Vishwajeet Deshmukh is an alumnus of Government Law College, Mumbai, and is an LL.M. candidate at the Harvard Law School. He is a Judicial Law Clerk at the Chambers of Justice G. S. Kulkarni and previously worked with EY India as an Associate Consultant. He was also awarded the TATA Trust Partition Achieve Research Grant. Vishwajeet served on the editorial board of JURIST Legal News and Commentary, Bologna Law Review, and Indian Constitutional Law Review. He was the co-founder of the Journal of Intersectional Analysis. He was awarded the Sutin Prize and Jeannie Shawl Award for his public service while at JURIST. He has been a TEDx speaker at IIT Guwahati and Pune Institute of Computer Technology.
1. What inspired you to take up law as a career, was it parents or an inherent interest? How did the journey to Government Law College, Mumbai start?
Being interested in communication and social justice, studying law seemed like a natural choice suited to my aptitude. An early exposure to the field through my parents, who are practising advocates at the Bombay High Court, helped me in realising what the profession entails. My parents were supportive of all my career choices and I am grateful that they trusted me and my judgments. Despite being in the profession, they did not expect me to choose law as a career, it was purely a call I took in the 12th grade after studying the sciences.
Growing up in Mumbai, Government Law College, Mumbai was considered a prestigious legal institution that has a rich history of producing illustrious alumni. The college is in close proximity to the Bombay High Court which also helped in gaining practical experience in the field. The institution provided good opportunities to carve your own path by participating in moot court competitions, debates, and conferences.
2. How was your experience in law school, and what were the experiences, and motivations that shaped you as an individual?
Government Law College, Mumbai as an institution offered me freedom in terms of pursuing a career of my choice. The institution has a balance of academics with the practical nature of law, thus allowing its students to intern and explore while simultaneously attending lectures. My experience at Government Law College, Mumbai was filled with different opportunities such as moot court competitions, essay contests, and lectures by eminent alumni. I was fortunate to explore additional avenues such as journalism, through the Young Critics Lab Program at MAMI Film Festival and contributing film reviews to publications. Being with motivated peers, I also had the opportunity to start a publication “The Journal of Intersectional Analysis” to dive deep into the concept of intersectionality in India.
During the COVID-19 Pandemic, I had an opportunity to be a research assistant to Dr Uther Charlton-Stevens, an Oxford historian who researches the history of racial passing in South Asia. I worked with him on his book Anglo-India and the End of Empire (Hurst Publishers, 2022). Working with him shaped my understanding of law and history, and more specifically how laws affect people and their future, from a macroscopic perspective. I credit my academic interest in legal history to Dr Uther Charlton-Stevens, who encouraged me to read between the lines of law and history.
Getting an opportunity to intern and later be a judicial law clerk for Justice G.S. Kulkarni at the Bombay High Court exposed me to the practical nuances of how the law functions and how it could create social change. The academic and professional rigour of working with Justice G.S. Kulkarni instilled a strong work ethic in me. The encouragement received from him to pursue academic endeavours helped me realise my interests.
3. We have seen your TED Talk and several of your research works on various topics, in addition to your resume which seems to tell your story as a lawyer and a brief stint that you have done at EY as a consultant. How would you define your approach, do you see yourself as a lawyer, a consultant or an academician?
At the moment, I find myself drawn to various fields of law and I wish to explore them academically. Working at Ernst and Young as a business consultant in their risk practice was a new experience for me because it enabled me to view the corporate world and how people in a multinational company function. The operation of EY is not limited to legal roles thus, providing an opportunity to engage with engineers, accountants, marketers, and various other backgrounds. However, I see myself driven by the academic issues of today and I wish to translate them into my work.
I had written an article for Live History India on the history of Jews through partition and independence from legal archives available with the National Archives of India. The article was received positively and negatively. This article led me to a TED Talk at Pune Institute of Computer Technology (TEDxPICT) and an invitation from IIT Guwahati to speak on the legal history of minorities in India.
4. What role do you think history or these ideas and narratives have in us as lawyers and Judges making decisions on the threshold of law?
History is quite central to the idea of law. In my opinion, every lawyer is a historian of sorts because we are essentially arguing precedents of the past and convincing the Judges as to why a particular point is relevant. A legal historian broadens their views with sociological and anthropological viewpoints, essentially laying down the implications of the law on the past and how it shapes our present society. Interestingly, legal history helps us understand where we come from and how our society is shaped.
5. Please share your thoughts on postgraduate degree from foreign universities?
I knew I wanted to pursue a postgraduate degree and subsequently, I applied to top universities abroad. Harvard has a rich history of producing top academics and practitioners across the world, it was natural to take a chance and apply to a place like Harvard Law School. A lot of schools in the United States allow you to cross-register for courses in other departments like the business school or the history department to explore avenues from a broader perspective.
While I am interested in history, I did not want to limit myself to the discipline. An LLM degree provides you with opportunities to explore careers in various fields while also maintaining close contact with other disciplines.
6. At what point do you think legal research is exhausted? Would you like to share your research methodology with our readers?
In my opinion, legal research can never be exhausted. But, as a scholar trying to publish an article on the point of law, one has to limit themselves to the relevant points of law. Understanding what sources are critical and what sources must be included in the article is pivotal. For me, I use archival research methodology as my primary source of research, this includes visiting archives, accessing online records and databases, viewing newspaper archives and even seeking oral history archives. In a nutshell, I try to utilise primary sources to develop my scholarship.
One of the most important phases for me in understanding research methods was when I worked with 1947 Partition Archive and Professor Dr Uther Charlton-Stevens. Working with them opened my view to historical methods which remain underused in legal scholarship. While lawyers write about citizenship, identity, statehood and rights, oral history helps us connect with the people it actually affects. I published an article for the “St. Stephen’s History Journal” on the oral history of Anglo-Indians and what citizenship meant to minority communities during the partition of British India. Thus, helping me realise the law and history of the people we try to study.
7. Do you have any advice for students and professionals to have an illustrious academic career?
While I do not find myself in the position to give any advice to anyone. I have learned three essential things that I take with me. Firstly, failures are equally important as success, failures are better teachers. Learning to deal with failure and how to learn from it is a valuable lesson. Secondly, do things you feel passionate about, they serve as a motivator to whatever you feel is essential. While it is easy and natural to be attracted to the popular career paths that even pay well, it is important to realise what you feel passionate about. Thirdly, do not judge people. You need to see where they come from and whether they have had an opportunity to grow in the same way. Valuing ideas is more important than valuing the person’s background or language.
