Chief Justice of India (CJI) DY Chandrachud has been awarded the “Award for Global Leadership”, which is the highest professional honour bestowed by his alma mater, Harvard Law School.
On January 11 of this year, an online ceremony recognised the Chief Justice as the awardee.
David Wilkins, a professor at Harvard Law School and Faculty Director, Centre on the Legal Profession, had a fireside chat with the Chief Justice while the Chief Justice was in attendance at Harvard Law School.
The Chief Justice recalled his experience with nostalgia at Harvard, first as an LLM student in 1982–1983, and later as a candidate for the SJD in 1983–1986.
During his first year as Chief Justice, the Chief Justice discussed the efforts that have been implemented at the Supreme Court.
These include the unveiling of a Handbook on countering gender stereotypes and the use of technology in judicial procedures, among other things.
The Chief Justice further stressed the value of multidisciplinary research, saying that the law does not operate in a vacuum. Technology and medical-related issues are related to legal processes.
The Chief Justice said that law students should participate in clinical legal models, where they are directly involved in real-time situations in local regions, in reference to the legal aid clinics at Harvard.
When asked if the legal profession might be made more democratic, he cited a new law clerk program that was put into place during his leadership which offers everyone the opportunity to apply for a clerkship at the Supreme Court. He also expressed his worry regarding lawyers’ mental health.
Along with senior lawyers and judges, he urged that law schools create a system to teach students how to manage stress and their mental health.
The Chief Justice also spoke with Harvard University faculty members and students from other departments.
More about DY Chandrachud
Dhananjaya Yeshwant Chandrachud, an Indian jurist, born on November 11, 1959, has been the country’s top judge since November 20, 2022. In May 2016, he was chosen to serve as a judge on the Indian Supreme Court.
Additionally, from 2013 to 2016, he was the chief justice of the Allahabad High Court. From 2000 to 2013, he was a judge on the Bombay High Court. He has also served as the National Legal Services Authority’s ex officio executive chair in the past.
He has served on benches that handed down historic rulings in the Ram Janmabhoomi, Privacy verdict, decriminalization of homosexuality, and Sabarimala cases, among other cases. As a professor, he has travelled to universities in Mumbai, Oklahoma, Harvard, Yale, and other places.
The only child of India’s longest-serving chief justice, Y. V. Chandrachud, he received his education at Delhi University and Harvard University and has worked as a lawyer for Sullivan & Cromwell and the Bombay High Court.
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