Swethaa Ballakrishnen

Professor of Law

Associate Dean for Faculty Research and Development

By courtesy, Professor of Sociology, Asian American Studies, and Criminology, Law and Society

Co-Director, Center for Empirical Research on the Legal Profession

Co-Director, Center in Law, Society & Culture, and Steering Committee Member, Law, Society, and Culture Emphasis

Co-Convener, Socio-Legal Studies Workshop

Expertise:

Legal Profession, Gender, Critical Feminist and Queer Theory, Global Souths, India

Background:

Swethaa S. Ballakrishnen (they/them) is a socio-legal scholar whose research examines the intersections between law, globalization and stratification from a critical feminist and global south perspective. Particularly, across a range of sites and different levels of analysis, their work interrogates how law and legal institutions create, continue, and counter different kinds of socio-economic inequalities.

Scholarship from Professor Ballakrishnen’s research projects has appeared in, among other journals, Law and Society Review, Law and Social Inquiry, Fordham Law Review, International Journal of the Legal Profession, and the Journal of Professions and Organization. Their first book, Accidental Feminism (Princeton University Press: 2021), unpacks the case of unintentional gender parity among India’s elite legal professionals; a second book Invisible Institutions (Hart Publishing: 2021, ed. with Sara Dezalay) brings together cross-subjective perspectives on legal globalization; and a third book, Gender Regimes and the Politics of Privacy (Zubaan Books, with Kalpana Kannabiran) investigates the gendered legacies of India’s privacy jurisprudence. These strains of research have received a range of honors and awards, including from the National Science Foundation, the American Sociological Association, and the Law and Society Association; and in 2022, Ballakrishnen was awarded the campus-wide UCI Distinguished Early-Career Award for Research. You can read more about their research praxis and commitments here.

Alongside this scholarly output, Professor Ballakrishnen’s research has been featured in a range of professional and popular media including Harvard Business Review, Stanford News Report, Above the Law, Bloomberg Law, Quartz, Law School Transparency Radio, The Practice, New Books Network, and WPR. They have presented research at over 100 conferences worldwide, delivered over 50 invited talks in a range of academic and professional settings, and their legal opinions on family and financial laws have been cited by the Probate and Family Court of Massachusetts and the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit respectively.

Professor Ballakrishnen is committed to building and serving socio-legal communities, especially ones that focus on critical questions concerning legal education and the profession. At UCI, they co-run the Center for Empirical Research on the Legal Profession, the Socio-Legal Studies Workshop, and the Law, Society, and Culture Emphasis. In addition, beyond UCI, they are affiliated faculty at the Harvard Law School Center on the Legal Profession, on the board of trustees of the Law and Society Association (LSA) and the ISA Research Committee on Sociology of Law, a co-founder of the LSA Collaborative Research Network on Legal Education, and on the Executive Committee of the AALS Section on Empirical Study of Legal Education and the Legal Profession. In 2017-18, they were the AccessLex Visiting Scholar on Legal Education at the American Bar Foundation. In 2020, Professor Ballakrishnen was named a AALS Teacher of the Year.

For over a decade before entering academia full-time, Professor Ballakrishnen was a legal intern to Hon’ble Justice Arijit Pasayat of the Supreme Court of India, an international banking associate in Mumbai, and an external consultant for cross-border litigation financing in New York City.

(Log in to view full course descriptions in the UCI Law Course Catalog)

Books

Book Chapters

Articles

Textbooks and Casebooks

Invited Talks

  • Oct. 19-22, 2022:
    Annual Conference on South Asia, Madison
  • Oct. 18-19, 2022:
    Fordham Law Review Symposium, New York
  • Aug. 13-15, 2022:
    International Legal Ethics Conference, UCLA
  • Aug. 5-8, 2022:
    American Sociological Association Annual Conference, Los Angeles
  • July 29, 2022:
    Panelist, Trans Law Institute Annual Conference, Los Angeles
  • July 26-28, 2022:
    Panelist, Transnational Contact Zones: African and South Asian Sexualities and Genders, Future Africa Campus, University of Pretoria
  • July 13-16, 2022:
    Law and Society Association Annual Conference, University Institute of Lisbon
  • July 9-11, 2022:
    Society for the Advancement of Socio-Economics, University of Amsterdam
  • July 6-8, 2022:
    European Conference on Politics and Gender, University of Ljubljana
  • June 16, 2022:
    Association for the Study of Law, Culture, and Humanities Annual Conference
  • May 30, 2022:
    Accidental Feminism Book Talk, Åbo Akademi University, Turku
  • May 26, 2022:
    Accidental Feminism Book Talk, Copenhagen Business School, Denmark
  • May 25, 2022:
    Accidental Feminism Book Talk, Lund University School of Law, Sweden
  • May 24, 2022:
    Sociology Seminar Series, Lund University, Sweden
  • April 21, 2022:
    Gender and Political Economy Roundtable, Georgetown University
  • April 12, 2022:
    Anthropology and Sociology Seminar Series, Graduate Institute Geneva
  • April 11, 2022:
    Centre en Études Genre Seminar Talk, University of Lausanne 
  • April 8, 2022:
    Accidental Feminism Book Talk, Institute of Asian and Oriental Studies, Zurich
  • March 17, 2022:
    Faculty Workshop, University of California Davis School of Law
  • March 4, 2022:
    Law Review Annual Symposium, Texas A+M School of Law
  • Feb. 28, 2022:
    Faculty Workshop, Cardozo School of Law
  • Feb. 15, 2022:
    Department Colloquia, Brown University Sociology
  • 2021:
    2nd Annual SALSA Conference, Keynote, Penn Law School (virtual)
  • 2021:
    Wilkins & Fong Legal Profession Seminar, Harvard Law School (virtual)
  • 2021:
    Harvard Business Review Women At Work (virtual)
  • 2021:
    Queering Class Roundtable, University of Kansas Law School (virtual)
  • 2021:
    AFL-CIO Union Lawyers Alliance National Conference (virtual)
  • 2021:
    Mertz Law and Anthropology Seminar, Chicago Anthropology (virtual)
  • Dec. 14, 2021:
    Presenter, Accidental Feminism, National Law School of India Public Lecture Series, Online
  • Dec. 9, 2021:
    Presenter, Accidental Feminism, New York University, Abu Dhabi, Online
  • Dec. 9, 2021:
    Law Gender and Popular Culture Panel, NYUAD (virtual)
  • Nov. 18, 2021:
    Presenter, Young Arbitral Women Practitioners Panel, Online
  • Nov. 14, 2021:
    Presenter, Fordham Law School Faculty Workshop, Online
  • Oct. 14, 2021:
    Faculty Workshop, Fordham Law School
  • Sep. 21, 2021:
    Women in Law and Legacies of Socioeconomic Inequality in India, Hopkins at Home Speaker Series (virtual)
  • Sept. 9, 2021
    Panelist, Women in Law Conference, Online
  • April 26, 2021:
    Law and Political Economy Conference, Yale Law School (virtual, recording)
  • Aug. 6-10, 2021
    Featured Speaker, American Sociological Association Annual Meeting, Online
  • July 5, 2021
    Featured Speaker, Society for the Advancement of Socio-Economics Conference, Online
  • June 22, 2021
    Featured Speaker, South Asian Bar Association North America Conference, Online
  • June 10, 2021
    Featured Speaker, AALS Workshop for Beginner Empiricists, Online
  • May 31, 2021
    Featured Speaker, Suites, Streets and States Plenary, American Bar Foundation, Online
  • May 27-30, 2021
    Featured Speaker, Law and Society Annual Meeting, Online
  • May 10, 2021:
    Center for South Asia, Stanford University (virtual, recording)
  • April 30, 2021
    Featured Speaker, landing: Unpacking empire and ourselves I, Socio-Legal Studies Workshop and University Art Gallery, Online
  • April 29, 2021
    Featured Speaker, "Accidental Feminism: Gender Parity and Selective Mobility Among India's Professional Elite," Center for South Asia, Stanford University, Online
  • April 26, 2021
    Panelist, LPE, Inclusion & Public Law, Law and Political Economy Conference, Online
  • March 30, 2021
    Featured Speaker, Accidental Feminism, Centre for Law & Social Change, City University of London, Online
  • March 11, 2021:
    American Bar Foundation & UCI CERLP Book Celebration (virtual)
  • March 5, 2021
    Featured Speaker, Harvard Business Review Women at Work: Women in Law Connect, Online
  • January 17, 2021
    "Presumed Intolerant: Muslim Lawyers and Blasé Discrimination," Race, Racism, and Law Workshop, Duke University School of Law
  • November 17, 2020
    "Accidental Feminism," UC Berkeley School of Law Faculty Workshop
  • March 3, 2020
    "International JD Students in US Law Schools," Center on the Legal Profession, Harvard Law School, Cambridge, MA
  • Dec. 4, 2019
    "A Conversation with Marc Galanter: Reflections on a Life in Legal Studies, Asian Studies and the Sudy of Social Inequality," NYU Abu Dhabi Global Asia Initiative, Abu Dhabi, UAE
  • Dec. 4, 2019
    "Bhopal, Thirty Five Years After," NYU Abu Dhabi Global Asia Initiative, Abu Dhabi, UAE
  • Nov. 8, 2019 
    “Leading Differently Across Difference: Intersectional Gendered Alterities,” Freedman Institute National Leadership Conference. Association of the Bar of the City of New York, New York
  • Oct. 7 & 17, 2019“Accidental Equality: Rethinking Frameworks of Legal Institutions in the Global South”
    • Korea University-UCI Symposium. Korea University Law School, Seoul
    • Global and International Studies Forum. University of California, Irvine
  • Sept. 7, 2019
    “Difference Blindness v. Bias Awareness: Why Law Firms With Good Diversity Intentions Still Fail,” LA County Bar Association Diversity Conference, Loyola Law School, Los Angeles
  • March 8 & June 8-9, 2019
    “It is Not (Unless It Is) Discrimination: Model Rules 8.4(g), 1.16, and The Idea Of Good Counsel”
    • Legal Ethics Schmooze. University of California Irvine School of Law, Irvine
    • Third Annual Legal Ethics Conference. California Western School of Law, San Diego 
  • Feb. 21, 2019
    "Intentional Invisibility: Professional Women and the Navigation of Workplace Constraints,"Invited Speaker, Center for the Legal Profession, Stanford Law School, Stanford
  • Dec. 6, 2018
    Transnational Feminisms: Building Solidarities Across Regions and Disciplinary Perspectives. NYU Abu Dhabi, Abu Dhabi, UAE
  • March 14, 2018
    “Just Like Global Firms: Unintended Gender Parity and Speculative Isomorphism in India’s Legal Profession.” Carlos III-Juan Institute Comparative Sociology Speaker Series. Madrid, Spain
  • Dec. 16, 2017
    “The Corporate Legal Sector’s Impact on India.” HLS GLEE Book Launch Conference. Delhi, India
  • Dec. 8-9, 2017
    “Regulation of Legal and Judicial Services.” Stein Center for Law and Ethics. Fordham Law School, New York City
  • July 21-22, 2017
    “Women Legal Academics in India: Who They Are and Where you Need to Look for Them.” Legal Ethics Schmooze. UCLA School of Law, Los Angeles 
  • March 3-4, 2017
    “The Importance of Being International?” Legal Education in Crisis Conference. American Bar Foundation, Chicago
  • May 4 & Oct. 8, 2016
“Doing Gender Differently: India’s Elite Professional Firms As Petri Dishes For Nouveau Essentialism”
  • ABF Speaker Series. American Bar Foundation, Chicago
  • Inequality Speaker Series. Lingnan University, Hong Kong
  • March 10, 2016
    “The Gendered Ideal Worker: Globalization, Gender and Labor In The Legal Profession.” Department of Law & Cynthia Nelson Institute for Gender Studies, American University in Cairo, Egypt
  • Dec. 14-15, 2015
    “Why Hari And Kumar (Don’t) Come To Australia: The Comparative Case of International Law Students.” Symposium on International Law Students, University of New South Wales Law School, Australia
  • 2014-5
“Same Same But Different: New Firms, Transitional Markets and Gender Egalitarianism.”
  • Cambridge Judge Business School Research Seminar Series. Cambridge University, UK
  • The City Law School’s Critical Corporation Workshop Series. City University, UK
  • Stanford Center for South Asia Brown Bag Series. Stanford University, Palo Alto 
  • Harvard Law School Center on the Legal Profession Speaker Series. Harvard Law School, Cambridge

Conference Presentations

  • 2022-2023 Distinguished Early-Career Faculty Award for Research, UCI Academic Senate
  • 2022 Honorable Mention for Herbert Jacob Book Prize, Law and Society Association