Hyderabad: Supreme Court lawyer Menaka Guruswamy from the city has been designated senior advocate by the apex court. Ms Guruswamy is among the six women advocates in the list of 37 to be elevated as senior counsel.
A law graduate who went on to become a Rhodes scholar, Ms Guruswamy has argued several landmark cases including the one that decriminalised homosexuality last year. Ms Guruswamy represented IIT students and graduates who belong to the LGBTQIA community.
The elevation brings with it certain privileges, allowing senior advocates to argue and practice cases in any High Court in the country and early hearing of their cases. They are also eligible for a higher fee structure.
The elevation has come early for Ms Guruswamy, 43, currently a professor for Constitutional law with Columbia University in the USA.
A student of the Hyderabad Public School, Ms Guruswamy pursued law at the National Law School of India University, Bengaluru. She read law as a Rhodes scholar at Oxford University where she was awarded a Doctor of Philosophy in Law (D. Phil.) and as a Gammon Fellow for a Masters in Law at Harvard Law School.
Ms Guruswamy has worked as a human rights consultant to the United Nations and has taught at the New York University School of Law.
