverse administrative and disciplinary actions.
Serving Washington’s LGBTQ Community
His legal work in Washington has also included extensive pro bono service as counsel to the Wanda Alston Foundation during the Casa Ruby receivership. After Casa Ruby collapsed, Harrison helped the receiver secure abandoned facilities, protect highly sensitive client records, identification documents, immigration materials, benefits correspondence, and undelivered mail, and preserve the privacy and dignity of vulnerable former clients while the organization’s finances and operations were investigated. He has also served as Outside General Counsel to the Cherry Fund and Capital Pride Alliance.
In 2026, Harrison published Blood & Honor, a memoir recounting his military service, his fight to become an Army officer, and the litigation that challenged the military’s treatment of servicemembers living with HIV. The book received the 2026 Independent Publisher Book Awards Gold Medal for LGBTQ+ Non-Fiction.
Through those roles, Harrison’s work has repeatedly returned to a common theme: institutions matter, and the people entrusted with leading them have a responsibility to make those institutions live up to the values they profess.
“That work has not always been easy, but it has been deeply meaningful,” Harrison wrote in announcing the nomination. “One of the best parts of it has been getting to know so many people across Washington who care deeply about building stronger institutions and making this community a better place to live.”
Voting Continues Through October 8
Finalist voting for the Washington Blade’s 2026 Best of LGBTQ DC awards continues through October 8, 2026.
Vote for Nick Harrison for Best Lawyer:
https://washblade.survey.fm/2026-best-of-lgbtq-dc-finalist-voting
The Washington Blade will honor the winners at its Best of LGBTQ DC Awards Party on Thursday, October 22, with the annual Best of LGBTQ DC special issue released on Friday, October 23.
Harrison lives with his husband, Baraq, and their two cats, Socks and Yuki, in Washington’s Mount Pleasant neighborhood.
“It means a great deal to have that work recognized by the community itself,” Harrison said. “I’m grateful for the nomination, and even more grateful for the opportunity to keep contributing.”
