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Sujit Choudhry

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Sujit Choudhry
Born1970 (age 53–54)[1]
New Delhi, India[2]
Alma materMcGill University (B.Sc.)[3]
University of Oxford (B.A.)
University of Toronto (LL.B.)
Harvard Law School (LL.M.)[4]
Occupation(s)Lawyer, legal scholar
Years active1996–present
AwardsRhodes Scholarship
Cecelia Goetz Professorship
William E. Taylor Memorial Fellowship
Frank Knox Memorial Fellowship[4]
Dean of UC Berkeley School of Law
In office
2014–2016
Preceded byGillian Lester (Interim Dean)
Succeeded byMelissa Murray (Interim Dean)

Sujit Choudhry is a lawyer, legal scholar, and expert in comparative constitutional law.

He is also an internationally recognized authority on comparative constitutional law. For over 20 years, he has been an advisor for constitution building, governance and rule of law processes, including in Cyprus, Egypt, Jordan, Libya, Myanmar, Nepal, South Africa, Sri Lanka, Tunisia, Ukraine and Yemen. He has lectured or spoken in three dozen countries. As a leading expert on the Canadian constitution, Sujit has published over 100 articles, book chapters, working papers, and reports. His work has been cited with approval by the Supreme Court of Canada and other courts across Canada.

In 2016 Choudhry stepped down from his position as dean of the University of California, Berkeley School of Law after sexually harassing an executive assistant.[5][6][7] The case resulted in Choudhry paying a $100,000 settlement but retaining his position on the faculty.[8][9]

Early life

Choudhry was born in New Delhi in 1970.[10] He went to the University of Toronto Schools for high school. He received a B.Sc. in Biology from McGill University in 1992, a B.A. (with first-class honors) in Law from the University of Oxford's University College, in 1994, before attending the University of Toronto, graduating with an LL.B. (with honors) in 1996, and an LL.M. from Harvard Law School in 1998.[11] He was a Rhodes Scholar at the University of Oxford, and had a Frank Knox Memorial Fellowship from Harvard University and the William E. Taylor Memorial Fellowship from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada (SSHRC).[10]

Scholarship

Choudhry is an author of the books The Migration of Constitutional Ideas, Dilemmas of Solidarity, Constitutional Design for Divided Societies, Oxford Handbook of the Indian Constitution, Constitution-Making, Territory and Power in Constitutional Transitions and Security Sector Reform in Constitutional Transitions.

Choudhry co-authored a report titled "Semi-Presidentialism and Inclusive Governance in Ukraine" with Thomas Sedelius and Julia Kyrychenko which was presented in April 2018 before Ukrainian constitutional experts in Kyiv.[12] He is the Director of the Center for Constitutional Transitions.[13]

Sexual harassment complaint and lawsuit

In March 2015, when Choudhry was dean of University of California, Berkeley School of Law, he was accused of sexual harassment by his executive assistant, Tyann Sorrell.[14] Chaudhry did not dispute that the conduct had occurred, but only disputed how often the conduct occurred.[5][6][7] The university's office for the prevention of harassment and discrimination concluded that Choudhry's behavior had violated campus sexual harassment policies.[5][6][7]

In March 2016, Sorrell filed a sexual harassment lawsuit against Choudhry in the Alameda County Superior Court,[15] and against the Regents of the University of California for their failure to respond effectively to her complaint against Choudhry.[16] Choudhry thereafter went on an indefinite leave of absence from his position as dean,[5][6][7][17] but continued to remain a member of faculty.[18] His return to the Berkeley campus in September 2016 as a member of faculty was met by student protests.[16] The lawsuit resulted in settlement agreements, under which Choudhry agreed to pay a total of $50,000 to Sorrell's attorneys, a contribution that his lawyer William Taylor called "relatively minimal." Choudhry also agreed to pay $50,000 to charities of Sorrell's choice.[8][9]

Academic service

Choudhry was the first person of Indian origin to be named dean of a top US law school, and the first I. Michael Heyman Professor of Law at Berkeley's School of Law.[2][13] He was also a recipient of the Trudeau Fellowship and the South Asian Bar Associations of Southern California (SABA-SC) and Northern California (SABA-NC) each awarded him the "Trailblazer Award".[19][20][21]

In 2010, the Trudeau Foundation awarded Choudhry a Trudeau Fellowship.[22] The South Asian Bar Association of Toronto named Choudhry Practitioner of the Year in 2011.[23] In 2015, the South Asian Bar Associations of Southern California (SABA-SC) and Northern California (SABA-NC) each awarded Choudhry the "Trailblazer Award".[24]

Choudhry is the Director of the Center for Constitutional Transitions.[25] The Center for Constitutional Transitions partnered with the International Institute for Democracy and Electoral Assistance (International IDEA) on preparing a set of thematic research reports on constitutional design for Middle East and North Africa (MENA) post Arab Spring.[26] The United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights has cited Choudhry's work in its reports.[27]

In 2005, Choudhry helped to draft a letter to the Canadian Parliament arguing that a proposal to outlaw same-sex marriage was unconstitutional.[28]

Selected publications

  • Choudhry, Sujit (23 August 2006). "Worse than Lochner?". Access to Care, Access to Justice: The Legal Debate over Private Health Insurance in Canada: 75–100. Retrieved 10 December 2017.
  • Sujit Choudhry (2006). The Migration of Constitutional Ideas. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-0521173476.
  • Sujit Choudhry (2006). Dilemmas of Solidarity: Redistribution in the Canadian Federation. Toronto Press. ISBN 978-0802094070.
  • Sujit Choudhry, Michael Pal (2007). Is every ballot equal? : visible-minority vote dilution in Canada. Institute for Research on Public Policy, Montreal. OCLC 246907471.
  • Sujit Choudhry (2008). Constitutional Design for Divided Societies. Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-19-953541-5.
  • Sujit Choudhry (2008). Multinational Federations, Constitutional Amendment and Secession.
  • Choudhry, Sujit; Mehta, P. B.; Khosla, M. (2014). Oxford Handbook of the Indian Constitution. Oxford University Press.
  • Choudhry, Sujit; Ginsburg, Tom (2017). Constitution Making. Edward Elgar Publishing.

References

  1. ^ Frey, Jennifer. "Introducing Sujit Choudhry | NYU Law Magazine". Blogs.law.nyu.edu. Retrieved 11 April 2016.
  2. ^ a b Rajghatta, Chidanand. "Indian-origin scholar Sujit Choudhry becomes dean of top US law school". The Economic Times. Retrieved 25 August 2015.
  3. ^ Deepak Chitnis (1 July 2014). "Sujit Choudhry takes office as Dean of University of California Berkeley School of Law". The American Bazaar. Retrieved 24 January 2017.
  4. ^ a b "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 15 July 2014. Retrieved 3 July 2014.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  5. ^ a b c d "UC Berkeley law dean resigns over sexual harassment lawsuit". the Guardian. Associated Press. 10 March 2016. Retrieved 10 September 2020. A written report from Berkeley's office for the prevention of harassment and discrimination concluded that Choudhry's behavior had violated campus sexual harassment policies. The dean did not dispute the substance of Sorrell's complaint, only whether the physical contact occurred several times a day or a few times a week, the report states.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  6. ^ a b c d "UC Berkeley law dean Sujit Choudhry resigns after sex harassment suit". CBS Local. 10 March 2016.
  7. ^ a b c d "Berkeley law school dean resigns after sexual harassment complaint". CNN.
  8. ^ a b Lee, Chantelle; Lynn, Jessica; Pratt, Pressly (14 April 2017). "UC Board of Regents settles lawsuits with Sujit Choudhry, Tyann Sorrell". The Daily Californian. Retrieved 16 April 2017.
  9. ^ a b Hancock, Ben (15 April 2017). "Berkeley Law, Ex-Dean Settle Suits Over Alleged Sexual Harassment". law.com. ALM Network of Legal Publications, Events, Research, and Intelligence Tools. Retrieved 20 May 2017.
  10. ^ a b Constitutional Scholar Sujit Choudhry New Berkeley Law Dean by Susan Glass
  11. ^ Sujit Choudhry takes office as Dean of University of California Berkeley School of Law by Deepak Chitnis
  12. ^ "Semi-Presidentialism and Inclusive Governance in Ukraine". International Institute for Democracy and Electoral Assistance.
  13. ^ a b "Sujit Choudhry". Institute For Integrated Transitions.
  14. ^ Levin, Sam (26 April 2016). "'I was expendable': how UC Berkeley failed a woman being sexually harassed". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 10 September 2020.
  15. ^ "UC Berkeley's Sujit Choudhry allegedly sexually harassed his employee: What you need to know - World News , Firstpost". Firstpost. 3 October 2016. Retrieved 10 September 2020.
  16. ^ a b "Berkeley Students Protest After Professor Who Violated Sexual Harassment Policy Returns To Campus". BuzzFeed News. Retrieved 10 September 2020.
  17. ^ "UC Berkeley law dean on 'indefinite leave' over sexual harassment suit". The Guardian. Associated Press. 10 March 2016. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 10 September 2020.
  18. ^ Levin, Sam (7 September 2016). "UC Berkeley dean who violated sexual harassment policies returns to campus". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 10 September 2020.
  19. ^ Verma, Sonia (28 September 2010). "Trudeau's legacy pays the way for peace". The Globe and Mail.
  20. ^ Staff Reporter (23 March 2015). "South Asian Attorneys Honored at 22nd Annual SABA-NC Gala". India West. Retrieved 9 September 2017.
  21. ^ Staff Reporter (8 April 2015). "Three Honored At SABA Foundation Event". India Journal. Retrieved 9 September 2017.
  22. ^ Trudeau's legacy pays the way for peace by Sonia Verma
  23. ^ South Asian Bar Association of Toronto names Sujit Choudhry Practitioner of the Year
  24. ^ South Asian Attorneys Honored at 22nd Annual SABA-NC Gala
  25. ^ Institute For Integrated Transitions
  26. ^ Semi-Presidentialism As Power Sharing
  27. ^ Sujit Choudhry named next dean of Berkeley Law | NYU School of Law
  28. ^ "Harper blasted on gay marriage". The Globe and Mail.
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