Judge Rupal Shah: Professional Background and Legal Expertise

Hon. Rupal Shah is a judge for the Middlesex Judicial District Superior Court in Connecticut. She was appointed to the bench by former Governor Dannel Malloy in 2014, becoming the first Indian American to serve in the Connecticut Judiciary.

During her judicial tenure, Shah has also held assignments in the New Britain, Hartford (Civil Division, Housing Session), and Litchfield Judicial Districts as well as the Rockville Geographical Area.

Prior to joining the bench, she was an assistant attorney general with the Office of the Attorney General for the State of Connecticut, a position she held since 2003. As such, Shah represented the Department of Revenue Services in several appellate cases before the Connecticut Supreme Court and represented the state on the Tobacco Master Settlement Agreement. She was also a member of President Barak Obama’s Federal-State Task Force, investigating residential mortgage-backed securities.

Before that, she worked in the private sector as an attorney in the law firms of Bingham McCutchen and Cohn, Birnbaum & Shea. At Bingham McCutchen, her practice included cross border insolvencies, financial restructurings, and transactional work, and at Cohn, Birnbaum & Shea, she represented businesses in general commercial matters. Shah also provided pro bono work and served as a volunteer for Lawyers Without Borders.

She received a B.A. in political science from the College of the Holy Cross in 1995. Shah went on to complete a J.D. at Georgetown University Law Center in 1999. While a law student, she was involved with the Policy International Law Society and the Georgetown Journal on Poverty Law.

Her memberships have included the South Asian Bar Association of Connecticut (past president and Executive Board member), the Connecticut Bar Foundation, the Lawyers Collaborative for Diversity, the Oliver Ellsworth Inns of Court, the South Asian Bar Association of North America, and the South Asian Women Attorneys Network (co-chair).

From a civic standpoint, Shah sat on the board of My Sister’s Place and was a mentor for Nutmeg Big Brothers Big Sisters.

She is the recipient of the South Asian Bar Association of Connecticut’s Community Service Award (2008) and the Law Day Diversity Award from the Connecticut Judicial Branch (2008).

Shah is a graduate of Glastonbury High School (1991). Her father, Sudhir Shah, came to the United States in 1966 to study civil engineering. Shah and her husband, Chandramohan Palanki, an information-technology professional, have two children.