The “firsts” are many: Kerala-born Rachel Kunjummen Paulose was the first Indian-American to be nominated by the U.S.
Now that we have a larger voice in the future of this country, it’s even more important for us to have a voice in law and policy.”Īs the above examples show, tremendous strides have been made by India-born women lawyers in the U.S. When I co-founded Sakhi (a women’s rights group) 25 years ago, Indian-American women in the legal sphere played an essential role in protecting women. Indian Americans have benefited from many of these struggles. Mallika Dutt, an award-winning human rights activist and founder-president of Breakthrough, a human rights organisation, says, “The American legal system has historically been a critical space for establishing human rights for multiple communities. How have so many Indian-American women lawyers become successful in the U.S. Singh, who graduated from the Boston University School of Law and specialised in white collar criminal defence in a major law firm in Boston, is the former founding president of the South Asian Bar Association of Greater Boston and the current president of the North American South Asian Bar Association.Īdding to the growing number of achievers is Ushir Pandit, Senior Assistant District Attorney, Queens DA, who has just been nominated as a Judge for the Queens County Civil Court in New York. He was convicted of first-degree murder and sentenced to life in prison without parole. 4 inches tall and known as a “gentle teddy bear”, brutally stabbed his best friend’s mother more than 60 times several years ago. She is especially known for being responsible for convicting Eddie O’Brien in the high-profile juvenile murder case that shook Somerville city in Massachusetts.īrien, 15 years old, 6 ft. Attorney’s office in Boston, focuses on human trafficking. Singh, who has served as a Prosecutor in the U.S. Bihar-born Sabita Singh became the first judge of South Asian descent in the history of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. Rajeswari is not the only Indian-born lawyer to create history in the judiciary in the United States. I want to ensure that the multiethnic population that forms the foundation of NYC is treated fairly and provided access to resources including language interpreters early and often in the process.” The fact that there are only two judges and no women judges is not okay. Says Rajeswari about her historic appointment: “New York is multicultural and multiethnic. He was the first to be convicted under the Predatory Sexual Assault law in 2009. Rosario, “the poster child of predatory sexual assault”, as Rajeswari calls him, was accused of raping children and videotaping hundreds of others. I told the Mayor that this is not only my American Dream, but it shows another girl from a faraway country that this is possible.”įor 43-year-old Rajeswari whose interest lies in cases involving women and children, the famous Carlos Rosario case was a turning point. “For someone like me, an immigrant who comes from India, I’m beyond grateful. It’s way beyond what I imagined,” she told, a Staten Island news website. In April this year, Chennai-born Raja Rajeswari, a graduate of Brooklyn Law School, made front page headlines as the first Indian-born woman to be appointed a judge in New York City (NYC). What makes Indian-American women so phenomenally successful in the American judiciary?