Alok Nadig on LGBTQ+ Advocacy, Employment Discrimination & Creative Lawyering

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I am David Sanford of Sanford Heisler Sharp McNight, chairman of a national civil rights law firm here in our New York offices with my new partner, Alok Nadig. Alok became partner just a few months ago. He’s been with the firm a number of years, has done great work with us, and I’m excited to spend a few minutes talking about you.

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Yeah. Thank you very much. I’m excited as well.

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Yeah. So let’s start with your origin story. Take me back in time to when you were growing up as a little boy, and what kinds of influences you had and memories you have that shape the person you are today.

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Yeah. So I grew up in a town called Cherry Hill in New Jersey.

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I know it well.

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Yeah. My parents are immigrants from India, and they’re actually both engineers. And so growing up, I was very interested in music. I’m a performer, as you know. And then I was also very passionate about school as well, and I always really gravitated toward English and history, was very different from my parents in that way. And then I went to college, and I actually earned an undergraduate degree

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in voice and opera, and a Bachelor of Arts in sociology. And so I really focused on sociology of law, and my senior thesis was on the LGBT rights movement in India, which is a thing I’m passionate about. And I went to India and I interviewed activists there. And then I went to law school. I went to NYU, and I was very passionate about LGBT rights in law school.

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My time in law school coincided with the Obergefell versus Hodges marriage equality decision, and so it was a very hot topic while I was in law school. And then after law school, I was in a big law firm for a year, and then I did two federal clerkships. And then after the clerkships, I knew I wanted to do civil rights work, and I wanted to work at a place where I would get substantive experience on my feet. Something that

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many big law firms can’t offer to junior and mid-level associates. And then I wound up here, and it’s been great. I’ve represented many clients in discrimination cases, retaliation cases, in litigation, arbitration, administrative proceedings, mediations, direct negotiations, and it’s been a lot of fun.

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That is a whirlwind, and that is a really great summary. Let me dig back into early life. So your parents come over from India. When was that?

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That was in 1984.

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Ah. And do you still have family in India in part?

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Oh, yes, many family members.

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Mm.

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In Bangalore, which is a city in south central India.

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Mm-hmm.

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And in other parts, too. Delhi, Rourkela, which is a kind of small town in India, and so a lot of family there still.

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And of course, we have a professional connection in India. Surbhi Dhar, our former associate, opened up our presence in India and has been working there and living in India for the last couple of years while doing cases with us. So we have a family connection and a professional connection.

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Indeed, yes.

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So did you have any siblings growing up?

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Yes, I have a brother. He’s five and a half years younger, and he’s a med student now.

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Wow.

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Yeah.

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Okay. So you come from an illustrious family-

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[chuckles] I suppose

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… of very accomplished people, including yourself. So you went to school. When did you realize, you’re doing voice, you’re doing opera, you’re doing sociology, sociology of the law, you’re involved in different aspects of life. When did you first realize you wanted to be a lawyer?

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Towards the end of college, I kind of just learned and sensed that I wasn’t going to be a professional actor or singer, and I was much more interested in the sociology aspect by the end of college. And so I was just thinking of what I could do with my sociology degree and seeing the same-sex marriage cases that were happening at

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that time really showed me how law can be a very useful avenue to achieve social justice and just kind of took the plunge and it’s worked out.

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So that’s interesting. So the line of cases leading to the Supreme Court case involving same-sex marriage really was seemingly a turning point for you in terms of what you wanted to do in your life.

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Definitely, yeah.

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Yeah. Interesting. So you go to law school, and you wind up at NYU, probably the premier law school in the country that certainly is a public interest-oriented school with great clinics. Did you do any clinics while at law school?

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I did. I did the LGBT Rights Clinic my second year of law school, and I worked at Lambda Legal, which is a civil rights organization specializing in LGBT issues. And then I did the Racial Equity Strategies clinic my third year of law school, and through that I did an internship at the NAACP Legal Defense Fund, and I worked on voting rights there. So two very good clinics.

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That’s really great. Great experience. So you kind of knew that you had this social justice passion.

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Definitely, yes.

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This public interest passion. Did you ever think about going into government or public service of any sort?

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I did. So I did two federal clerkships, which is working for the government.

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Sure.

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And then immediately after, I got a job offer here, and I really wanted to take it, but it’s always been on my mind, and I’ve contemplated, if the moment is right, and the fates align politically and opportunity-wise and whatnot, working at main justice is something I would be very interested in the right scenario. And we actually get to do work along those lines here. With the Qui Tam practice, we are partnering

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with the government on cases, and we are private attorneys general in many ways as you know in our work we do here. So I do get some of that kind of government work anyway here.

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Well, you also have precedent, right? You have Jennifer Rajkumar

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Mm-hmm

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… who was a former associate in our firm years ago and has been very active in local politics here in New York. You have Andrew McCurdy, who is a partner in our firm now, who was recently elected to the State Assembly in New Jersey. So you certainly have a little bit of precedent in this firm

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Yeah

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… in the event that you ever want to branch out and do some public interest by way of elected office.

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Yeah. Very good. I’ll be happy to follow in their footsteps.

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We will support you. So you had a clerkship, two clerkships in fact, and we are proud to have a firm with a majority of our attorneys having had at least one federal or state clerkship. It’s a great experience. It was a really important experience for me. I worked for a federal judge in Washington, DC, and I like to consider applicants who have been a clerk or are currently serving as a clerk. I do think it adds a dimension to

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a young career starting out. You get a perspective that you really can’t get in any other way. For all the law students who may be watching this, what would you say the value is of a clerkship, and what did you get out of it?

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Yeah. Well, it goes without saying, you really improve in your legal research and writing. It’s just you are working on drafting opinions, drafting memos every day you’re there. And I’d say the really, really crucial thing that a clerkship gives you is insight into how cases are decided and how judges look at issues. It’s very easy as litigators to get really wrapped up in minutia. And so when you see a judge

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really home in on the three points that are the most relevant and resolve cases that way, you can really see how in law practice you need to focus on the big picture and really identify the critical points and focus on those pretty relentlessly. And so that’s what I really got out of the clerkship, and both of them were very, very good experiences.

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Yeah. It is such a great experience, and I would encourage anyone who’s watching thinking about a clerkship to the extent that you can get a clerkship. It’s not easy to get, of course, but if you can get it at the state level or the federal level, and I don’t think it matters much whether it’s state or federal. But if you can get that experience with more importantly a good judge, someone who’s going to take you under his or her wings and really help develop your writing, honing the skills that you’re talking about, I think it’s a great advantage on the job market, and it just enhances

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your skillset.

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Absolutely.

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And your perspective. So you, as you say, wound up with us, and we’re the beneficiary of that. It’s been such an honor and a privilege to work with you these years that you’ve been here. When did you start with us?

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October 7, 2019-

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2019

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… was my first day.

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Wow. So you’ve been with us now for approximately seven years. You became a partner in our firm just this past January 1. Congratulations.

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Thank you.

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Take us through that journey. What’s it been like being here? What are some highlights that you can take away and share from the last six, seven years of your practice with us?

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Absolutely. So it’s been a wonderful ride. I’ve had some litigations that have been really fulfilling. Immediately when I started, I joined the Brook versus Aurora case. This is a case that Sanford Heisler litigated in state court in Northern California on behalf of hospital workers who suffered very severe labor code violations in their employment

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spaces. And so that was a very challenging case to work on and to be put on right away. I really had to dive in and understand the California Private Attorney General Act, and we were able to get a systematic and very broad settlement in that case. And there was injunctive relief there to improve the working conditions at the hospitals where these employees worked, and that was really fulfilling.

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And then beyond that, I’ve had two cases that went to jury trial. One of them was in Houston. This was our Schlumberger trial, where we had a very, very worthy client and someone who suffered very egregious sexual harassment. And being able to stand in court and tell her story was very important to her, and I was very happy that we were able to help her do that. And then beyond that, we’ve resolved so many cases

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for clients pre-suit, and this doesn’t always get publicity by design. They’re confidential settlements, but it’s been really fulfilling to help people move on from experiencing discrimination and retaliation. Especially at our firm, our clients are typically very accomplished in their fields, which makes the experience of getting fired or being discriminated against very traumatic and unusual for these individuals. And

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so really just guiding someone through that process and helping them move forward has been great. I even had a client in 2021. We resolved her disability discrimination case, and she actually went on to a very highly ranked law school and is now a practicing attorney.

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That’s great.

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And so just staying connected with her and she was my client, now she’s a colleague, and so that’s just so cool. And being able to play even a small part in her journey, I just think of that and it’s very fulfilling.

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What’s the best part of your job?

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I would say the best part of my job is every day I’m encountered with some thorny problem that I have to resolve, and it really never gets boring. So every client, every case, it raises some type of issue that is complicated, that has to be resolved, that’s unprecedented, that requires creativity, and working with our teams here, which are so

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great, to move cases forward, to resolve problems, really, really is a special thing. So I’d say just the novelty. It really never gets boring, and I’m amazed that it keeps being so interesting.

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You have had a career of sorts, certainly a passion and experience, singing, acting, being in theater. And obviously, your self-presentational style reflects that. Talk about your experience there and talk about how that experience in voice, in opera, in presentation on the stage, how all of that contributes

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to your skills as a lawyer.

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Yeah. That’s an interesting question. I’d say it definitely does contribute to my skills as a lawyer. In performing, you have to be in your body, in the moment, and present in a situation, and the situations can be stressful. It’s a little bit different from being a litigator because, in performance, there’s generally a script, and you know how things go,

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whereas when you’re on a contentious call with opposing counsel or in a trial or in a deposition, you don’t really know what’s happening. You can plan, but there’s an element of surprise frequently. But just being very present in the moment, comfortable in your body, and at peace communicating is something that my performance background has really given me. And I’ve seen other attorneys, young attorneys, but even experienced

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attorneys, really struggle with that. Nerves can get the best of you, and it can be tough to deal with things that come up spontaneously and navigating those moments with grace. And even if you are panicking on the inside, not conveying that you’re rattled, that’s something that you really learn to do in performance.

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Right. You speak so passionately about the work that you do. It clearly resonates within you, and you express it so well. What aspects of being a plaintiff’s attorney do you find most rewarding?

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I really enjoy the ownership that we get to take over our cases. When you are the plaintiff, you initiate everything. You pick which claims to bring. You pick your clients. You pick when to file a case. You pick where to file a case. And so that requires exhaustive research, exhaustive factual investigation, and a lot of creativity and

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foresight into how the claims will play out, and that has been a very fulfilling experience. On the defense side, and I was a defense attorney briefly, you are in a responsive posture. There’s room for creativity and tenacity on the defense side as well, but it really can’t compare to the plaintiff side when you’re basically in charge of everything. And I think that gives us a lot of control over

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our careers and our practice. And it’s great. We get to push the law forward with novel theories where we think the claims are worth it, and so that’s been a very cool thing. I really enjoy that.

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Well, Alok, it has been a pleasure to meet with you here. We’ve been together, working together, as I mentioned earlier, for seven years. Only a few months now as a partner. I wish and I hope that we have many, many more years to come and a lot more trials to do together.

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Yes, indeed. It’s been a pleasure. Thank you.

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Thank you.