Swethaa Ballakrishnen
Faculty Fellow, NYU Abu Dhabi
Affiliated Fellow, Harvard Law School Center on the Legal Profession
Expertise:
Legal Profession, Gender and the Law, Comparative Family Law, International Migration, International Business Transactions, Law and Inequality, Law and Society, Empirical Legal Methods, Critical Legal Studies, Feminist and Queer Theory, Emerging Economies, India.
Background:
Swethaa S. Ballakrishnen is a socio-legal scholar whose research examines the intersections between law, globalization and stratification from a critical feminist 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. Together, these motivations have resulted in three main areas of empirical inquiry. The first is a set of interrelated projects that analyze gender inequality and representation through the lens of comparative legal institutions. The second concentrates on inclusivity in global legal education and the resultant implications for organizational diversity within the legal profession. A third emerging field of interest focuses on transnational migration and its implications for intergenerational mobility, international human rights, and transnational family law.
Scholarship from these projects has appeared (or is forthcoming) 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. 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, and WPR. They have presented research at over 50 conferences worldwide, delivered over 25 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.
In addition to their position at NYU Abu Dhabi, Professor Ballakrishnen is an affiliated fellow at the Harvard Law School Center on the Legal Profession, a co-founder of the Law and Society Collaborative Research Network on Legal Education, and a board member of the ISA Research Committee on Sociology of Law. In 2017-18, they were the AccessLex Visiting Scholar on Legal Education at the American Bar Foundation. 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.
Current Courses:
Legal ProfessionPrior Courses:
Family Law, International Financial and Business Transactions, Legal Methods, Legal Ethics and Professional Responsibility, Social Stratification, Sociolegal Research Methods
- Ballakrishnen, Swethaa. 2019. “Present and Future: A Revised Sociological Portrait of the Indian Legal Profession.” Forthcoming in Lawyers in 21st Century Society. Eds. Rick Abel, Ole Hammerslev, Hilary Sommerlad, and Ulrike Schultz. Hart Publishing
- Ballakrishnen, Swethaa. 2019. “Just Like Global Firms: Unintended Parity and Speculative Isomorphism in India’s Elite Professions.” Forthcoming at Law and Society Review
- Ballakrishnen, Swethaa and Carole Silver. 2019. “A New Minority: International JD Students in US Law Schools.” Forthcoming at Law and Social Inquiry
- Ballakrishnen, Swethaa. 2018. Review of Ratna Kapur, Gender, Alterity and Human Rights: Freedom in a Fish Bowl. Feminist Legal Studies 27 (1): 1-6.
- Ballakrishnen, Swethaa, Priya Fielding-Singh, and Devon Magliozzi. 2018. “Intentional Invisibility: Professional Women and the Navigation of Workplace Constrains.” Sociological Perspectives 62 (1): 23-41.
- Ballakrishnen, Swethaa. 2018. “Nevertheless They Persisted: Gendered Frameworks and Socialization Advantages in Indian Professional Service Firms.” Canadian Review of Sociology 55 (3): 343-361.
- Silver, Carole and Swethaa Ballakrishnen. 2018. “Sticky Floors, Springboards, Stairways and Slow Escalators: Mobility Pathways and Preferences of International Students in U.S. Law Schools.” University of California Irvine Journal of International, Transnational and Comparative Law 3 (39): 101-132.
Casebook Reproduction: Southworth and Fisk Legal Profession (2019) - Ballakrishnen, Swethaa. 2017. "She Gets The Job Done: Entrenched Gender Meanings and New Returns to Essentialism in India’s Elite Law Firms.” Journal of Professions and Organization 4 (3): 324-42.
2017/18 JPO Best Paper Award - Ballakrishnen, Swethaa. 2017. “Women in India’s "Global" Law Firms: Comparative Gender Frames and the Advantages of New Organizations.” The Indian Legal Profession in the Age of Globalization. Eds. David B. Wilkins, Vikramaditya S. Khanna and David Trubek. Cambridge University Press, pp. 240-63.
- Ballakrishnen, Swethaa. 2016. “India (International) Inc.: Global Work and the (Re-)Organization of Professionalism in Emerging Economies.” The Routledge Companion to the Professions and Professionalism. Eds. Mike Dent, Ivy Bourgeault, Jean-Louis Denis and Ellen Kuhlmann. Routledge, pp. 265-82.
- Pearce, Russell, Eli Wald, and Swethaa Ballakrishnen. 2015. “Difference Blindness v. Bias Awareness: Why Law Firms with the Best of Intentions Have Failed to Create Diverse Partnerships.” 83 Fordham Law Review 2407-55.
Casebook Reproduction: Southworth and Fisk Legal Profession (2019)
Invited Talks
- 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
- 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
- May 30 – June 2, 2019
“Diversity and Networking in Law School: Are Students from Diverse Backgrounds Disadvantaged?” Law and Society Association Annual Meeting, Washington D.C. - June 19-21, 2019
“Invisible Institutions: Rethinking Categories and Conversations.” Research Committee on Sociology of Law Annual Meeting, International Institute for the Sociology of Law, Oñati - June 8, 2018
“Queer Theory of Law and Global Political Economy.” Law and Society Association Annual Meeting, Toronto, Canada - June 7, 2018
“Sticky Floors, Springboards, Stairways & Slow Escalators: Mobility Pathways and Preferences of International Students in U.S. Law Schools.” Law and Society Association Annual Meeting, Toronto, Canada - Aug. 12-15, 2017
"Gen(der) X: New Cultural Revolutions In The Global South And The Restructuring of Women’s Work.” American Sociological Association Annual Meeting, Montreal, Canada - June 20-23, 2017
“Present and Future: A Revised Sociological Portrait of the Indian Legal Profession.” Law and Society Association Annual Meeting, Mexico City, Mexico - Jan. 22-25, 2017
“Beyond Boom, Doom and Balance: India’s Elite Professional Women and The Selective Transformation of Latent Social Capital.” XV National Conference on Women’s Studies, Chennai, India - Aug. 20-23, 2016
“Nothing Ventured, Something Gained: Families, Firms and the Advantage of Absent Social Movements Among India’s Professional Elites.” American Sociological Association Annual Meeting, Seattle - July 14-16, 2016
“Client Relationality as Privilege: The Case of Stratification in Indian Law.” International Legal Ethics Conference, Fordham Law School, New York - June 2-5, 2016
“Present and Future: A Revised Sociological Portrait of the Indian Legal Profession.” Law and Society Association Annual Meeting, New Orleans - May 5-6, 2016
“Mind Your Language: Ascription Metrics and Assimilation Strategies in International Legal Careers” (with Carole Silver). Metrics, Diversity and Law: 2016 Conference of The Research Group on Legal Diversity, American Bar Foundation, Chicago - Jan. 4-5, 2016
“India’s New Professional Elites.” Centre de Sciences Humaines Conference on Elites, Delhi, India - Aug. 22-25, 2015
“Same Same But Different: Unintended Gender Parity in India’s Elite Professions.” Gender and Work Roundtable, American Sociological Association Annual Meeting, Chicago - Aug. 7-11, 2015
“Women in Black.” Diversifying Leadership: Perspectives from Women of Color in the US, India, and South Africa, Academy of Management Annual Meeting, Vancouver, Canada - May 28-31, 2015
“Doing Gender Differently: Transitional Markets and Gender Egalitarianism.” Law and Society Association Annual Meeting, Seattle
- Harvard Business Review: Prof. Ballakrishnen on why women stay out of the spotlight at work
- Stanford Report: Prof. Ballakrishnen on why women stay behind the scenes at work
- Journal of Professions and Organization: Prof. Ballakrishnen wins the 2017/18 JPO Best Paper Award
- Bloomberg Law, Big Law Business: Prof. Ballakrishnen on TV’s influence in the perception of women
- Law School Transparency Radio: LISTEN: Prof. Ballakrishnen discusses how women lawyers are portrayed on TV and in the news
- Quartz India: Prof. Ballakrishnen expert interview: What India’s working women have that Western women don’t
- Harvard Law School, The Practice: Prof. Ballakrishnen expert interview: Women in the global legal profession: The feminization of law worldwide?