Deepika Shukla.
Reminder Publishing submitted photo
NORTHAMPTON — Northampton resident Deepika Shukla was recently nominated to the Massachusetts Superior Court by Gov. Maura Healey.
Shukla, who was one of five people nominated to the court by the governor, currently serves as an assistant United States attorney and chief of the Springfield branch office for the District of Massachusetts.
“I’m grateful to the Judicial Nominating Commission for the countless hours they volunteer to ensure that well-qualified judges serve in our courts,” Shukla said in a statement in front of the Governor’s Council during a formal hearing at the state house on July 31. “All my life, I have felt a deep sense of duty to try my best to make the world a better place.”
In her role in the Springfield branch office, Shukla supervises all federal criminal cases in Western Massachusetts and has represented the United States in criminal prosecutions of violations of excessive force, hate crime, terrorism, fraud and violent crime statutes.
Before that, she worked as a plaintiffs’ civil rights attorney at the Connecticut Fair Housing Center and in private practice.
During the formal hearing on July 31, David Hoose, who has 44 years of legal experience mainly working as a criminal defense and civil rights litigator, spoke highly of Shukla’s nomination to the Superior Court during his testimony. He specifically commended her ability to handle the complexities of a past case where she was assigned to prosecute a high-profile client of his charged with terrorism offenses.
He also pointed out Shukla’s versatility as a criminal and civil litigator throughout her career.
“It’s great to have a candidate who is intellectually gifted as Deepika surely is, but her greatest quality is that she listens,” Hoose said. “She has always heard me. She has always cared about my clients.”
In her remarks to the Governor’s Council, Shukla credited her family for being the person she is today and specifically praised her mom for her selflessness, and for her determination to make sure Shukla and her siblings “had a safe and loving upbringing” as an immigrant from India.
Shukla identified her naturalization as a U.S. citizen and the horrors and heartbreak that came with 9/11 as consequential moments in her journey. She said she remembers seeing friends and family who looked like her experience hate speech and racism following those terrorist attacks.
“These experiences led me into a career of public service and in the public interest,” Shukla said. “First as a community organizer, then as a civil rights lawyer, and then in representing the United States. I wanted to give back to the community that embraced me, and I wanted to ensure justice was available to all, even those who are so often overlooked.”
The Superior Court is a trial court of general jurisdiction for Massachusetts, according to the state. The court has 82 justices that sit in 20 courthouses in all 14 state counties.
The Superior Court has exclusive original jurisdiction of first-degree murder cases, and has original jurisdiction of all other crimes, civil actions over $50,000, matters where parties are seeking equitable relief and actions including labor disputes where parties are seeking injunctive relief.
It also has exclusive authority to convene medical malpractice tribunals, has appellate jurisdiction over certain administrative proceedings, and may hold naturalization sittings in any city or town.
“I’m proud to nominate these experienced attorneys to the Superior Court, and I’m confident they will make excellent additions to our justice system,” said Healey. “We’re grateful to the Governor’s Council for their consideration of the nominees.”
During Shukla’s formal hearing, Governor’s Councilor Tara Jacobs, who represents District 8/Western Massachusetts, said Shukla was heavily embraced by the community during a local hearing in Springfield on July 29.
“I just wanted to reflect back, that I personally appreciated hearing … the consistency with which they describe you as someone who is kind and compassionate and thoughtful and a listener, and willing to not just listen, but adjust your standpoint,” Jacobs said. “I will be very honored and will enthusiastically make a motion to confirm you at our next assembly.”
Aside from her other roles, Shukla also serves as an adjunct professor at Western New England School of Law and holds a Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of Southern California and a Juris Doctor from the University of California, Berkeley School of Law.
Reminder Publishing reached out to get additional comments from Shukla, but a spokesperson from the U.S. Attorney’s Office declined to comment.
