Vinita Bali, ’96

Director, Center for Global Law & Policy

Formerly Director of Santa Clara Law Academic Success Program

Vinita Bali ’96 practiced for several years as a litigator and a corporate transactions lawyer before returning to SCU as director of the law school’s Academic Success Program (ASP). Like many attorneys, she enjoyed practicing law but the business aspect of running a law firm did not appeal to her. "The realities of the practice and the general pursuit by lawyers and clients of monetary goals became more apparent and frustrating to me the farther along I went in my career," she says. 

When her current position opened up, Bali felt it was perfect. "I knew that the position as director of ASP would offer me the opportunity to apply my knowledge of the law, work closely with students, and…create the supportive and giving environment that is the hallmark of ASP and Santa Clara School of Law."

The transition from student to faculty member or administrator is not without its challenges. Bali grew up in India where teachers and students rarely interacted on an informal basis. Teachers were revered, referred to only by their formal titles, and kept at a distance. Classes were chosen for you, and boys and girls were kept safely apart.

Even in college, a strict dress code was enforced (by the nuns, as these were Catholic schools).

By the time Bali entered law school in 1993 (and despite a year at a women’s college in 1984-85 that her parents expected would maintain these formalities), she had begun a transformation. In the intervening nine years, she had adapted to U.S. college life, had moved across the country, and had left an arranged marriage. ("I had barely ever spoken to a man before I was married," she says.)

Still, when she made the transition from student to lawyer to teacher, the shadow of her education in India followed. At her SCU workplace, Bali started out calling law professors "Professor." When one of them suggested this placed her on a different level, where she might not be treated as an equal, she stopped. "Making the mental transition from student to faculty member was a more difficult task than I could have imagined," she says.

Vinita Bali's faculty web page