Born in rural Bihar, Sabita Singh came to this country as a child with her family. She was raised in rural Pennsylvania, went to Pennsylvania State University where she got her Bachelor's Degree in the Administration of Justice. Later she got her law degree from Boston University School of Law and then did a clerkship with the Massachusetts Superior Court. Later she became an Assistant District Attorney in the Middlesex County District Attorney's Office where she did both trials and appeals. She was on the office's search warrant, public records and open meeting law teams and was the point person in the office on juvenile, school and hate crimes issues.

She was also the Legal Director to Project Alliance, a youth crime prevention initiative. She worked on several very high profile cases in the office, including the Eddie O'Brien juvenile murder case out of Somerville. That case was tried by the District Attorney and covered by Court TV. Issues in the case took her to the Supreme Judicial Court numerous times before she finally secured a conviction for first degree murder.

Her last case in the District Attorney's Office was the Louise Woodward baby murder case where she argued the case before the Supreme Judicial Court. She later joined Bingham McCutchen LLP, an 850-attorney international firm, where she was involved in the White Collar Crime and Business Regulation group.

In her criminal practice, she represented clients before state and federal courts and advised clients on internal investigations. In her civil practice, Singh concentrated on product liability and consumer class-action suits.

She is the founder of SABA Boston and its first President. Her nomination for judgeship was endorsed by Annapoorni Shankaran, President of SABA; Janice Howe, a Partner at Bingham McCutchen; Anu Bandopadhay, President of the Asian American Support and Resource Agency’ Attorney Wendy Millette of Holland & Knight; and Marty Murphy, a Partner ay Foley Hoag.
   


Lokvani: Congratulations on your appointment. You made history by becoming the first Judge of South Asian origin in Massachusetts. How does that feel?

SS: The whole thing has not yet sunk in. It is a great professional accomplishment for me. I consider a judgeship to be the highest honor in the legal profession. I consider a judge to be an ambassador to the public and hence it is a wonderful position to be in.

As for making history, I can only say that I am so honored to be in that position. I am very proud of by heritage and I am delighted to be a representative of South Asian origin in the judicial system. The community support I have received for my nomination is a clear indication that the entire community is a part of this opportunity.

Lokvani: Could you describe your background and how you got interested in pursuing a career in law?
SS: My parents came from an agricultural family in rural Bihar.   My father got an opportunity to work in the United States. We came to a small town in Pennsylvania called Clearfield. As children, we had all the joys and the challenges of growing up in two cultures.  During my days as an undergraduate, I stated getting interested in issues of social justice and law and order issues. My parents did not quite understand my interest and were concerned about career options. By the end of my undergraduate, I was quite clear that I wanted to be a lawyer and sought admission to law school.   I had the academic interest in studying different aspects of law. I have practiced different aspects of law and becoming a judge is a next step.

Lokvani: What motivated you to found SABA Boston?
SS: There were a number of experiences after that which reinforced the need in my mind for an association of South Asian attorneys. For example, I was once in a government building bathroom, where a woman in a sari came in crying. She told me about how her husband had turned her out of the house because he had taken on a girlfriend, and the woman was living in her daughter's college dormitory. She didn't know where to begin to assert her rights. There was another time where I read about an Indian child whose parents were both imprisoned. The state placed the child with an American family, stating that they could not locate any relatives, although the child had relatives in India. I couldn't help but wonder what might have happened had there been some South Asian advocacy in the case. So there were many instances like that.

A few years ago, I was contacted by Navneet Chugh, an attorney in California. He contacted a few of us South Asian attorneys in Boston and told us of his desire to form a national organization of local South Asian bar associations. There were already some well-established South Asian bar associations in other cities, and we took up his call to form one in Boston.

Through a couple of years of hard work and perseverance on the part of the founding members, we formed a 10 member governing board with a distinguished Board of Advisors, and we gathered together about 150 South Asian attorneys in the greater Boston area. It turned out that this group of attorneys were thrilled to meet each other and energized to get involved with the South Asian community.

Lokvani: Could you describe the activities of SABA?
SS: On the local level, SABA serves attorneys, law students and the greater South Asian community by providing networking opportunities, mentoring programs, attorney referrals and pro bono services. On the national level, the National South Asian Bar Association or NASABA, serves these same constituents by intervening in certain criminal cases involving South Asian victims of hate crimes, commenting on pending immigration legislation effecting our community, providing educational workshops on legal rights for South Asian immigrants, holding an annual national convention, submitting amicus briefs on issues of import to the South Asian community and organizing nonpartisan efforts to increase the number of South Asians on the bench.  SABA was very helpful to me to understand the process of nomination to judgeship and their support was crucial in my getting this honor.

Lokvani: What is your ambitious for the future?
SS: I hope I can prove my ability to be a fair and good judge. I am really looking forward to welcoming members of the community at large into the court room. If I can convince the community that we have a just society, I would feel like I have done my job well.

Lokvani: Do you have advice for the younger generation?
SS: Growing up in two cultures is never easy. I would suggest making peace with your parents as soon as possible. I would encourage people to get into law practice particularly family law. There is a great deal of good you can do as a lawyer. So do not count that out of your career options.

Lokvani: Thank you for your time.
SS: Thank you.

|