Surabhi Dhar

Surabhi Dhar is a Litigation Fellow at Sanford Heisler Sharp.

Surabhi received her law degrees from the National University of Juridical Sciences, India (B.A. LL.B. (Hons.)) and Harvard Law School (LL.M.). At Harvard Law School, Surabhi was a Student Attorney at the Harvard Prison Legal Assistance Project and at the Berkman Klein Center for Internet and Society’s Cyberlaw Clinic. During her first degree of law at National University of Juridical Sciences, Surabhi was the Associate Editor of the Journal of Indian Law and Society, founding member of the Gender and Sexuality forum and Co-Convenor of the Literary and Debating Society.

Qualified to practice in India since 2016, Surabhi will be applying for admission to the New York Bar. Prior to her LL.M. studies, Surabhi was practicing independently in the Courts of New Delhi primarily as a criminal lawyer, where she also gained substantial experience litigating civil rights, constitutional law, family law, and sexual harassment cases. Surabhi has drafted one of the first petitions seeking marriage equality for LGBTQIA+ persons in India and was part of the team that is currently litigating the case in Indian courts. Surabhi also co-founded a professional network of women criminal lawyers in India called Women in Criminal Law Association, and as part of it has written articles critiquing the lack of a formalized procedure to investigate allegations of sexual harassment against sitting Chief Justice(s) of India.

When Surabhi is not lawyering, she enjoys all things water — especially swimming and diving — discovering independent cinema, and practicing yoga.