D.Y. Chandrachud LL.M. ’83 S.J.D. ’86, who has served on the Supreme Court of India since 2016, has been appointed to serve as the next Chief Justice of India. He will take office on November 9, 2022, following the retirement of the current chief justice, the Hon. Mr. Justice Uday Umesh Lalit, and his term will extend until his mandatory retirement in November 2024.
Before his appointment to the Supreme Court, Chandrachud was a judge on the Bombay High Court from 2000 to 2013, and then served as the chief justice of the Allahabad High Court. Before entering the judiciary, he had practiced at Sullivan & Cromwell and served as a senior advocate before the Bombay High Court and as an Additional Solicitor General of India. He has been a visiting professor at the University of Mumbai and at the Oklahoma University School of Law, and has also spoken at conferences sponsored by the United Nations, the Supreme Court of Hawaii, the World Bank and the Asian Development Bank.
In 2017, Chandrachud delivered the keynote address on the future of the Indian legal profession at “The Corporate Legal Sector’s Impact on India,” an event in Delhi showcasing the Harvard Law School Center on the Legal Profession’s project on Globalization, Lawyers and Emerging Economies.
“I can think of no one better suited to lead the Indian Supreme Court into the future than Justice Chandrachud,” remarked Professor David B. Wilkins ’80, the center’s faculty director and vice dean for Global Initiatives on the Legal Profession. “I have been fortunate to have had the opportunity to hear his thoughts on the Indian legal profession and the importance of law and lawyers in society on a number of occasions, and each time I have been struck by the deep wisdom of his words. We look forward to continuing to learn from Justice Chandrachud’s wise counsel as he takes on this new role.”